For the past month, George Prior has been drinking ten cans of Coca Cola every day, all to prove a point that 50 percent of all Americans ingest that same amount of sugar every day. If you're doing the math, that equates to nearly a half-pound of sugar entering your body on the daily.

An everyday follower of the paleo diet, Prior clocked in at a healthy 168 pounds before beginning the experiment nearly a month ago. Today he's gained 20 pounds and has been documenting the journey on his website and social media channels. 

We caught up with the Los Angeles native who, as of press time, is on his 28th day of Coke. 

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SQUID INK (CLARISSA WEI): Why Coke and why ten per day? 

GEORGE PRIOR: I was joking around with one of my brothers. We saw an article that Jude Law had been drinking ten Cokes a day to gain weight for a movie role. And I thought that's probably a diet for some people and we looked into it and it turns out it is a diet for some people. And here's why I chose it: the amount of sugar that's in ten Cokes is actually less than what most Americans are eating in added sugar every day. And that doesn't even count the amount of sugar you have in fruit and the sugars you get from regular food. 

What's your background? 

I manufacture a product called the BBQ Dragon. I also wrote a book called the BBQ Diet. 

What brought you into the health and food space? 

This sort of stuff really bothers me. Diet and health has reached a crisis state. Our health problems that are due to obesity and diabetes and heart disease are all related to eating more sugar. You still see people on the Internet going “You need to reduce your calories.” Reducing calories is ridiculous. You don't need to burn the number of calories that you've eaten. You store fat based on your insulin level and your insulin level is basically adjusted by how many carbs you're eating and how much sugar. This is very hard to get through to people. So the main reason why I did all of this was to get people talking about diet. 

How do you feel?

Since I'm basically eating the same amount of sugar most Americans are eating anyways, I feel fine. It would be not genuine to say otherwise. I am craving Coke and that's hilarious. I'm eating less though, now that I'm drinking Coke.

What about your weight?

I'm gaining nearly a pound a day. I'm up 188 pounds and I started 168 pounds. That's incredible weight gain.

What about your regular diet? Are you maintaining that?

Yep. It's mostly a Paleo diet; basically eggs, sausage, bacon and beef stew. It's a fairly typical approach to paleo.

What will happen when Coke diet ends? 

I’m going to be so glad not be drinking Coke. At least I think so. I actually think the most interesting part of the experiment will be when I stop so I can see how quickly I lose weight. 

And lastly, what about your kids? Has your family joined in on the Coke binge? 

Not at all. I have little kids, I don’t let them drink any coke. They drink water. 

Follow Squid Ink at @LAWeeklyFood and check out our Facebook page. Clarissa blogs about food at clarissawei.com. Follow her on Twitter or on Facebook.

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