About this Blog

Welcome! Thanks for checking out On Food Stamps.

Right now, the nation is abuzz with issues relating to health care and climate change, and at the same time the economic recession has (thankfully) brought many of us to look closer at the basic elements of our well-being.

I think that food - how we produce, where we buy it, how we eat it, our emotional relationship to it, and the culture surrounding it - is a huge part of the major progressive change our nation so badly needs. I think that if we improve the American food system, we could really do a lot to solve many of our environmental and health care concerns. This blog is my offering towards a better world through better food culture in America.

While my Food Stamp Challenge project has come to an end, I still post periodically on anything and everything dealing with food. You can see what I learned in my Food Stamp Challenge by reading the Greatest Hits posts linked to the right side of the page.

I'm glad you arrived at this page. You can support my efforts by reading the Blog, passing it on to friends, or by sending me recipes or stories from your own efforts to "lead a meal time revolution". You can also follow me on Twitter. If you want to contact me directly, send a Twitter message!

Stay Hungry,

Julie

Monday, February 15, 2010

Soda = The New Tobacco

Thank you New York Times, for this great Valentines Day article.


http://www.nytimes.com/2010/02/14/weekinreview/14bittman.html
Posted by at 9:18 PM

7 comments:

  1. 10 years ago I had to quit drinking soda pop due to an ulcer. I can say that next to quitting coffee for that year was the hardest thing I have done. This includes my half pack a day habit.

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  2. So, do you think you ever could have quit if it wasn't medically necessary to do so?

    What other things besides an ulcer might have gotten you to kick the soda habit?

    I know how tough it is switching habits. Man. Kudos to you for changing it around!

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  3. I doubt that I would have given up soda had it not been medically necessary despite knowing (I'm a nurse) just how bad it is for you. I wasn't a hardcore drinker mind you just 1-2 cans per day when I pulled a shift.
    Now I partake only on pizza night which is about 3 times a month.
    Coffee on the other hand is a 4-6 cup a day monkey on my back. Really just gave the addiction a new face.

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  4. Coffee is SUCH a hard habit to kick.

    I have to say though, if you can do it little by little, tea in the morning is a little less tough on the body and it certainly does the trick for me.

    The strange part with all of these things - cigarettes, soda, coffee, etc. - is that quitting is not just about the thing you are trying to quit. It is also about the ritual. I just want a warm COFFEE in the morning sometimes - for the flavor, the smell, the quiet moment. The caffeine is a side note in a way. Or, one might want a cigarette sometimes, just for the excuse to take a moment to stand outside and think and take a break from work or other obligations. The nicotine can also be a side note. It seems to me the only way to kick any habit is to substitute the substance you want to stop consuming with something similar, and find a way to keep the ritual in tact. (For example, green tea or herbal tea a few mornings a week instead of coffee.)

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  5. there's actually some evidence that coffee correlates with lower C-Reactive Protein (which is a sign of systemic inflammation and has been correlated with heart disease), lower incidence of certain cancers, and now, perhaps, reduced incidence of Alzheimer's (at least in a mouse model). Maybe the coffee habit isn't so bad after all, except for those with acid reflux or sensitivity to stimulants. Of course, everything in moderation...

    Soda on the other hand = pretty much all bad

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  6. Jake, you said it right: Of course, everything in moderation...

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    ReplyDelete

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