So this mouse with a cane walked into a bar...

(*if I use any more sarcasm, I'm going to gag) 

Wow. Mickey's not lookin' so great these days. I wonder why? Could it be all that processed food and diet soda he's been eating and drinking lately?

According to a study published by the FASEB journal on sciencedaily.com (one of my fave websites, since Laura Freberg's blog introduced me to it), this looks as though that could be the case.

As in most research studies, the researchers used mice to find the correlation between junk food and particular results in the human body -- it's obviously meant to translate from the effects on mice to the effects on us, although it's also obvious that we are not mice and in order to find out the particulars of the study, I encourage you to find the research paper and peruse the "methods" section. What the researchers found was that the preservatives -- phosphates to be exact -- actually accelerate the aging process in mice. Which alludes to the effects of phosphates on the human body. Unfortunately, phosphates are found in more than just one type of food.

The study specifically cites soda as one of the resident evils of the junk food industry. That's one of my faves. I drink diet soda like most people drink water. Since most people drink it for its caffeine, they may not think about all the phosphates included in their slurp or gulp. It may be time to start paying attention.

After doing research of my own, working with a personal trainer, and talking with yogis, I've discovered that we, as humans, should be drinking at least our body weight in ounces in pure water per day. So, if your weight = 150 lbs, you should be drinking 150 ounces of water per day. That takes determination.

It's worth it, though. I may do another blog post in the future about the effects of dehydration on the body. For now, simply pinch the skin on the back of your hand. If it stays "up and pinched" so to speak, for a few seconds before the skin returns to it's original state, you may be dehydrated. So, folks, drink more water, less soda - that's the take home message.

That is, if you want to live a little longer.