Drinking one soda a day could cause you to gain 15 pounds a year. Other related health risks include type 2 diabetes, heart disease, bowel cancer and nerve damage.

More Dangerous Than Smoking? Death By Soda
By Joshua Frank

We are a country of overweight people. Americans are tipping the scales in record numbers, with approximately 130 million who are presently considered overweight or obese. Perhaps most alarmingly of all, half of all women aged 20 to 39 in the United States are included in these figures. Many factors contribute to the growing problem, from our sedentary lifestyles to our overindulgence in high-energy, low nutritional foods. Dealing with the crisis is not easy. The marketing of energy dense foods is a multi-billion dollar industry, and manufacturers of such products go to great lengths to ensure their shareholders continue to profit from the sales of nutrition-less foods.

Despite the barrage of marketing to the contrary, sales pitches, and misinformation, consumption of soda has been directly linked to both obesity as well as type 2 diabetes. Soft drinks are packed full of sugar and refined carbohydrates, both of which are undeniably correlated to these factors. Type 2 diabetes is also associated with a poor diet that is laden with high-fructose corn syrup and low in fiber. Research indicates that soft drinks largely contribute to this growing epidemic, with high school and college age kids being the most likely to consume sugar laden soda beverages on a regular basis.

Sugar-sweetened beverages (SSBs) are bad news, according to health experts, because they contribute to the obesity epidemic by providing empty calories, that is, calories that provide little or no nutritional value. Meaning, a person who slugs down too much soda is swallowing more than their body can handle. And this added energy isn’t healthy energy — it’s energy derived from high-fructose corn syrup (HFCS), i.e., highly refined sugar that has been chemically processed in order to excite your taste buds. It has been argued that too much HFCS in one’s diet may offset the intake of solid food, yet does not produce a positive caloric balance. In turn, this over-consumption contributes to the slow development of obesity because the person is consuming more calories than their body can burn. And these days, people are drinking more soda than ever before. Perhaps not surprisingly, as portion sizes for soft drinks have increased, so have American waistlines.

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In the newest edition of XXL Soul Magazine, R&B singer Case explains what happened when he accidently shot himself with his cousin’s gun. He tell the interviewer:
“The bullet went right next to my throat. A half-inch from my spine, but missed everything. I knew I was shot. I just didn’t know where. I looked in the mirror, saw it was my throat and tried to sing. Then I sat down, lit a cigarette and waited for the ambulance.”

It’s shit like this that makes me want to start using the n-word again…

Today’s videos of the day are for the people who grew up watching cartoons in the 1980s. Here are a few classics:

I felt like the blacks had gotten lost in musical trends in some ways, and got away from what they were really looking for.

I started Michael years ago. I saw him in Gary, Indiana, and we’d have him on the talent shows. He kind of emulated me, and did the best he could.

I taught them everything they know, but not everything I know.

I thank God for the Apollo Theater. When I saw those people, that was the awards.

I was stillborn. The midwives laid me aside, thought I was really gone. I laid there about an hour, and they picked me back up and tried again, ’cause my body was still warm. The Good Lord brought me back.

I’m kidding about having only a few dollars. I might have a few dollars more.

I’ve outdone anyone you can name – Mozart, Beethoven, Bach, Strauss. Irving Berlin, he wrote 1,001 tunes. I wrote 5,500.

Thank God for the journey.

The one thing that can solve most of our problems is dancing.

When I’m on stage, I’m trying to do one thing: bring people joy. Just like church does. People don’t go to church to find trouble, they go there to lose it.

You only live once.

I hope you live 200 years, and that I live 200 years minus one day, so I never know beautiful people like you passed away.

Last week, a friend of mine told me that she was starting a new fitness class. Given her disdain for all things athletic, I was genuinely shocked by her enthusiasm and wanted to know what type of class had her so excited. Having spent my fair share of time in a gym, I fully prepared for her to say Hip-Hop, Tai-Bo, or Pilates. Instead, she matter-of-factly said, Im taking a strip aerobics class!

At first, I thought that the idea of a strip aerobics was great. Given Americas notorious gluttony, I thought, who cared what brought them to the gym? Whether its Sweatin to the Oldies or Doing something strange for change, the bottom line was that people were going to be healthier and happier.

Of course, nothing is ever that simple.

Upon deeper reflection, I realized that strip aerobics is not merely about fitness, but the fulfillment of fantasy.Every time a corporate attorney takes Intro to Pole (thats a real class!), we become increasingly ignorant or indifferent to the realities of an industry that has vicious effects on the health, lives, and psyches of millions of people around the world. Like America’s renewed infatuation with the “pimp,” this latest cultural sublimation will further strip away our innocence and compassion.