Beloved Cola

One of my fondest childhood memories is eating McDonald's with my family at a neighbourhood park under the warm sun. That's pretty sad, right? Don't worry, I'm a happy, healthy vegan now. But these memories matter and say something about what's pleasurable to a child. Young kids don't have sex or masturbation to compete with cola. So a hit of cola or another soft drink will send them into ecstasy. I'm pretty sure that amongst the memories, I can remember the first hit of coca-cola surging through my veins like heroin.

Thereafter cola became my mealtime companion. Coke, Sprite and orange pop: all the colours of the rainbow. But cola was always my paramount desire. In high school, I used to drink a case of twenty four cans of cola every week. There were nights when I could actually see my tongue turn brown from this regular overdose.

Then at university I gave it all up. Not cold turkey but through deliberate weaning. I couldn't do it cold turkey anyway, the habit was too far gone; I got terrible headaches if I tried to stop drinking. So I bought a two litre bottle and took two shots a day for a week. Then one and a half shots for the next week. Then one. Then one every other day. Then one twice a week. Then one once a week. Then I stopped. It was over, I'd won. And I haven't fallen off the wagon ever since.

In high school I was a chubby boy. Double chin. Rolls. I wouldn't say I was obese because that word wasn't as popular as it is today but I was fat. When I gave up cola, I changed. I lost all that fat sagging on my sides and around my face. Unfortunately this was also the time I started being vegan so my conclusions cannot be taken as absolute. However, I have to surmise that cola consumption made me an obese child.

Now this week a series of new reports is declaring this link between soft drinks and obesity. It doesn't take a genius to realize that when you ingest many thousands of calories above what you burn you're going to get fat. Soft drinks are energy powerhouses and that energy, when not used, has to be stored somewhere. And despite all this misery and rising rates of childhood onset diabetes, the soft drink companies are laughing all the way to the bank. Our waistlines expand while their bottom lines follow suit.

There are still times when I think fondly of my youth and crave the sweetness of the brown liquor that played such a comforting role. Is that not the definition of addiction? Tax or ban soft drinks now for the sake of the future.