Just Another Drink?
Delight yourself also in the Lord, and He shall give you the desires of your heart. Ps. 37:4, NKJV.
I WAS ONLY 12 when I became addicted to one of the most common legal drugs in the world, caffeine. Every day after school I worked at my dad's manufacturing plant. After putting down my books and greeting the workers, I'd go to the jar of quarters that my dad kept for me, put one in the vending machine, and got myself a Dr. Pepper. I knew Coke and Pepsi were bad for you because of the caffeine, but no one told me Dr. Pepper was also caffeinated-and I never thought to read the label. (Did bottles have labels in those days?)
Anyway, by the time I learned the truth about Dr. Pepper it was a real struggle to give up. Grape soda just didn't give that afternoon pick-up that I had been getting from caffeine. I now know that what I was experiencing was "borrowed" energy that I'd have to pay back by living with a lower energy level later-just about the time I needed to do my homework!
When you ingest caffeine it shocks your system by doubling the level of adrenaline that causes your liver to dump glucose into your blood stream, resulting in that borrowed energy boost!
When my husband and I were building our house I was amazed at the number of cans of caffeinated soda the workers went through each day. I wondered if they would drink it if they knew it unbalanced their autonomic nervous systems, which controls the function of every major organ in their bodies. The sugar boost aggravates hypoglycemia, increases blood pressure, stimulates the central nervous system, causes irregular heart beat, increases urinary calcium and magnesium losses, constricts blood vessels, and increases stomach acid secretion, which aggravate stomach ulcers. It can also cause tremors, irritability, nervousness, anxiety and depression, and heightened symptoms of PMS. (Most of them didn't have to worry about that!)
What makes me most upset is when I see children drinking caffeinated sodas. Children up to 5 years of age are the heaviest consumers of caffeine per body weight. For a 7-year-old, three cans of Coke are equivalent to an adult drinking eight cups of coffee!
God wants to give us the natural high that comes from a close relationship with Him. He doesn't want us self-medicating on an addictive drug that harms the bodies He created for us!
Are you self-medicating on caffeine drinks to get that borrowed boost of energy? How much better to go for God's natural high! TOP
KAY KUZMA
Reading from Fit Forever. Kay Kuzma, Editor, copyright 2005 Review and Herald Publishing Association Used with Permission.