ATLANTA — A viral graphic reportedly shows the effects one can of Coca-Cola has on a person’s body over one hour.
The graphic, titled “What Happens One Hour After Drinking A Can Of Coke,” was first posted by The Renegade Pharmacist. It claims to detail what happens to the body after 10, 20, 40, 45 and 60 minutes.
First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100 percent of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.
20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment.)
40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.
45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.
60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.
>60 minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolytes and water.
>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, *ahem* peed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.
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But isn't it a healthy treat?
Buddhism
is a made-up religion. This ability to reinvent itself has played an
important role in the successful spread of Buddhism. While some
religions are still associated with one particular ethnic group or a
specific geographical location, Buddhism has transcended such
boundaries. What is more, whereas other religions have spread
aggressively by force — physical and/or theological — Buddhism has
largely cultivated for itself a positive reputation for peace and
compassion wherever it has traveled. It has been able to achieve this
for the most part because Buddhism has effectively recreated itself to
adjust to the local context wherever it has spread.
Tibetan Buddhism is a case in point.
There
are certain traits in Tibetan Buddhism that distinguish it from most
other forms of Buddhism. To begin with, Buddhism arrived in Tibet rather
late when compared to the acceptance of Buddhism in other countries.
Buddhism began in India in the fifth century BCE, but did not reach
Tibet until roughly 1,000 years later in the seventh century CE. By this
time, Buddhism had already established itself elsewhere — Sri Lanka,
China, Southeast Asia, Korea, Japan — centuries before. Buddhism entered
Tibet from India a second time in the 11th century, introducing yet
another form of Buddhism that interacted with the local culture and
indigenous religious tradition.
Tibetan
Buddhism is largely based on different scriptures from the ones that
influenced Buddhism in places such as China, Korea and Japan. In those
countries, Buddhist sutras became highly influential, whereas in Tibet
other writings, including Buddhist tantras, shaped the religion.
Buddhist tantras — intimately connected to esoteric Buddhism — developed
in India in the sixth or seventh century CE, long after the time of the
historical Buddha. The writings of tantric Buddhism are based on the
notion that progress in the path to enlightenment may be hastened
through techniques of esoteric ritual and yoga. In tantric Buddhism, the
sacred is realized in the ordinary, and the adept can transcend worldly
desires by fulfilling them. Spiritually accomplished teachers — known
as lamas — reveal these esoteric teachings and practices to qualified
disciples.
Lamas are highly revered
religious figures in Tibetan Buddhism, and followers give them absolute
faith and loyalty. As various Buddhist sects and monasteries in Tibet
gained power, the leading lamas also began to wield significant
authority, both political and spiritual. But since many of the lamas
took vows of celibacy, problems of succession arose. A response to this
issue was the rise of the unique Tibetan Buddhist practice of belief in a
reincarnate lama. After the death of a great lama, religious elders
begin a search to identify the next incarnation of the spiritual master.
This practice was developed in Tibet in the 11th century and there are
about 3,000 lines of incarnation of various lamas.
Luckily
for Tibetan Buddhists and the search committee, the departed spirits of
the lamas have tended to be reincarnated in Tibet. While there are
numerous lamas in Tibetan Buddhism, the best known is the world-famous
Dalai Lama.
The title “Dalai Lama” (Ocean
of Wisdom) was created by a Mongolian ruler in the 16th century and
bestowed upon a high-ranking lama in one of the Tibetan Buddhist sects.
The first Dalai Lama to assume political and spiritual leadership of
Tibet was the fifth Dalai Lama. This occurred in 1642 after defeating
political and religious rivals — including those of other Tibetan
Buddhist sects. From then until 1959, when a revolt broke out against
Chinese control of the region, Tibet was ruled by a succession of Dalai
Lamas, each male and each identified as a young child after his
predecessor had died. The 14th (and current) Dalai Lama escaped to
India, where he leads a government in exile. China rejects this
government, calling the Dalai Lama and his followers “splitists.”
The
second-highest-ranking lama, the Panchen Lama, plays a significant role
in identifying the next Dalai Lama. In turn, the Dalai Lama selects the
future Panchen Lama. After the death of the 10th Panchen Lama in 1989,
the current Dalai Lama recognized a child in Tibet as the 11th
incarnation. China rejected this selection — as control of the Panchen
Lama can lead to control of the Dalai Lama — and chose a different boy
instead. Chinese authorities removed the Dalai Lama’s choice and the boy
has not been seen since.
Persecuting
religion usually does not weaken it, but invigorates it. China’s attempt
to repress Tibetan Buddhism has caused the religion to flourish
elsewhere, including in the United States, where it is reinventing
itself yet again to appeal to the wider public. The esoteric rituals
central to Tibetan Buddhism designed to appease spirits and bring about
good luck are downplayed or neglected
altogether. Instead, an emphasis on Tibetan Buddhism as a mystical
tradition that stresses meditation and logic characterizes the American
version of the religion. Reverence for the Dalai Lama, however, remains
constant.
In 2011, the Dalai Lama made a
shrewd political move by divesting himself of political power. The Dalai
Lama also has suggested that he might be reincarnated as a woman or
indeed not be reincarnated at all after his death. Such is the privilege
that comes with enlightenment to determine one’s own post-mortem fate.
The Dalai Lama’s actions have infuriated the Chinese government, as he
nullifies the importance of the Chinese-selected Panchen Lama. Many
Tibetans, who seek to preserve cherished traditions in their political
and spiritual struggle with China, also are troubled by these
developments.
The institution of the Dalai
Lama is man-made. Its demise also might be the same as Tibetan Buddhism
reinvents itself to continue outside Tibet.
-- Jay Sakashita, Midweek, June 24, 2015