sodaYou're no doubt well aware that soda is now the nutritional equivalent of Satan, what with all the recent hoopla over NYC Mayor Michael Bloomberg's plan to restrict cup sizes for sugar-sweetened beverages to 16 ounces and all the other related hoopla about soda taxes and soda bans in schools, et cetera, et cetera, and so forth. And clearly, soda is not good for human beings or any other living thing to drink. But it IS a manageable vice to indulge in occasionally, if you know how, and, here's the thing guys ... I know how. Shhhh, don't tell anybody.

See, I stopped drinking soda on a regular basis when I was about 15 years old and noticed that a can of, say, root beer and a glazed Krispy Kreme donut had practically the same caloric price tag. I've been out of the horrible habit of counting calories for quite some time, but one thing stayed with me all these years (this is the secret!! So get ready!!!):

More from The Stir: Your Daily Diet Soda Habit Could Be Deadly

I still equate sugary drinks with dessert. And that, people, is the trick!! Treat soda like any other dessert and you can have your soda and drink it too, essentially. It's when you drink soda or any other high-sugar beverage with the same wild hydrating abandon as you would water that you get into trouble.

That said, I'm guessing 16 ounces of soda at every meal is going to cause problems no matter what. Cause a regular soda is 12 ounces, no? So, eating another helping or half-helping of dessert 3 times a day would lead to extra poundage as well. Common sense, guys. COMMON SENSE.

Do you drink soda? How often?

 

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