The last two weeks have been full of family, friends, fun, laughter, and a lot of eating/drinking. Christmas, New Years, and my birthday have all paid a toll on my waistline – especially because my bronchitis prevented me from corseting much of the time over the holiday season.
But probably more than the food I ate (which aren’t all that bad, as I tend to stick to lighter and easily digestible options), the carbonated drinks I had including colas, sparkling water, and champagne were probably my worst choice when I was corseted, both from an immediate standpoint and in the long term. Here’s why:
The bubbles! Why, bubbles, why??
The most obvious reason is that a corset reduces the volume in your stomach and intestines and encourages
these mostly-hollow organs to flatten down. When you inject gas into your digestive system with fizzy drinks, it increases the volume – and when more space in your body is taken up by the bubbles, there’s less space for everything else. Simple physics. This means you can immediately feel bloated, uncomfortable, or even in pain if you try to chug a can of club soda while corseted.
Possible solution? If you must have a carbonated drink, have a smaller glass and sip it slowly. Let the drink bubble on your tongue and fizz out completely. By the time you swallow it, it should be flat. Or, preferably just go for water.
The sugar content
Alright, we all know that the 35- 43 grams of sugar in various flavors of soft drinks aren’t good for you. Too many processed sugary beverages will make a person gain weight. But this has both immediate and long-term effects on your body. Too many to count really, but directly related to wearing corsets – even before the sugar is converted to fat, it’s contributing to bloating. Due to their hydroxyl groups, glucose and fructose molecules are hydrophilic, pulling water molecules around themselves. Translation: the more sugar that is in your body, the more water it may cause you to retain, which may result in your corsets fitting a bit more snugly than they had before.
Possible solution? If you must have a carbonated drink, choose those with a lower sugar content, or preferably no sugar at all, in the case of sparkling water. Do NOT go for artificially sweetened drinks! Or, preferably, just go for water.
Water retention also doesn’t happen inside your cells, which carefully control their intake of water and nutrients, but rather in the interstitial fluid in your tissues – this can sometimes draw water out of your cells and mess with your hydration level. But even when you choose less sugary options, soft drinks can still cause dehydration in other ways, which brings us to the next point…
Dehydration
When you’re corseted, it’s imperative that you maintain good hydration. This means that the cells in your body are well-hydrated, so all your tissues and organs can work properly. Adequate hydration aids in all processes of the body, not least of all maintaining good digestion and proper blood pressure. More often than not, carbonated drinks are high in sugar – but even when they’re not, other ingredients like caffeine and alcohol can wreak havoc on your hydration.
Caffeine and alcohol are both diuretics. Without giving you the entire pathways (I could ramble for days), these drugs can work in different ways to indirectly suppress the hormone ADH (Vasopressin) and cause your kidneys to work in overdrive, pulling more water out of your blood. If your blood doesn’t have enough water, it may cause your blood pressure to drop, causing you to feel faint (whether you’re wearing a corset or not). You may also experience stomach and intestinal cramping, in addition to a host of other possible symptoms. Is it likely you’ll have this problem if you just have one caffeinated or alcoholic drink, once in a blue moon? Perhaps not. But keep in mind that while you’re corseted, you are more aware of your body and symptoms can sometimes be exacerbated. Be especially careful if you wear your corset out to clubs and concerts. Hot environments and hard dancing, combined with diuretics and corsets, can quickly leave you feeling nauseated and woozy.
Possible solution? If you must drink alcoholic or caffeinated soft beverages while wearing a corset, limit how many and how fast you drink it, and alternate with lots of water. But preferably, go for non-caffeinated and non-alcoholic options like sparkling water. Or just flat water.
Them bones, them rattling bones
This point has been heavily disputed, but it’s still worth mentioning – various types of carbonated drinks, especially colas, have been allegedly linked with loss of bone density. Some studies link the risk of osteopenia to the caffeine in these drinks (caffeine affects vitamin D levels in the body, which are also in balance with calcium levels), other studies link bone loss to the phosphoric acid in cola, as phosphorus and calcium are in a delicate optimal balance. Still other articles credit bone loss to acidification of the body. Whatever the reason, osteoporosis and corsets are not a combination I would ever condone. While healthy human ribs have typically been shown to be strong enough to withstand the compression of a corset, this may not be true for those with loss of bone density.
Summary
Online articles listing the health risks of various carbonated drinks are a dime a dozen, so I’m sure that little to none of this information is new to you. Moreover, I know that it’s nigh on impossible to convince anyone to stop drinking carbonated drinks completely – for those who cannot live without their fizzy drinks, the possible solutions are for you. Your own body will tell you whether you can handle carbonation while wearing a corset. But in my mind, the case against soft drinks far outweigh the benefits, and I can safely say that my body feels best (and I see faster progress in my corseting) when I drink only water.
*Please note that this article is strictly my opinion and provided for information purposes. It is not intended to replace the advice of a medical physician. Please talk to your doctor if you’d like to start wearing a corset for any reason.*
