One can of soda has about 10 teaspoons of sugar, 150 calories, 30 to 55 mg of caffeine, and is loaded with artificial colors, flavors and sulphites.

Better off with diet soda? Not if they're sweetened with aspartame or sucrolose. You just set yourself up for a future of kidney and liver disease.

But who drinks only one CAN of soda anyway? Hasn't the normal serving become 20 oz? So that's 1.67x the sugar (17 teaspoons), 250 calories, 50-85 mg caffeine and even more artificial colors, flavors, sweeteners and sulphites.

Even though studies have linked soda to osteoporosis, obesity, tooth decay and heart disease, the average American still drinks an estimated 56 gallons of soft drinks each year. Additionally, consuming all that sugar will likely suppress your appetite for healthy foods, clearing the way for nutrient deficiencies.

If you routinely drink soda--regular or diet--eliminating it from your diet is one of the simplest and most profound health improvements you can make.

Replacing the soda with freshly brewed iced tea would be an incredible health improvement.

Freshly brewed iced tea boasts ten times the antioxidants you find in bottled tea products, and often just 1 TBSP of sugar is enough to sufficiently sweeten the tea if the sugar is completely dissolved. Even though my classic Southern sweet tea (my recipe) has lots of sugar (1/2 cup per quart/8 tsp) it is still less sugar than you find in soda.

SensibiliTeas has over 500 teas from which to choose! Let me teach you how to start your spring off in a healthy way!

Hoping to post iced tea recipes here as the weather warms up!