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How drinking can damage your bones
19th January 2007
If I could find a way to cycle and type at the same time, I'd be whizzing round my office right now, writing today's Good Life Letter.
Either that, or I'd have joined the circus.
Because it's week two of my new bike riding regime and I have to say I absolutely love it for two reasons...
First, the obvious one it keeps you fit and helps you lose weight.
I've already shaved three pounds off my weight and I'm not counting my Christmas weight here, which drops off the minute security guards throw me out of the Cadbury's factory on the 2nd of January.
No, this weight loss is off my usual weight. And three pounds is pretty good going.
In fact, I've already attracted one wolf whistle. (So what if it was a sarcastic one from Lara? I'll take anything I can get.).
The second reason is bike riding makes me FEEL marvellous. I'd forgotten just how liberating and stupidly enjoyable it is. Even a short ride down to the shops and back becomes a mini adventure.
Seriously, it makes you feel young, it makes you smile, it makes you get out more, it gives you energy and it annoys 4x4 drivers.
So give bike riding a go. I seriously think you'll love it.
Even though, in terms of purely getting fit, I think this is even better...
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How come a 75-year old man can pedal faster than me?
Okay, I've never actually raced this guy, but I'm willing to bet he'd beat me hands down, which is pretty bad considering he's old enough to be my dad.
I'm talking about Vince Graham, an ex-academic who pretty much lived like the rest of us, until one day, he looked in the mirror and thought 'Hey, who's that fat guy starting at me?'
But rather than pound away in a gym for weeks like half of Britain's doing right now, he went about getting fit and getting in shape in a most unusual way.
And it worked like nobody's business.
If you've not heard the story of Vince Graham before, here it is in all it's glory:
Body Scultping
I know I've banged on a bit about weight loss and fitness since Christmas, but let's face it... this is the time of year where hundreds of us try and shift weight and waist thousands of pounds on a gym membership that won't work.
Or start eyeing up the Bones-U-Like slimming powders and shakes
So I'd like to give you some powerful, natural alternatives instead.
- Bike.
- Health Inferno
- Body Scultping
Not necessarily in that order, but all worth a serious look at if you'd like to lose weight and get a little fitter, without filling yourself with bad things.
Talking of bad things...
Good study, bad study
Here's part of a letter I received from Good Lifer Eileen:
'Are you able to do a newsletter on coca-cola and its effects? I actually drink it and want to know how bad it is for me so then I might be able to give it up.' |
Now, I'm not going to comment on specific companies like Coca Cola.
After all, they'd like to teach the world to sing. So they must be warm, friendly people, mustn't they?
But I'm MORE than happy to say a thing or two about cola and fizzy drinks in general.
Starting with this interesting (but hardly surprising) little fact...
A study that was supported by the drinks industry showed there was no link between drinking fizzy drinks and overweight kids.
But in a recent study supported by other researchers, the findings were a little different...In fact they were the complete OPPOSITE of what the drink's industry say.
This new study (and I know which one I believe) found that 12-year-olds who drank soft drinks regularly were more likely to be overweight than those who didn't.
For each additional daily serving of sugar-sweetened soft drink consumed during the nearly two-year study, the risk of obesity increased 1.6 times.
And unlike previous studies, this one was conducted over nineteen months, which makes the findings far more reliable.
'But we have diet pop with no calories! Drink them! DRINK THEM!' the drink's industry scream, panicking that their profits are flowing stickily down the drain.
Yeah sure, they don't have any calories. But they're packed with artificial baddies like aspartame.
And whether they're diet or non-diet, they all harbour this threat...
Why fizzy drinks are worse for women
Phosphorus, a common ingredient in fizzy drinks, can eat away at the calcium content of your bones. Well, that's the conclusion drawn after a number of tests on lab rats, who suffered bone loss as a result of regular use of cola drinks.
But as drinks companies love to point out, humans and rats are not exactly the same (unless you count the bank manager who charged me £25 to tell me I hadn't set up a direct debit properly).
But I'm afraid it's not just rats that are at risk...
A 1994 Harvard study of bone fractures in teenage athletes found a strong association between cola beverage consumption and bone fractures. The girls who drank cola were about five times more likely to suffer bone fractures than girls who didn't.
To me, that's pretty conclusive.
So Eileen, in a long rambling answer to your question, I would personally cut back on the fizzy stuff.
It may be tough, because colas can have half the caffeine of a cup of coffee, and that's a pretty addictive measure.
Withdrawal symptoms from quitting could include being irritable, bad concentration, feeling sleepy, and having a cracking headache.
That sounds like all the symptoms I suffer watching Wales play football.
If you really love cola, then don't deny yourself entirely. There's no point being super healthy but as miserable as sin.
But measure how much soda you drink, and try and cut your intake by half.
Right. That's all for today.
Have a great weekend, and I'll pop ('pop', geddit?) by again on Sunday.
Till then,
Yours as ever,
Ray Collins
The Good Life Letter
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