A "Healthy Soda" Super-Special: Is Diet Soda Good For You, Stevia DeMystified, Sugar Alcohols, Natural Flavors & More.
Ben Greenfield Life
Ben Greenfield
4.6 • 5.2K Ratings
🗓️ 27 August 2016
⏱️ 65 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
If you happened to watch the most recent Crossfit Games, you may have noticed they were brought to you by...soda. That's right: a soda company was sponsor of the 2016 Reebok CrossFit Games, the worldwide competition to find the Fittest On Earth. Not exactly something you'd associate with Coke or Pepsi or Mountain Dew (or my all-time favorite Dr. Pepper), is it? The name of the soda company is "Zevia", and my guest on today's show is Paddy Spence, who is a 23-year veteran of the natural and organic foods industry - a guy who completely cut sugar out from his diet 14 years ago, and a guy who then purchased Zevia, a line of stevia-sweetened sodas that is now the world's top-selling zero-calorie, natural diet soda. He lives in Los Angeles with his wife and two daughters and is an avid athlete, having completed over 40 triathlons and trained in martial arts such as Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, wrestling, Shotokan Karate and boxing.
During our discussion, you'll discover:
-How one can make the argument that "caveman drank soda", and the fascinating history of fermented beverages and soda-like compounds...[12:00]
-How did the name Zevia come to be...[17:30]
-What causes "keto flu" and how to avoid getting it...[21:50]
-Why stevia tastes bitter to some people...[28:05] -Why Coke's "TruVia" and Pepsi's "PureVia" can actually be very bad for you (and why not all stevia is created equal)...[32:30]
-How sugar alcohols are processed by your body, and the one form of sugar alcohol that won't make you fart...[40:15]
-The little-known fruit grown in the foothills of China that actually does not spike your blood sugar...[42:25]
-Why many natural flavors come from pretty nasty sources, including the anal gland of a beaver...[50:00]
-The big reason you need to avoid anything that lists "caramel color"...[56:45]
-My own personal vodka cocktail mix I use with Creme Soda flavored Zevia, and how my kids make Root Beer Floats with Root Beer flavored Zevia...[59:00]
-Paddy's amazing recipe for a Zevia custard dessert...[61:10]
-And much more!
Resources from this episode: -Zevia soda -Simply Gum -Here’s the recipe for Banana Swirl, created by Paddy's amazing wife Jerra Spence: 2 frozen bananas, a pinch of cinnamon, and a couple of splashes of Zevia Cream Soda. Combine all of these in a high-powered blender and mix until the bananas are smooth & creamy. Place in freezer for 30-60 minutes. Serve in a dish, possibly with some stevia-sweetened chocolate chips on top!
Do you have questions, comments or feedback for Paddy or me? Leave your thoughts at BenGreenfieldFitness.com and one of us will reply!
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | What's up, it's Ben Greenfield. I'm back and I am once again recording from the Peak Brain |
| 0:06.8 | Institute facility in or near Los Angeles. I'm actually in a place called Culver City |
| 0:13.8 | doing brain training, which is why you might hear background voices and brain training sounds |
| 0:19.0 | like whirring and clicks and whistles, but that's just part of the gig. I'm making myself smarter, |
| 0:24.7 | so I have to have making smarter sounds in the background. I'm also staying down here with my |
| 0:29.8 | friend Tai Lopez, quite entertaining guy. You should go check him out on Snapchat, go to Snapchat |
| 0:36.2 | and do a search for Tai Lopez. The guy's garage is full of Lamborghinis and Ferraris and he's got |
| 0:42.0 | like this 18-room mansion here in Beverly Hills and not that I think money is everything or prestige |
| 0:49.4 | or the Beverly Hills lifestyle is everything, but this guy has marketing and making money and |
| 0:55.6 | business pretty much down to a science. I've interviewed him three times on my show, so he's a guy |
| 1:02.8 | you should check out, very, very interesting fella. If you go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com and you do |
| 1:08.0 | a search for, actually, I'm going to have you do that. He's got a website in which he shares how he |
| 1:14.5 | went from having 47 bucks in the bank to being wealthy beyond measure, at least by Beverly Hills |
| 1:21.9 | standards. Perhaps not by Dubai standards, but Beverly Hills standards, the dude is freaking loaded. |
| 1:26.0 | I'll go to BenGreenfieldFitness.com slash 67 steps. That's BenGreenfieldFitness.com slash 67 steps. |
| 1:33.5 | If you want to see Tai, what he looks like is a place that I'm staying at. Very, very interesting dude. |
| 1:40.0 | Anyways, though, this podcast today is about soda. Yes, soda, the stuff you drink. But before we |
| 1:48.7 | dive into today's podcast on soda, did you see what I did there? I was going to say dive into soda, |
| 1:54.4 | but I should stop. I want to tell you about today's sponsors. So first of all, this podcast is |
| 2:01.2 | brought to you by something that I have actually been using quite a bit on my ankle. I competed in |
| 2:05.5 | the Train to Hunt National Championships last week, the Spartan a four hour race along with another |
| 2:11.9 | Spartan race back to back the week before and I sprained my ankle. I've been using this thing called |
... |
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