RIGHT TO VOTE

You do your country and your self no favors by refusing to vote. Some reasons why we need to register to vote and vote as well.

• The only way we can change the destiny of our country is by our vote. We can talk and sing, and paint and go

 for protests but if we don’t vote, we have little chance of changing anything.

• If we don’t vote, we do not have a right to judge the leaders of this country or its policies. If you don’t vote for good leaders you do not have the right of judging bad leaders. If you sit at home watching your country go wrong while you do nothing you have no right to complain.

• Your vote counts. Many people are asking why should I vote? I am only one person. Your vote is important. One vote multiplied by thousands makes a very big difference.

•Your right to vote is one of the rights that you enjoy as a citizen of your country. Use it responsibly.

• As youth this is the time to stand up for what you believe. Its time to show that you are the leader of today not tomorrow. One way of showing this is by voting. Kenya will be changed by people who believe that change can happen. We have to believe that things do not have to stay at the status quo they are at right now. By voting we change the course of the river that is Kenya. The constitution was a right step in changing the course of our destiny. Yes it is many times being used for selfish ends by politicians but despite that or in spite of that it is changing things. It is time for us as Kenyans to decide that we have had enough of the same recycled politicians. Its time for us to choose leaders who like us, care about this country and not just about themselves. As we vote, please don’t vote for leaders just because they are from your tribe or because you know them. Please vote for your leaders based on issues, and their track record. The only way to change Kenya is to vote for leaders who have a vision for this country and a development record.

The Soda Epidemic

The addict feels low. His body needs a boost. He reaches into his pocket and finds a 50 shilling bill. He slides it into the machine and a can rolls out. He opens the can and guzzles. He feels his energy return. His fix will last a couple of hours, enough to keep him alert for the rest of the morning. The addict is twelve years old and his drug is a soft drink, purchased from a vending machine in his school.

Once upon a time, fizzy drinks were an occasional luxury treat. 

Now, many of us think nothing of having at least one every day — maybe a lunchtime can of cola or a ‘natural’ orange juice from Minute Maid, Del-Monte or Afya. We use them as instant pick-me-ups, and even as ‘healthy’ sports aids bought from vending machines at the gym. No trip to the cinema is complete without a supersize soft drink, either.

It’s no surprise to learn, then, that our consumption of soft drinks has more than doubled since 1985 — from ten gallons per person a year to more than 25 gallons. We know this is not entirely good for us — but could sugary soft drinks be so dangerous that they should carry health warnings? 

This may sound alarmist, but new medical studies have produced worrying results.

Even moderate consumption — a can a day, or just two a week — may alter our metabolism so that we pile on weight.

TARGETING THE YOUNG

Huge increases in soft drink consumption have not happened by chance-they are due to intense marketing efforts by soft drink corporations. Coca Cola, for example, has set the goal of raising consumption of its products in the US by at least 25 percent per year. The adult market is stagnant so kids are the target.

Huge increases in soft drink consumption have not happened by chance-they are due to intense marketing efforts by soft drink corporations. Coca Cola, for example, has set the goal of raising consumption of its products in the US by at least 25 percent per year. The adult market is stagnant so kids are the target.

Soft drink companies spend billions on advertising. Much of these marketing efforts are aimed at children through playgrounds, toys, cartoons, movies, videos, charities and amusement parks; and through contests, sweepstakes, games and clubs via television, radio, magazines and the internet. Their efforts have paid off. Last year soft drink companies grossed over $57 billion in sales in the us alone, a colossal amount.

Today Coca-Cola sponsors events of all types mostly targeting young people. They have sposnored local football leagues, local beauty pageants and even gave Sh5m to the National Olympic Committee of Kenya to support the Olympians. On the world stage, they sponsor the Big Brother Africa reality TV show and other sporting games. 

In 1998 the Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) warned the public that soft drink companies were beginning to infiltrate our schools and kid clubs. For example, they reported that Coca-Cola paid the Boys & Girls Clubs of America $60 million to market its brand exclusively in over 2000 facilities. Fast food companies selling soft drinks now run ads on Channel One, the commercial television network with programming shown in classrooms almost every day to eight million middle, junior and high school students. In 1993, District 11 in Colorado Springs became the first public school district in the us to place ads for Burger King in its hallways and on the sides of its school buses. Later, the school district signed a 10-year deal with Coca-Cola, bringing in $11 million during the life of the contract. This arrangement was later imitated all over Colorado. The contracts specify annual sales quotas with the result that school administrators encourage students to drink sodas, even in the classrooms. One high school in Beltsville, Maryland, made nearly $100,000 last year on a deal with a soft drink company.

While our children are exposed to unremitting publicity for soft drinks, evidence of their dangers accumulates. The consumption of soft drinks, like land-mine terrain, is riddled with hazards. Practitioners and advocates of a healthy life-style recognize that consuming even as little as one or two sodas per day is undeniably connected to a myriad of pathologies. The most commonly associated health risks are obesity, diabetes and other blood sugar disorders, tooth decay, osteoporosis and bone fractures, nutritional deficiencies, heart disease, food addictions and eating disorders, neurotransmitter dysfunction from chemical sweeteners, and neurological and adrenal disorders from excessive caffeine.

INGREDIENTS IN SOFT DRINKS - A WITCH'S BREW OF DEATH!

1. High Fructose Corn Syrup, now used in preference to sugar, is associated with poor development of collagen in growing animals, especially in the context of copper deficiency. All fructose must be metabolized by the liver. Animals on high-fructose diets develop liver problems similar to those of alcoholics. Juicing-for-health.com explains that soft drinks contain up to 15 tsp. of sugar content per 325 m can, which is more sugar than your body needs for an entire day. Sugar can be harmful as it rots teeth, increases your risk of diabetes, heart disease and indigestion.

2. Aspartame, used in diet sodas, is a potent neurotoxin and endocrine disrupter.

3. Caffeine stimulates the adrenal gland without providing nourishment. Caffeine is used to increase the flavor in soft drinks, but it is also very addictive. In large amounts, caffeine can lead to adrenal exhaustion, especially in children.

4. Phosphoric acid, added to give soft drinks "bite," is associated with calcium loss.

5. Citric acid often contains traces of MSG, a neurotoxin.

6. Artificial Flavors may also contain traces of MSG.

7. Preservatives are put into soft drinks so that they last longer. However, Juicing-for-health.com explains that preservatives like sodium benzoate or sulfur dioxide can cause asthma, rashes, hyperactivity, fainting, shock, or a coma.

8. Water may contain high amounts of fluoride and other contaminants.

HAZARDS OF SODA AND OTHER SOFT DRINKS

A growing body of research suggests a link between sugary soda consumption and high blood pressure, liver disease, gout and some types of cancer as well. Some recent findings show just how bad soda is for your health:

A child’s risk for obesity increases an average of 60 percent with every additional serving consumed per day of sugar-sweetened beverages, including sugary soda, according to a study conducted at the Harvard School of Public Health.

Harvard studies have also shown that women who drink the most sugar-sweetened beverages have a 35-percent higher risk of coronary heart disease than those who drink the fewest. 

Researchers at the University of British Columbia and the Harvard Medical School have discovered that men who consume two or more servings of sugary soda per day have an 85-percent higher risk of developing gout compared with those who consume less than one serving per month.

People who drink two or more sweetened soft drinks a week have an 87-percent higher risk of developing pancreatic cancer compared to those who drank fewer, according to a study analyzing data from the Singapore Chinese Health Study published in the journal Cancer Epidemiology, Biomarkers & Prevention.

SUGAR: THE BIGGEST DANGER HIDDEN IN A CAN OF COKE

Doctors are in no doubt - the biggest danger from cola doesn’t come from the hidden additives, flavourings  or colourings, but from sugar.

Too much sugar leads to obesity, the major cause of cancer in the western world.

It also increases the risk of type 2 diabetes, causes heart disease and increases the risk of stroke.

The over-consumption of sugar has been linked to depression, poor memory formation and learning disorders in animal experiments. And it rots teeth.

Each regular can of  cola contains eight teaspoons of sugar. When you drink that much sugar so quickly, the body experiences an intense sugar rush. 

The cane and beet  sugar used in Coca-Cola is used up quickly by the body,  which soon experiences a  rapid drop  in energy, leading to cravings for more sugar.

    

CITRIC ACID: HELPING FIZZY DRINKS ROT YOUR TEETH

Citric acid gives lemons, oranges and grapefruit their kick and cola its bite, helping to make the drink nearly as corrosive as battery acid when it comes to teeth.

Prolonged exposure to cola and other fizzy drinks strips tooth enamel causing pain, ugly smiles and — in extreme cases — turning teeth to stumps.

A study in the journal General Dentistry found that cola is ten times as corrosive as fruit juices in the first three minutes of drinking.

The researchers took slices of freshly extracted teeth and immersed them in 20 soft drinks. Teeth dunked for 48 hours in cola and lemonade lost more than five per cent of their weight.

A study in the British Dental Journal found that just one can of fizzy drink a day increased the risk of tooth erosion. While four cans increased the erosion risk by  252 per cent.

FRUIT JUICES

Consumers often drink commercial fruit juices in the belief that they are healthier than soft drinks. However, the manufacture of fruit juices is a highly industrialized process. Orange juice, for example, is made in huge quantities. The entire orange is squeezed and goes into the tank, which means that neurotoxic cholinesterase inhibitor pesticide sprays on the peel end up in the juice. Although the juice is pasteurized under high temperatures and pressures, pressure-resistent and temperature- resistant fungi and molds can remain in the juice. Many mutagenic factors have been detected in commercial orange juice. A compound made of soy protein and pectin is added to orange juice so that it remains opaque and doesn't settle.

Other fruits, such as grapes, present additional problems because of the large amounts of fluoride-containing pesticides used on the crops. Fruit juices are very high in sugar and have actually been more detrimental to the teeth of test animals than sodas!

If you want to drink fruit juice, buy a juicer and make your own with organic fruit. It's best to dilute a small amount of fruit juice with mineral water (either flat or carbonated). The juice of one-half grapefruit added to a glass of sparkling water, for example, makes a delicious, refreshing drink. A recipe for a pineapple cooler, made from equal parts of fresh pineapple juice and whole raw milk, is found in old cookbooks. In restaurants, order mineral water and some pieces of fresh lemon or lime.

1. SOLUTION

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     Because there is no way to rid soft drinks at stores or restaurant, the best solution is to take responsibility for yourself. Rather than order soft drinks, try to get vegetable or fruit juices.

     
     

     
     

     

     
     

     
     

     
     

     Remember, research continues to prove that soda is bad for your health, but you can never go wrong with water.