Brent, thanks for the food for thought. I appreciate your time spent typing that all up.
Now don't take this entirely as directed at you, but I really get very frustrated by the general perception that "chemicals and synthetic" are all bad. You'll forgive me I hope, but all of my education and background in biology, chemistry and toxicology tells me you just might be reading too damn many web pages. Interestingly CSPI is about the worst example of activist based reporting you could get on the topic. What they really are is a lobby organization that targets corporations on the basis of really ****** science.
Interesting. Well, you'll be glad to know I'm not a regular CSPI reader nor do I base my "fitness program" on their site. It's just that they were one of the first sites I found when I hit Google.
Caffeine in pop is certainly there, though you'd have to drink about 10 cans of pop to get the same dose you get in a single cup of coffee. Interestingly Mountain Dew is the worst of the bunch, but in Canada it has no caffeine. Still, tea and coffee are far, far more loaded than any pop out there. Interesting too that coffee is ok but pop is bad. Ever seen a list of the "chemicals" in coffee? Lots of names you can't pronounce in there, far, far more than in a can of soda pop. Plenty more carcinogens as well, all entirely natural in origin. Of course there in such a low dose that it really doesn't matter as the basic tenet of toxicology is that the dose makes the poison. Still coffee's about as bad as you can get.
I didn't know there was such an imbalance in caffeine content, pop vs. coffee. And interesting part about the chemicals. But as I said, caffeine isn't really an issue for me as I'm not ditching coffee anytime soon.
Preservatives are bad? Really? Damn, hope you're eating nothing but all organic and natural food.
Nope. But hey, a guy's gotta start somewhere....
Watch out for the botulinum, E. coli and all those other good, natural things.
Heheh, good point.
How much sugar you put in your coffee?
Normally none.
Eat any candy bars,
Yeah, but I'm trying to cut back on my candy intake. (Note I didn't say "eliminate"--what am I, insane?
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breakfast cereal or anything else like that? Sure hope not, because that **** will make you fat
Breakfast cereal? Check. Else? Check.
As for all of CSPI's claims of obesity and other bull****, that's nothing more than an absolution of personal responsibility on the parts of CSPI, parents and anyone else not willing to take responsibility for putting that much junk food in your mouth. Been there, done that. I consumed enough pop to elevate my weight by 15 pounds. Is that the fault of anyone but me? Nope, but in the day and age of litigation we live in it's certainly not the poor innocent victim's fault. Keep watching, they're already suing McD's and Pepsi and Coke won't be far behind.
Fair enough. I'm on your side here.
Drinking juice are ya? Lots of sugar in there. Somewhere between 70-100 calories for the juice box, equating roughly to a can of cola (non-diet). So what's the good part again? Oh yeah, all the vitamins that coincidentally restrict themselves to vitamin C. Of course you get 100% of your daily requirement from a single juice box, so you're pissing the rest of it out for the whole day. I'd certainly agree that it's a good way to get your daily dose of the vitamin, but there are other ways.
Well, I was led to believe there were other vitamins and goodies in juice as well.
As for the synthetic issue, I could go on for hours. Hope you're not taking any supplements or the like, lots of synthetic **** in there.
Nope.
Any processed food?
Of course, but I try to avoid the super-heavily processed/preserved type stuff.
Antibiotics (synthetic carriers?)?
Rarely, because I rarely get sick. Youthful immune system and all that. (Or maybe it's just because I'm washing my hands all the damn time.
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Tooth decay? Brush your ******* teeth people, it's really not that complicated. Tooth decay (where's Dressel?) is caused by bacteria, not sugar. The bacteria feed on the sugar. Take the sugar (or other foods stuck in those gaps in your teeth) out of the equation and you're pretty much a lock for a whole lot less (dare I say none?) tooth decay. You are I presume aware that vegetables have sugar in them? Leave that **** between your teeth and you'll get tooth decay too. Damn, let's ban vegetables now 
True there.
Well, at my last dentist visit they also told me soda was particularly bad for tooth enamel, due to the chemicals, etc. etc. There was a nice wall chart placing soda on a scale relative to battery acid and whatnot, but unfortunately I don't recall its exact placement. Suffice it to say, it wasn't good.
Your grandparents (maybe your great-grandparents in this case) had it right - everything in moderation and nothing to excess. Don't forget to enjoy life and don't obsess.
Oh, I don't.
Anyone who knows me, knows I'm the farthest thing from a hippie health nut. I eat what I like and try to eat a variety of different things. And don't expect me to go on a rigid diet plan anytime soon. But I'm trying to police my "excesses" so I figure, hey, I might as well start somewhere.
Now I'm drinking a lot of water, lemonade, and fruit juice. It does get a little boring drinking Hawaiian Punch, iced tea, or Orange Hi-C every time I hit a fast food joint.
While I applaud your resolution to make healthier choices -- I have to point out a tiny little pet peeve of mine. Hawaiian Punch and Hi-C aren't fruit juice. They are pretty much the equivalent of colored sugar water -- why not drink the soda instead or get some real fruit juice?
You are certainly quite right--and I can see how my wording was perhaps less than crystal clear. I know that punches/Hi-Cs/"fruit-based beverages" are essentially soda without the bubbles--and real fruit or veggie juice tastes better anyway. I usually down a couple of servings of juice a day and I don't drink the juice beverages much unless, as I said, I'm somewhere the real stuff is not available. I'm not sure it's much healthier than just getting the soda, but I like to pretend it is.
Thanks, though.
