bacon for dinner!

[ghanimasun]

-If you have the time, head over to this post at farscape_land and vote in theminor characters Cage Match thingy. I strongly encourage you to vote for 1812 (If you don't know who that is, for not having seen enough/any of Farscape, it is a DRD that John paints and programs to play the 1812 overture); Xhalax Sun (no spoilers on her, just do ittttt!); Jack Crichton; and Katralla.

-I was thinking earlier today it's weird that I don't really a lot sweets, but I sort of drink soda non stop. Then I happened to come across an article that said the recommended amount of soda per day is a half a can. A half a can of pop? Per day???? Gods, it's a surprise I'm not in worse shape than I am considering how much soda I drink. Per day.

Comments

[plastichangers.livejournal.com]

1812 should win everything in the world ever. <3

[ghanimasun]

Haha, I know! That's who I picked to win the whole thing, as long as 1812 doesn't get voted out first!

[gymx.livejournal.com]

*meme of famous actor pointing upward with caption "THIS"*

[ghanimasun]

[plastichangers.livejournal.com]

Haha! <3 *Hugs you both*

[naushika.livejournal.com]

LOL @ the soda thing. You should consider switching to diet soda. I knoooooow that it probably tastes weird/gross to you when you drink it, but that's only because your tastebuds are so amped up from the constant sugar input from your regular soda. I switched to diet, and yeah it was strange at first, but it doesn't take very long to get used to it.

Now, I much *prefer* diet soda. When I drink regular, it tastes way too sweet and cloying to me. And it also makes my teeth feel fuzzy from all the sugar. D:

[ghanimasun]

Yeah I really should, you're right. I'll try buying a diet Dr Pepper this weekend and seeing how bad it is to me. Because I'm getting like hundreds of empty calories of soda a day (but it's so yummmmmyyyy!)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Diet Dr. Pepper is the best of the diets, imo. Although Coke Zero is pretty good, too.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

But diet pops have bad things in them. :/

(Go water! Choose water!)

[ghanimasun]

I was always sort of under this impression too, that diet pop has some sort of magic chemical that causes cancer or something like that.

Although I'm sure hydrogenated corn syrup isn't too much better for you than other artificial sweetners.

(I try to drink water, I really do. I'm just picky and selfish and water rarely satisfies me, and just makes me have to pee ever 10 minutes.)

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

It's mostly that artificial sweeteners don't really engage whatever chemicals in your brain that get satisfied by sugars, so you just end up craving more. And it's all fake stuff, too, not just the sweetener.

Nothing makes me happier than water with tons of ice, so the water is as cold as humanly possible (I would drink ice if I could), and then I can chomp all the soft ice afterwards.

But I totally know what you mean about it not always satisfying. Sometimes you just have to have a pop.

[gymx.livejournal.com]

Wait what? Half a can? WHat are you supposed to do with the other half? Let it go flat and throw it away? That's the stupidest thing I ever heard!

[ghanimasun]

I haven't the slightest. It was on yahoo news though so I'm not surprised it didn't make sense.

I really want to drink more soda now but it has occurred to me that the caffeine might be part of the reason I can't get to sleep well at night? I dunno. I drink soda so damn much it's hard to tell. So I'm trying this experiment where I don't drink pop after like 10pm. Which is ridiculous btw, because I'm always thirsty and I want some fucking Dr Pepper right now!

[gymx.livejournal.com]

Oh god, yahoo is the the worst. Their dating section is the funniest but it's all pretty bad.

[ghanimasun]

Agreed, I dont really ever check yahoo on purpose.

Also suddenly I have like half a dozen options listed to choose (where I'm posting from) when I reply to this comment.

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

Heeeeee, on the rare occasions I have a pop (like, once or twice a month), I can't drink it after about noon or so or it'll keep me up. 10pm LOLOL you're adorable and I want to knit you a tiny cat sweater, IDEK.

[ghanimasun]

I think it's just that I've basically lived on (lots of) soda for years so I don't know how to properly gauge how it really affects me.

It's probably totally logical that pop is what keeps me up for two hours when I'm trying to fall asleep! I just tend to ignore what is obvious sometimes apparently.

[december21st.livejournal.com]

Without preaching about the overall negative effects of too much pop (because you know this already, and you don't need some random person on the internets going on about it, and then there's that whole thing about "people in grass houses shouldn't throw lawnmowers") ...

1. Yes, caffeine will affect your sleep. A quick internet search (YMMV) shows that caffeine stays in your system 3 to 5 hours or more. You may want to change your caffeine restrictions to "none after dinner," or experiment to see how long it takes your body specifically to come down off of its caffeine high. Possibly just switch to a caffeine-free pop in the evening.

2. As mentioned above, diet pop doesn't have the empty calories of sugared pop; there are people that will argue about the evils of artificial sweeteners (but then, there are people that will argue about the evils of just about anything), but be aware that one of the arguments is that it increases your appetite. Again, something that will vary specifically with your body.

3. Pop provides four things: Thirst relief, a fun fizzy feeling when you're drinking it, a sugar rush, and a caffeine high. Separarte these: if you're just thirsty, drink water. If that doesn't satisfy, then you'll know that you want the sugar rush or the caffeine high or the fizzy feeling. I often drink Talking Rain (flavored seltzer water) but it is not sweet AT ALL and takes some time to get used to. It doesn't even have artificial sweeteners. But I do get that lovely fizzy feeling. :)

4. Agreed, with above, half a can a day seems kinda silly.

5. And an interesting map about "who calls it pop" vs. "who calls it soda" (or soda pop, or Coke, or whatever): http://www.popvssoda.com/

[ghanimasun]

I think the thing is that I am so used to drinking pop all the time, that it's still new to consider the actual effect the caffeine has one me. I don't usually feel conscious of the effect caffeine has on me so it seems I miss it even when its having a negative effect.

And I've usually been sketchy about diet soda too because of the artificial sweeteners and all the flack that they get. But it's not like regular pop has natural sweeteners (hydrogenated corn syrup is not natural, right)

It's hard for me to differentiate the things I get from soda. I know I get all of those things but I usually have trouble telling which one is the one I really wanted. I've never heard of Talking Rain, but I'll check if it's available around here just to try it out at least.

Also I usually call it 'pop' but I've taken to calling it soda more when I write, because it seems more common and I don't want to confuse people by talking about pop. But really, it's pop :D

[kungfuwaynewho.livejournal.com]

When I was an undergrad, my pop consumption was ridic. I quit for two reasons: one, caffeine is the most effective in fighting my headaches, and it becomes more effective when it's a surprise to my system, instead of something it's always used to; pop's more expensive than water, and I decided to spend my money on something that I wasn't going to, well, pee in like half an hour.

I will say this: when you don't drink much pop, when you do? IT TASTES AMAZING. That more than anything is the reason I don't drink it habitually any more. Because when I want something special, I have a can of Coke, and it tastes like goddamned ambrosia.

Whatever you do, don't cut your caffeine intake cold turkey, or you will have bad side effects, like headaches and such. Spend a week drinking like normal but keep track of how many cans/ounces you drink a day, then cut a certain percentage every few days till you hit a level you're comfortable with. (My roommate did not do this, just quit one day after a decade-long habit of 4-6 cans of Diet Coke every day, and she got so sick she couldn't leave her bedroom for two whole days. Yeah.)

[ghanimasun]

When I don't have any pop for an evening and have some in the morning it's amazing, so I can only imagine how even more amazing it would be after not having it for weeks!

Yeah, sometimes I feel like I'm really dependent on my caffeine/pop intake, so I can't imagine going cold turkey would work well for me. I'm going to definitely start taking a harder analysis of what I drink and how it affects me, and hopefully I'll figure out a healthy way to cut back properly.