Remember when spinning was the thing that vinyl records did? Or the way we moved around the dance floor? These days, not only is spinning found in gym classes but also in publicity and politics. Sometimes I just have to marvel at how unabashedly it’s done. In many ways, it can feel like a comedy sketch, and yet, it’s “sincere.” Whether it’s the high fructose corn syrup ads attempting to legitimize their inclusion in products or KFC shilling buckets of deep-fried and battered chickens, biscuits, gravy, mashed potatoes, and yes, cake in the name of cancer research and perceived altruism (come on), spinning is ever-present.
A few days ago I was driving home from a performance at an elementary school, listening to NPR as the exit signs wheezed by. (Sadly, things rarely whiz by on LA freeways…) After seeing the processed food-like substances that make up school lunches and perusing signs detailing the risks of strokes and heart attacks that decorate some school playgrounds, the health of kids was on my mind. On All Things Considered a piece on soda in America began to play. They were discussing the shift in attitudes that is occurring over soda’s accessibility and acceptability. From removing it in schools to raising taxes on it to crying foul on the actions of “the food police,” it seems that everyone has an opinion.
In the first part of the interview Michelle Norris spoke with Gail Woodward-Lopez, the associate director of the Center for Weight and Health at U.C. Berkeley. Woodward-Lopez noted that 9 to 13 percent of the calories in the average American’s diet comes from soda and other sweetened beverages.
Gail Woodward-Lopez: We have very strong evidence linking those two trends. And those two trends are so startlingly parallel. If you looked at a graph, the rise in sweetened beverage consumption would be in exact parallel with the increase in obesity rates.
As the interview continued, Norris noted that teenagers are often told to drink soda in “moderation.” Moderation is a popular buzz word. It seems almost any discussion around health and wellness ends in someone chiming, “Well, everything in moderation,” as if it were a mantra. Of course, it’s a safe thing to chime, because what does moderation mean anyway? Most everyone would claim that they consume treats and sweets in moderation, and yet, if you look at where we are as a country and as a world, that can’t possibly be true. It’s safe to say “everything in moderation,” because it’s completely subjective and therefore, meaningless.
Norris: So what does moderation mean?
Woodward-Lopez: …Our idea of moderation is very occasional use, which I think would be a maximum of once per week, if you want it on a special occasion, but definitely it should not be a part of your daily intake.
Woodward-Lopez said that when she was a child, soda wasn’t an everyday drink, and it certainly wasn’t offered with meals.
Woodward-Lopez: …Maybe if I was flying on an airplane or I was at a party, a soda might be offered. But I think we’ve seen this cultural shift, and we need to shift back to those basic principles that we know are right in terms of intake, especially for children.
All of that seemed reasonable enough. At this point, Maureen Storey, senior vice president for Science Policy at the American Beverage Association, took to the airwaves, and this is where it really got good. Storey justified the place of soda in one’s diet by giving this golden nugget of rationale…
Dr. Maureen Storey: Soda is comprised mostly of water. A full-calorie soft drink has 90 percent water, and a diet soft drink is 99 percent water. Water is the most important nutrient that we have…
In one miraculous moment, soda became a health food. After all, it has water in it and water is our most important nutrient!
Am I the only one reminded of that old Bill Cosby stand-up routine, in which he serves his kids chocolate cake and grapefruit juice for breakfast, rationalizing that the ingredients in cake include some of their standard breakfast foods? Just disregard all of the extra sugar… Genius!
Norris: If you’re looking at that label on the back of a soda, what else is there that is of nutritional value?
Storey: Of nutritional value, there is either high-fructose corn syrup or sucrose, and that does provide energy or carbohydrates. And if we are active and need a refreshing beverage after a nice, long walk or a run, you can have a beverage and quench your thirst and stay hydrated.
Norris: Is it advisable after a nice, long run, or after going out and exercising, which you’ve been advocating, to reach for a beverage that has 22 grams of sugar or 34 grams of sugar? Is that nutritionally sound?
Storey: Well, I don’t think it’s nutritionally unsound. There are some studies that show that particularly with children, children who have been exercising may not drink enough water to get back to the hydration point that they need to be at. So with a little bit of flavoring and a little bit of sweetness, they will drink enough then to get back to where they need to be.
"Just a spoon full of high fructose corn syrup helps the water go down in the most delightful way..."
See, ladies and gentlemen? Soda is actually helping children in getting the hydration that they need! It’s practically a public service. If we want them to be fully hydrated, we should first entice them with high fructose corn syrup. That was Mary Poppins’ motto, right?
I realize that we haven’t gotten to a 68% overweight & obesity rate in the U.S. by Coke alone. It’s a multi-faceted problem that, in addition to sugary sodas, includes convenience foods, a sedentary lifestyle, a lack of time, and a lack of exercise. However, when the people who have the most to gain – by pocketbook – disregard or greatly downplay their role in the problem, and in fact, portray themselves as part of the solution, it seems disingenuous at best.
Finally, while on my way home tonight, I stopped at the grocery store. While the checker was ringing my groceries, he noticed my workout attire. I told him I’d just been hiking, and he said, “I’ve been thinking I need to start getting fit. Yesterday my son told me, ‘Daddy, I don’t want you to get sick. I don’t want you to die.’ It got me thinking that I need to take care of myself.” And that’s the point. When we embrace an active lifestyle and we fill our homes with the kind of whole, unprocessed foods we know are good for us, and we remove our homes of those foods that aren’t consistent with our own goals of healthfulness and longevity, we’re helping our families twice over. First, there’s the direct impact to their own health. Second, there’s the peace that it gives them to know that the ones they hold near and dear are taking care of themselves too. What more could any of us want than those who we love most to be healthy? We don’t have to wait for the experts to agree or the lobbyists to chime in. Let them spin. We can do it for ourselves at the grocery store today.
Tags: all things considered, beverage, children, health, npr, obesity, pop, soda, spin
Cadry,
The pro soda tax will probably be the one post of yours I disagree on. I have been a type 1 diabetic for 33 years. Sometimes when my sugar is dropping, soda is the only sugary product available without fat content. Fat slows down sugar absorption so fatty things like Snickers bars are not good for treating hypoglycemia (aka low sugars). Being a lifetime type 1 diabetic is already emotionally and monetarily taxing enough. I believe it will be unfair to cause type 1s in these periodic situations to pay taxes on an available sugar product when they have no glucose tablets (which taste horrible BTW so sometimes soda is a more pleasant way to treat the situation) on hand. But then again, I am not a fan of sin taxes.
Oops. Sorry Cadry. I do agree with your post. We should choose our foods wisely and not be sin taxed into the correct choices. I read part of your blog in a hurried time period and there has been so much pushing for sin taxes on soda lately. I apologize to your readers on my previous unrelated rantings.