This page will be filled with ideas from research, the medical and mental health communities, and organizations like SAMHSA and NAMI to provide information to help you in your journey navigating through the eight dimensions of wellness in your own life.
SODA
I have travelled the country and found that people call this drink a number of things from pop to soda to soda pop to carbonated sweetness in a can. In one place that I lived, I also found that every kind of soda was called “coke” (notice it wasn’t capitalized like the brand name), and when you ordered one, then the next question was, “what kind” or “what flavor?” huh? You can imagine my surprise at that.
Having lived with diabetes, I stopped drinking soda pop, many years ago, only drinking it when there wasn’t anything else available to drink. I really dislike diet pop (yuck), but I did like the taste of carbonated water. I drank a lot of it, for years. When my doctor suggested that I have bariatric surgery (another discussion for another time), I had to take the pre-bariatric courses and learned more about carbonated drinks, including soda, in general that was another surprise.
Prior to bariatric surgery, all patients are required to sign an agreement, or the doctors at that time would refuse to do the surgery. One of the things we had to agree to was that we would never, yes never, drink carbonated drinks, again. Read that again. It does not say soda pop. It says carbonated drinks, which includes carbonated water.
Some people think it is simply because the bubbles can bounce off the walls of your stomach and expand it, making a potential of the stitches breaking. Well, that is partially true in the beginning recovery stages. It goes beyond that, though. Imagine the lining of your stomach continuing to expand when all those bubbles are bouncing away from wall to wall. As you stomach expands, it is creating additional surface area on which absorbtion occurs of the good nurtients and also the poor ones, sugars, fats, and all of the things that defeat the purpose of you having gone through the agony of that surgery. The potential of gaining back all of the weight becomes a reality.
Another reality we are finding has to do with the newer studies of the gut biome. We are finding, now that our systems work properly because of lots of little microbes, bacteria, and micro-organisms that co-exist within our human bodies. When we damage the lining of our stomach, colon, organs, and other parts of our body, we are destroying the way our systems are supposed to work. We are also potentially poisoning our systems by accidentally causing our gut and colon to leak into places they are not supposed to leak. In addition, the excess heavy metals and plastics that we intake are leaking and absorbing through these extra means, as well.
So ask yourself: Is it worth it to drink carbonated drinks? It is a risk.
DIABETES
Let’s start with a discussion about an interesting article from the AARP Magazine on Diabetes! The title is “The War on Diabetes: Remarkable Breakthroughs in Prevention and Treatment.” Okay, the names says it all. It brings up the questions: If we know so much, now, why are so many more people being diagnosed with diabetes, even though we know the consequences (problems with eyes, liver, kidneys, liver, heart, brain… early death). Prevention is the key, yet this article tells us that 3/5 of those over 65 and 2/3 over 45 have diabetes or prediabetes (pg.11, 2026). YIKES!
The article is worth reading (January 2026). If you get the AARP Magazine, we highly recommend reading it. If you do not, find someone who gets it and borrow this issue. The article outlines five “breakthroughs” that could change the outcomes for Americans: 1.) weightloss drugs that are more affordable or becoming more affordable, especially for very overweight people and older adults, 2.) the availability of effective prevention programs (only if we are willing to use them and follwo through that is), 3.) blood sugar monitors that are wearable and can continuously monitor our blood sugar levels, 4.) heart and kidney protection drugs that can be used in conjunction with weightloss or diabetes control methods, and 5.) a variety of insulin delivery systems
Wingmen, Shipmates, & Battle Buddies wants to add that the most important thing we got from this article is that the majority of people who have diabetes or prediabetes do not know they have it, because they have not been screened or have not had a recent screening. We recommend that each of you over the age of 45, and younger people who are overweight, get a screening, every few years to ensure that you can take measures to protect your body from further damage. Like almost every disorder in health and wellness: Early detection is the key to positive results!