How bad is soda? Not only does it bloat your waistline, it shrinks your wallet. Your body doesn't like soda -- soda pushes nutritious foods to the side. Diet soda may not have sugar, but it has the same effect on your pocketbook and your diet balance.

Americans' waistlines continue to expand, and so do the dollars spent yearly on soda and sweetened soft drinks. A 1997 USDA study showed that Americans spent over 54 billion dollars to buy 14 billion gallons of soda, which means on average each American adult and child consumed 576 cans per year, or 1.6 cans per day. Carbonated soft drinks account for more than 27 percent of Americans’ beverage consumption.

Newer studies report that per capita soft drink consumption among U.S. children has increased by nearly 500 percent over the past 50 years, and nearly half of all children age 19 and under consume carbonated soft drinks each day; after age 10, soda is the most commonly consumed beverage among kids.

Health experts cite soda as responsible for the lowering of nutrition in our diet in two ways. First: soda, sweetened teas and "sports drinks" displace nutrients from milk and juice. Second: even though sweetened drinks contain a lot of calories, they do nothing to curb our appetite for food, and therefore we get a double dose of calories each day, contributing to obesity.

Soft drinks have been around for over 100 years, but what a difference the years make. Consider this: In the 1950s, Coca-Cola's 6 1/2-ounce bottle was the standard serving. Today’s 12-ounce cans are less favored than 20-ounce bottles, and kids are encouraged to "super size" at fast-food franchises and buy 64-ounce "Double Gulps" at convenience stores. The larger the container, the more beverage people are likely to drink.

School kids are the heaviest consumers of soda, and are vulnerable to the advertising industry, which targets children on television and the radio. School vending machines offer soda and junk food, available for purchase by children from first grade to seniors. Revenues from vending machine sales help schools raise as much as $100,000 per year or more, which has created a perceived dependency, especially with so many schools forced to cut budgets.

Unfortunately, the money earned from marketing liquid candy to kids will create a health budget crisis, as kids grow fatter and contract diseases associated with obesity, including type 2 diabetes and heart disease. Some states and school districts are paying attention, and we’ve seen legislative moves to restrict the sale of vending machine items during school hours.

Just talking about how much sugar is in a can of soda is less effective than visualizing it. For example, imagine one can, or 12 ounces of soda: it has about nine teaspoons of added sugar -- about a quarter cup, and about 150 calories. The average American drinks almost two of these each day -- that’s about a half-cup of sugar.

Imagine spooning 18 teaspoons of sugar from the sugar bowl into a big glass of club soda -- add a couple of drops of food coloring -- would you drink it?

Diet sodas may be better in terms of calories and added sugar; however, the problem of nutrition remains. If you’re substituting diet soda for milk and 100 percent fruit juice in a balanced diet, then your diet will be deficient in the important nutrients these foods provide, especially calcium and vitamins C and D.