It has been more than three years since I have stopped having cold beverages like Coke, Sprite, Fanta, etc. I think this has been one of the best steps towards my health. I owed myself this.
In generally, I was not quite a fond of these beverages but I wasn’t actively saying no to these drinks before. Then I had UTI when I was in class six, and the doctor asked me to avoid sugary beverages at all cost. My health recovered gradually and I noticed that avoiding soft drinks also reduced my acne issues back in the time. However, I got back to having cold drinks every now and then, especially with Bengali festive foods like Polao, Biriyani, etc. But I always wondered what do these drinks have in them that could have caused my UTI to get worse.
In 2020, when apartheid Israeli forces started genocide on Gaza and it started speculating on social media, I learned about how this big beverage companies fund Israel to carry out their atrocities. Also, a case of Pepsi came on social media where a man found a rat in Pepsi Can and sued them. But the company won the lawsuit claiming that a rat would have dissolved in a Pepsi Can and that was an eye opening event for me.
“A rat cannot last that long in a sugary beverage, it would be dissolved.” The confidence in that statement is pretty concerning and somewhat stomach-turning. Why? Because if a rat can go dissolved, how dangerous is that beverage for our internal organs. How toxic is that very product that we are so resistant to avoid.
I started listing the positive sides of consuming that beverage and there is none. It has immense amount of sugar and god knows what chemicals. It has artificial dyes in it. These beverages make you bloated, causes your bile juice to go haywire. You have more chances to get diabetes and inflammation related diseases upon consuming such beverages.
I’m no doctor or a scholar. But one thing became very clear that I cannot touch these beverages ever again if I want to stay healthy. I owe my body the minimum care it deserves. Hence, I stopped drinking cold drinks permanently and politely or rudely (based of the situation) decline if offered.
What benefits has this decision brought to me? There are some. I don’t get bloated even if I have heavy foods, I don’t have acne, my oral health started getting better, I don’t feel sluggish after having festive foods, a mental satisfaction. I don’t know what changes this step has brought to my internal health. But I know there is a good change. I can feel that.
Also, I’m helping reduce plastic pollution. Cold beverages are some of the highest contributors to the plastic pollution. So for three years every time I said no to cold beverage, I saved my gut and the environment. And I’m proud of my simple action.
As a human being we all owe our body and Mother Nature. It is our duty to finally educate ourselves about these big corps, their deceptions, and the consequences.
