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A Los Angeles man is on a quest to show Americans the ills of consuming way too much sugar in the same vein as the 2004 McDonald's food experiment Super Size Me. He's drinking a whopping 10 cans of Coke a day for an entire month and documenting his body's changes in the process. It turns out drinking a bunch of Coke isn't good for you!
Prior started his diet experiment on Oct. 24 and clocked in at 168 pounds. He last recorded his weight on Nov. 17 and wrote that he gained nearly 20 pounds at 187.5 pounds. There's three days to go before he hits his 30-day mark. His body fat has increased from 9.4 percent to 14.9 percent. He's also tracking his blood pressure and monitoring his glucose levels.
During his month-long project, he's been keeping the same Paleo diet (which he cheats on occasion with beer and ice cream) that he was already doing with the addition of 1,400 calories worth of soda. Prior's also not changing his exercise habits, which includes working out about once a week. He also works in an office (manufacturing a grilling tool called the BBQ Dragon).
We have the same questions that you're probably asking yourself right now like "Why would anyone drink 10 cans a day?" and "What does that have to do with the rest of America?" Well, Prior claims that 50 percent of Americans are taking in as much sugar as what's in 10 cans of Coke.
LAist hasn't found any specific statistics supporting his data. However, according to our calculations, drinking 10 cans of Coke would equate to consuming 390 grams (or 0.85 pounds) of sugar. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) says that the average American eats 156 pounds of sugar a year, so that would be about 195 grams (or 0.43 pounds) of sugar a day. Prior's calculations are definitely over the top, but the average American is consuming about 5 Coke cans worth of sugar a day.
Prior talked to LA Weekly about how he came up with this idea:
I was joking around with one of my brothers. We saw an article that Jude Law had been drinking ten Cokes a day to gain weight for a movie role. And I thought that's probably a diet for some people and we looked into it and it turns out it is a diet for some people. And here's why I chose it: the amount of sugar that's in ten Cokes is actually less than what most Americans are eating in added sugar every day. And that doesn't even count the amount of sugar you have in fruit and the sugars you get from regular food.
He's been blogging on this Tumblr, posting on Facebook and making YouTube videos about his experience. In one clip, with several Coke boxes in the background, he talks about how he feels 21 days in. He says that day's the first time he wasn't able to buckle his jeans.
"I don't feel good today," Prior says in the video. "I've had a headache all day. Who knows if it has anything to do with the sugar or the caffeine of the 10 Cokes. I don't think it's the caffeine because i drink coffee anyway."
You can see the video below:
Well, we can't say we're too surprised he isn't feeling great. According to The American Heart Association (AHA), they recommend "limiting the amount of added sugars you consume to no more than half of your daily discretionary calories allowance. For most American women, that’s no more than 100 calories per day, or about 6 teaspoons of sugar. For men, it’s 150 calories per day, or about 9 teaspoons."
