It seems to me that there is a brand attack going on and I have to ask, why Coke? (and why now?)

I have seen the “what happens to your body within 60 minutes of drinking a twelve ounce can of Coke” on about 25 different sites in the last 2 weeks. Here is just one (I didn’t pick Yahoo for any specific reason, it was just 3rd on the Google search I just performed.)

Then, yesterday a friend shared (and I shared, too*) a link to a study on how the aspartame in Diet Coke (and about 100 million other food products) can be really bad for you.I am sure you will see it soon, or have already online and maybe on the nightly news.

Shocking! (No, not really, this has been known for years. My sister did a study on what it does to lab rats in elementary school. She is younger than I am, but that was way back in the early 80s.)

*Sharing the Diet Coke article was just all about timing, for me at least, as I just spent the last week teasing my family that they were filling up the fridge and the recycling bin with empty Diet Coke cans and maybe they should try drinking water…their habit, which is of course, completely different than I just shared in my confessional post on my own caffeine habit and my taste preference for coffee…

Conversely – just yesterday – purchased lunch for a friend (and my acupuncturist) and asked the (aha Coffee House manager) what Maria likes to drink with her sandwich. We both know her and I guessed iced tea – they guessed Coke.

I was like, “no way she drinks that!” but, guess what? She does.

It makes her happy she said. The bubbles; they’re fun and it tastes sweet, but refreshing. It gives her balance when she needs it. (She deals with healing and people who are not feeling well so I could actually understand how it might just be a good little, simple, tactic she uses to lighten the mood every once in a while.) She doesn’t, of course, drink it every day… nor in large quantities. Like most things that wouldn’t be good: the caffeine, preservatives, sugar (actually, not even sugar, but actually highly refined high fructose corn syrup which I think is over used and unnecessary.)

So, setting aside the happy go lucky treat Maria (and about 200 million other people in the world) may choose…Why Coke? or Diet Coke? Why would you choose it and why would it be under fire now?

~ Dawn aka Hat Girl