Drink pop?

I know many of us active folks enjoy a cool sip of coke post training as a quick sugar filled pick-me-up, but it looks like besides the fact that there's nothing nutritious about the ingredients in pops, there could be additional things to worry about too, like the fact that canned pops contained leaked BPA, and research is linking this estrogen-mimicking chemical to prostate and breast cancer.

Drink Soda Pop? You're Drinking Bisphenol A (BPA)
Still, many scientists are worried about ingestion of the minute amounts of BPA found leaching from food and beverage packaging. The chemical is a synthetic compound able to fool cells into viewing it as estrogen, providing what amounts to an extra dollop of the female hormone.

BPA Found In Pop Cans
It turns out a cold drink isn't the only thing in your pop can.
A Health Canada study found the estrogen-mimicking chemical bisphenol-A in the vast majority of canned beverages - 69 of 72 of those tested contained residues.

BPA and Breast Cancer
Research suggests that BPA exposure may contribute to the epidemic of breast cancer now and in the future. Furthermore, BPA exposure has been shown to interfere with chemotherapy treatment for breast cancer.

There is some great info out there about BPA and our very own WA Toxics Coalition. They just had a major victory getting the WA State legislator to pass a law prohibiting BPA in baby bottles.

In my grad school days, I gained about 20 lbs feasting on one cheesecake a day. (Before you accuse me of having no self-control, know that coming from Taiwan where cheesecake was not available, cheesecake is simply irresistible after that first bite. Also I did limit myself to just 1/3 of the 9" cake with each meal). Anyway, to lose those pounds fast, I had this "scientific" idea of drinking lots of ice cold diet soda to lose weight (think how much calorie the body has to expand to bring the soda to body temp!). Compared to joining Jenny Craig, soda was cheap and affordable for a student's budget.

I am glad that luckily I hated the taste of diet soda, so I quickly gave up on this plan. I would much rather be big than having all these chemicals swooshing in my body!