Cricket heroes and Bollywood heroes are always to be seen advertising soft drinks like Coke and Pepsi. And no "hero" ever advertises beer! At least Peter Tosh was possessed of the courage to sing, as regards ganja:
Legalise it,
I'll advertise it.
As compared to "soft drugs" like ganja and beer, soft drinks are extremely harmful to your health - and if you want proof, do read this article by Dr. Joseph Mercola: a very good doctor indeed, whose columns I regularly read on LewRockwell.com, where they despise "Obamacare" and encourage doctors like Mercola who talk of ways to maintain "natural health" while warning about "conventional lifestyles," like soft drinks. He begins by saying that, along with french fries, doughnuts and chips, soft drinks rank high among the "5 worst food and drinks."
Soft drinks contain sugar - too much sugar. So does tea and coffee - of which too much is consumed in India these days. What happens to your body after you drink a Coke or Pepsi, with all that sugar (and no cocaine!)? Dr. Mercola tells us what:
Once [the soft drink has been] ingested, your pancreas rapidly begin to create insulin in response to the sugar. The rise in blood sugar is quite rapid. Here’s a play-by-play of what happens in your body upon drinking a can of soda [American word for soft drink]:
- Within 20 minutes, your blood sugar spikes, and your liver responds to the resulting insulin burst by turning massive amounts of sugar into fat.
- Within 40 minutes, caffeine absorption is complete; your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, and your liver dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. As you could see in the report above, DeNies’ blood glucose level was 79 at the outset of the experiment, and after 40 minutes it had risen to 111!
- Around 45 minutes, your body increases dopamine production, which stimulates the pleasure centers of your brain – a physically identical response to that of heroin, by the way.
- After 60 minutes, you’ll start to have a blood sugar crash, and you may be tempted to reach for another sweet snack or beverage.
As I’ve discussed on numerous occasions, chronically elevated insulin levels (which you would definitely have if you regularly drink soda) and the subsequent insulin resistance is a foundational factor of most chronic disease, from diabetes to cancer.
Dr. Mercola concludes thus:
[Ingesting a soft drink] clearly elevates your insulin levels, and elevated insulin levels are the foundation of most chronic disease. Not only does drinking just one soda [American word for soft drink] per day increase your risk of diabetes by 85 percent, it also increases your risk of:
- Heart disease
- Cancer
- Arthritis
- Osteoporosis
- Gout
- Non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD)
Another reason why soft drinks are bad is, as Dr. Mercola points out, they contain "tap water."
Let us now turn our attention to beer - which contains neither sugar nor salt, and is boiled prior to fermentation. This boiled and fermented barley-water is GOOD for you and your health. It is "nutritious." Germans call it "liquid bread." It is especially good where the natural drinking water is contaminated - as in much of India. And beer is not "hard liquor."
And look at ganja-charas, which are not physically addictive - unlike the sugar in the soft drink. Indeed, ganja cures many diseases, from glaucoma to asthma. I have an asthmatic friend who has been cured by ganja-charas - and no longer requires an inhaler.
And look at tobacco, tea and coffee - all of which came from abroad; that too, in fairly recent times.
So let's hear it for beer and ganja:
Legalise it,
I'll advertise it.
I'm not much for beer or not sure what ganja is, i'm assuming it is some sort of "drug". But I'm not keen on smoking either. But it is kind of interesting how bad soda is for us. I drink it every day. Yikes!
ReplyDeleteJason, Ganja is a popular Indian word for Marijuana / Cannbis / 420(US) / Grass(UK/India). Charas is Hashish. If administered in a way other than smoking, it is less harmful than some commonly available and usually legal substances such as alcohol and tobacco [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cannabis_(drug)#Long-term_effects]
ReplyDeleteSauvik, I understand your position about lifting drug ban on relatively harmless substances such as Ganja. What do you think about lifting drug ban on even more "dangerous" drugs such as cocaine? Also, what do you think about the State's role in protecting "minors" or the "intellectually challenged" from harmful additive substances? Just curious.
-Amit S
@ Jason,
ReplyDeleteGanja is marijuana.
I drink soda everyday too, it is definitely addictive.
@Sauvik
Personally never smoked ganja, but see no reason in banning the thing. Whats the point in persecuting someone who is just out to have some harmless fun. Is it just because the government can't tax the thing that it is illegal or is there something more to it, because surely there are more harmful substances in our foodchain which are detrimental to our health, for instance "hormonally enhanced" meat and poultry, pesticides in produce. But we dont see "war on pesticides ", do we?
Our The State is letting minors get screwed by soft drinks and gutka - what does it care for, other than money under the table?
ReplyDeleteAs for cocaine, the indigenous people of South America have been chewing coca leaves for millennia - without any harmful effects.
Indeed, a "tea" made from crushed coca leaves is a healthier "energy drink" than the caffeine-laced stuff rich kids consume these days.
How about a paan with some coca leaves in it? Ought to be great! Far better than paan with tobacco.
I say: Take care of yourself and "teach your children well." I tell all kids to smoke ganja-charas and quit tobacco. I tell them to drink beer and avoid hard liquor.
IDEA: How about setting up and Academy of Highs?
There, the ignorant can pursue short courses on ganja-charas; wine, beer and liquors; magic mushrooms; coca and cocaine; LSD and Ecstacy; Opiates; etc..
Ought to be a HIT!
Our young people sorely need this "hard knowledge."