At the end of last year I came across this PSA by the New York City Dept of Health.

Now, the video did not say anything I did not already know, but seeing it visualized like that sort of got me thinking differently about my choices. Of course, ultimately it is all about personal choice.

The cause of the obesity problem and the spread of unhealthy eating habits in the UK, Australia, and USA, etc. is not as simple as blaming it on the increased consumption of sugary drinks like soda. It's more complicated than that. But, there is no question that the ubiquity, popularity and incredibly low cost of sodas is a very strong contributing factor. When I saw this humorous video with a serious message from the New York City Dept. of Health, it had an impact on me. Although I was not over weight, I knew that my one achilles heal -- in spite of living in a land with very healthy eating habits -- was my consumption of too many needless calories in the form of soda. I usually had at least one can of soda a day, often two without ever thinking about it. In the summer it would be easy to consume many cans of sugary drinks in the course of a day without ever really taking notice of it. Although I was active, I was starting to put on fat around the middle. And just because I may look thin, I knew that I was not living very healthy by drinking all that sugar.

Above: Poster from the NYC dept of health.

Not everyone is happy with the posters and the video which has gone viral, but the New York City Health Commissioner said that "If this campaign shifts habits even slightly, it could have real health benefits.” Well, for me it did get me to shift habits slightly, and the results already in just a few months have been positive. Since the beginning of the year, I have lost a solid 5kg (from 86kg at Christmas to 80-81kg today). That 10 pounds of fat pictured in the video is essentially what I lost over the course of four months. I do run more now since we live in the country and I lift weights more; obviously this had some impact. But I always did those things since I was in high school. The only habit I really changed was eliminating all sodas from my diet. I have not changed anything else. It was simple. It was not many things. It was one thing: stop drinking sugary drinks. It was not that hard. By cutting sugary drinks from my diet I have eliminated at least 300 empty calories a day. It takes 3,500 calories (more than you burn) to gain a pound of fat. So that's like having 31 pounds of potential fat in a year that I now do not have to burn off. I am not against sodas and I am sure I'll have them from time to time in future. But now I look at them as a treat to be enjoyed occasionally.

Above: In this picture you can see two of my brothers and my mother back in the '60s -- I am the little one in the middle shoving cake in my face. You can see chips and soda on the picnic table. But the deal is, back then what we call junk today really was not for everyday. Chips and sodas were "fun foods" for picnics and BBQs in the back yard, etc. We loved it and it was good. But we never expected this food for dinner at home.

Above: This vending machine is on the high speed bullet train to Tokyo. Notice that the cans of soda are quite small in size and that the offerings include loads of tea drinks as well. I have personally switch to various kinds of Japanese teas which contain no sugar.