I was at the grocery store the other day, grabbing a few things so that I could make supper for my family and I. We were going to have some killer chicken and veggies cooked up on my Blackstone grill. Man I love that thing; huge top like a Hibachi grill and two air fryer baskets so I can make everything outside and less mess to clean up. Not a sponsor by Blackstone, but it is a pretty awesome grill.
Anyway, I went down the wrong aisle actually, looking for some rolls to go with supper, and was in the pop aisle. I'm from Kansas, so I actually grew up calling everything Coke, so I figured I would try to use a neutral term.....so whatever camp you are in.....Coke vs. pop vs. soda......I was in that aisle.
I saw this person, who was I'm guessing about my age and they were filling up their shopping cart. The only thing that was in it was 2 liter bottles of Mr. Pibb. If you are not familiar with Mr. Pibb, it is similar to Dr. Pepper I think. I don't drink pop anymore, but I did growing up. I wasn't ever a fan of Mr. Pibb or Dr. Pepper. But this person had at least 20-25 bottles of it, and nothing else.
Now, again, I am not shaming this person or thinking I am better because I choose not to drink pop; I just made an observation and I have been thinking about it ever since. I don't know the circumstances as to why he was purchasing it. Is he having a large gathering at his house, and he had everything else except for soda? But then, I would assume he would have gotten a variety unless it was a Mr. Pibb support group or something. Maybe there was something for work and he was in charge of beverages. I don't know, it just was odd to me. I didn't check, but maybe it was a huge sale on only Mr. Pibb.
The individual went up, went through self check, and then left. They did not appear to be a person that exercises or is nutritionally savvy. They may not be remotely interested in fitness or nutrition, and that is their business, not anyone elses. But based off my assessment, they probably suffer from hypertension, possibly diabetes or pre-diabetes. So the over abundance of Mr. Pibb is definitely not helping this situation.
Per Wikipedia, Mr. Pibb was created by Coca Cola in the summer of 1972, trying to rival Dr. Pepper. It started in the South, in Texas and Mississippi, and later was all over the United States. There is more history on the beverage, but I will spare you the details. What I do want to include is the "nutritional" content.
Mr. Pibb, one can, has 0 Fat, 26mg Sodium, 26g Total Carbohydrates (SUGAR), 0mg Protein and 40mg of caffeine. I always like how the companies use the term nutrition, even though there is nothing nutritious in any of these beverages. I am not picking on Mr. Pibb in particular, just using it since I saw a shopping cart full the other day.
So using the "nutritional" information, and estimating the volume the person had, in a 68.8 ounce or 2L bottle, there is approximately 104g of sugar. So in a tablespoon of regular sugar, there is 13g. So in a 2L bottle that is 8 tablespoons. So if they had 25 bottles, that is 2,600g of sugar! Man that is a ton of sugar, and all of those calories are just empty calories sitting in your system, not being used.
What is the point of my ramblings? I just want to point out that if you are wanting to change your health habits, and you do happen to consume a lot of pop, I would start there. Do you have to quit cold turkey? Absolutely not. The habit is very difficult to break. I do know that once you go off of the empty calories, then you will start to feel better, have more energy and will be able to change your body composition. I am a big believer in "low and slow". If you drink 6 cans per day, just start decreasing it by 1 can per week; replace that can with water or some other low calorie beverage until you can get rid of it. Liquid calories are a low hanging fruit when you are looking to get rid of calories.
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