Coke!!! My Love-Hate Relationship.

A multi-billion dollar mega business would aptly describe the business which was initially started in 1886.  It success being so large that it was once believed that ‘ok’ and ‘Coke’ were the two most widely recognized words in the world, although searching the internet,  I couldn’t find a study to validate this claim. It was however recognized as the world’s most valuable brand in 2011. The fact remains and when you say Coke or Coca-Cola a distinct image comes to mind.

Hard to imagine that the company, Coca-Cola, was founded more than hundred years ago, and since its beginning it has spawned a legion of other products and copycat companies.

Invented by a colonel of the American Civil war who was looking for a substitute for his morphine addiction, people don’t realize the background, the pros and cons of the company. Did you know that the term coca in Coca-Cola comes because they used the some minute coca leaves, not to be confused with cocoa which is used to make chocolate. Coca is the same plant from which cocaine is extracted. Well, the company claims that they substituted Cocaine with caffeine for health claims but still uses a minute amount of fluid extract from the coca leave which is not addictive.

Coca-cola was initially made over a hundred years ago as a patented medicine….a mixture of coca , wine and other stuff , which could cure a variety of ailments like cough, cold , morphine addiction, dyspepsia, neurasthenia, headache, and impotence. Can you believe that? How the world has changed right.

Now the modern formula of Coke claims to have caffeine, high fructose corn syrup, phosphoric acid, other ingredients and carbonated water; carbonated water was also initially thought to be a cure to many health problems as well.

Bottom line … most of the people around the world like Coke!!!

So what is my love hate relationship with Coke?

In my earlier days Coke wasn’t a part of my daily diet , I didn’t go searching for it , but I didn’t avoid it when it was in front of me . It was just ‘there’ for me.

Then a couple of year ago, I started working in McDonalds; another high-powered industrial name.  McDonalds, with its fast food services, have been infamously accused for its health problem. Basically: Obesity. I worked in McDonalds for little over 4 months. At the end of the four month period I was shocked to find out that I had gained approximately 40 pounds or 20 kilos. Shocking right?

Yes, blame McDonald and their mechanically produced product for my weight problem. After leaving McDonald (not due to the weight increase) I came back home.
6 months after my return I went to the dentist and found out that several of my teeth were damaged and eaten by germs. Oh the horror.... sitting under the limelight on the dentist chair

A year went by, I blamed McDonalds for all my woes. Then another year went by and I forgot about everything. Later I came across a book ‘Atkins diet’, it said in that book that when you consume sugar or carbohydrate, it turns into glucose which, if in excess within a body, converts to fat. So I went on a diet …. No sugar or carbs. What was the result you ask…I lost 35 pounds or 16 kilos in 3 months. 11 kilos or 24 pounds in the first month.

Then it hit me like a flash of lightning, when I worked in McDonalds, I used to eat burger every day, but I also had access to unlimited supply of Coke. While you were on a budget to the number of burger you could eat at lunch, I had access to unlimited supply of Coke, so did everyone who worked there.  I nearly had an average of 2 lit Coke every day. With so much sugar or sucrose in Coke (10 teaspoon in 400ml), of course I was bound to have dental problems, it turned out that I was also the root to my weight problem.

So I cut out Coke from my life. At this point you are probably thinking …..Great!!! I was thinking that as well.

A couple of month ago I had a health problem, non Coke related I assure you. I started coughing one day, and it just didn’t seem to go away. I was coughing all the time. First I went to the pharmacist and got a bottle of cough syrup, then another bottle, then another, finally went to the doctor and got anti- biotic. The cough was reduced a bit, but it wasn’t gone. It lasted a month. Thanks to Wikipedia, I had read Coke was initially invented t cure many ailments. So, one day when there was a bottle of Coke sitting on the table, in the middle of my coughing fit I grabbed a glass of the room temperature elixir and drank it. Next day, I was sad to say it but my cough was gone. Similarly it worked for my cold in another occasion. I know that itdoesnt have cocaine in the drink anymore but they still have fluid extract of the coca leaf.

I was like “damn!!!”. Coke again found a purpose in my life

Life continued….

I got a new job. The new job required that I travel a lot in my truck. Late nights and early hours made me droopy and sleepy when I drove. I was scared, it is quite deadly in the highway of Texas, if you sleep and drive, I believe that it is more dangerous than if you drink and drive.

He he

Anyways, I tried energy shots when I was really tired, but I didn’t like them. I tried drinking a lot of water, but that didn’t actually help.  Then one day in one of my drowsy state at work one of my colleagues gave me Coke, to my surprise, the coca extract, sugar and caffeine did wonders to my drippy state. Now that I think about it I regret those days when I dozed off in class in front of the professor and in the first row nonetheless, when it could have all been avoided by drinking just a little Coke.

Through various trial and error life experiences, I have come to realize that my love-hate relationship with Coke will always be there. Love it at times, hate it at times!!!

Either way, it’s always there.