Help me quit Diet coke!

135

Replies

  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    I drank coke for a whole summer when taking classes in college...first time addicted to sodas, and did not realize it.
    I quit drinking it when the classes were done, and found myself laying around for a week with a headache.
    Quitting cold-turkey is one option.
    I think sodas are better replaced with cultured fizzy drinks....kombucha is an example. GT Dave's Synergy is an example, I love those! They're actually really good for you, give you a sense of well-being and have vitamins and other factors in them.
    That "sense of well-being" could easily be related to Kombucha's alcohol content.
    NO, the alcohol content is monitored. It is, apparently, the acids...they relax the gut muscles. Also contains vitamin b12.
    It has an alcohol content, though, does it not? It's also not calorie-free like a Diet Coke, I believe.
  • redladywitch
    redladywitch Posts: 799 Member
    I like diet coke. Sorry, I have no tips for you.
  • wrenegade64
    wrenegade64 Posts: 410 Member
    I feel your pain. Diet Dr. Pepper, Coke Zero, Sprite Zero, Diet A&W Root Beer
    I LOVE THEM ALL! I am trying desparately to wean off of them with a variety of different drinks. We drink alot of sugar-free Kool Aid and different teas. As far as I am concerned, Lipton is the king of teas.
  • skullshank
    skullshank Posts: 4,323 Member
    Diet coke will give you gonorrhea...its true I read it in Men's health!

    but i had it before i started drinking diet coke...

    i-win-o.gif


    and i guess it's a good time to apologize to Beta_Ray_Bill and Reality_Is_Harsh.
  • FitMomOK
    FitMomOK Posts: 66 Member
    I drank cans per day for years. Plus 32 oz drinks, several per day. So did my sister.
    Her bones have issues and she has horrible teeth. It does leech the calcium out of teeth and bones.
    It is highly addictive. My body actually will itch now when I drink it. (I really really hoped I wasn't allergic to something in it, because I loved it so. But I was. )

    so. You can give it up. We both did. But it will be hard. You will want it for months or years.
    I firmly believe you are healthier without it, but you have to be convinced. Just know it is super hard to give it up. Plan for it. Attack it like you would smoking. Have a plan. Make sure you really want to do it. I don't know that it will make you lose weight though.

    If you decide you are up for the battle, maybe wait until you are at a weight you like. It's hard to be disciplined about everything at once. But if you are relatively healthy other than that, and you feel ready to do battle with it, do it! You can do it!
  • sloth3toes
    sloth3toes Posts: 2,212 Member
    I had a diet coke addiction for years and had a horrible time quitting. The way I did was to replace it with with iced coffee. It's got the caffeine and the cold. When I finally quit diet coke, my skin got better, and I didn't feel the need to snack. It's been scientifically proven that diet coke damages your brain cells and makes you crave carbs.
    I've been a lot happier since I quit.

    Lol

    oh. is that what's wrong with me?

    I think so.
  • Jade0529
    Jade0529 Posts: 213 Member
    Just my 2 cents from a recovering Coca Cola addict:

    either water it down, gradually adding less soda to the point where you don't need the soda anymore or try incorporating juicing into your diet. I found when I juice more, cravings for all sorts of foods are eliminated or cut way back.

    This sounds awful. Going from zero calorie diet soda to lotsa calories of juice. If I'm going to add calories, I better damn well be eating them!
  • Jade0529
    Jade0529 Posts: 213 Member
    Just my 2 cents from a recovering Coca Cola addict:

    either water it down, gradually adding less soda to the point where you don't need the soda anymore or try incorporating juicing into your diet. I found when I juice more, cravings for all sorts of foods are eliminated or cut way back.

    This sounds awful. Going from zero calorie diet soda to lotsa calories of juice. If I'm going to add calories, I better damn well be eating them!
    [/quote]
    [/quote]

    Not store bought juice! That is just sugar water. I mean real juice using vegetables and fruit and a good quality juicer. Sorry I am new to this so I didn't do the quote thing right
  • FitMomOK
    FitMomOK Posts: 66 Member
    Oh yes, the money! I forgot that aspect. My sister estimated she's saving $200 a month now that she quit. I didn't estimate mine, but I'd guess I spent at least $3/day, so that would be about $90 at least.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    Just my 2 cents from a recovering Coca Cola addict:

    either water it down, gradually adding less soda to the point where you don't need the soda anymore or try incorporating juicing into your diet. I found when I juice more, cravings for all sorts of foods are eliminated or cut way back.

    This sounds awful. Going from zero calorie diet soda to lotsa calories of juice. If I'm going to add calories, I better damn well be eating them!


    Not store bought juice! That is just sugar water. I mean real juice using vegetables and fruit and a good quality juicer. Sorry I am new to this so I didn't do the quote thing right
    Juice is caloric, mostly from sugars, with some micronutrients in it that, for most eating reasonably and/or taking a widely-available supplement, are likely to be surplus to requirements. By juicing the fruits/vegetables, you're eliminating the fiber that is oftentimes the biggest benefit to the fruits or vegetables used.

    Diet sodas are non-caloric; for many of us, choosing a non-caloric beverage is a simple way to ensure that we're slaking our thirst without using up calories better served by more macronutrient-dense choices.
  • lisalsd1
    lisalsd1 Posts: 1,519 Member
    I used to LOVE Cherry Coke Zero. I gave it up while I was pregnant. After 9 months of no diet drinks whatsoever, I took a sip of my beloved Cherry Coke Zero. It tasted like battery acid. I haven't had a diet drink in now over 6 years.

    Try going cold turkey on the diet coke for a week, and then try it again to see if you even still like it.

    If you want something sweet (I can't believe I ever thought Cherry Coke Zero was sweet), try tea with honey or even stevia would be better. If you want something fizzy, try tonic water (preferably with gin) and some lime.
  • RllyGudTweetr
    RllyGudTweetr Posts: 2,019 Member
    I used to LOVE Cherry Coke Zero. I gave it up while I was pregnant. After 9 months of no diet drinks whatsoever, I took a sip of my beloved Cherry Coke Zero. It tasted like battery acid. I haven't had a diet drink in now over 6 years.

    Try going cold turkey on the diet coke for a week, and then try it again to see if you even still like it.

    If you want something sweet (I can't believe I ever thought Cherry Coke Zero was sweet), try tea with honey or even stevia would be better. If you want something fizzy, try tonic water (preferably with gin) and some lime.
    Nothing wrong with a gin and tonic, but remember that tonic water is a caloric beverage (there are 'diet tonic water' options).
  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member
    Juice is caloric, mostly from sugars, with some micronutrients in it that, for most eating reasonably and/or taking a widely-available supplement, are likely to be surplus to requirements. By juicing the fruits/vegetables, you're eliminating the fiber that is oftentimes the biggest benefit to the fruits or vegetables used.

    Well if you use a blender to make your own juice (like a Vitamix) you don't remove fibre. It is broken down but there is no less.
  • SlimSumday
    SlimSumday Posts: 379 Member
    I love Diet Coke. I was in my twenties when it came on the market with ther slogan "Just for the taste of it -- Diet Coke!" Haven't looked back since. Actually, I am sipping a can as I type this. The thing is, I drink it INSTEAD of snacking. My heart was giving me problems 1/2 a year ago, so to be safe I have cut down from about 5/6 cans a day to only about 2/3. I don't like coffee or tea and don't smoke so this is my vice and until I am told by a medical professional that I have to give that up, it always will be.
  • SherryTeach
    SherryTeach Posts: 2,836 Member
    Aspartme studies from 50's and 60's show it will kill you, by causing tumors. Also increases unhealthy gut bacteria, which causes belly fat (increases in Candida - a bacterial parasite which makes you crave crabs, sugar etc)

    If that were indeed the case, it would not be approved by the FDA. That is a very broad statement. I have yet to see an obituary that listed cause of death as "aspartame poisoning." Cite your sources.
  • SlimSumday
    SlimSumday Posts: 379 Member
    I had a diet coke addiction for years and had a horrible time quitting. The way I did was to replace it with with iced coffee. It's got the caffeine and the cold. When I finally quit diet coke, my skin got better, and I didn't feel the need to snack. It's been scientifically proven that diet coke damages your brain cells and makes you crave carbs.
    I've been a lot happier since I quit.
    *cough* crap *cough*

    My brain cells are still alive and functioning after 30 years of constant 'Diet Coke Abuse' and I in no way crave carbs. I actually have a glass INSTEAD of eating something. :tongue:
  • GCLyds
    GCLyds Posts: 206 Member
    My husband and I cut out daily soda when we moved in together. We drink club soda with a little bit of fruit juice when we want something fizzy. Add a little vodka if you want a low cal alcoholic beverage.
  • pps7
    pps7 Posts: 46
    I decided to quit diet coke a month ago. I've slowly weaning off of it. I bought 8 oz cans for a while, slowly cut down from 2 per day to one then none. I replaced it with a small cup of coffee in the morning. I feel a lot better- less dehydrated, less hungry, drinking a lot more water. And my migraines are all but gone. It's still a work in progress. Right now, I'm allowing myself one a week and am hoping I will crave it less and less.
  • DanielleWatson83
    DanielleWatson83 Posts: 139 Member
    Just my 2 cents from a recovering Coca Cola addict:

    either water it down, gradually adding less soda to the point where you don't need the soda anymore or try incorporating juicing into your diet. I found when I juice more, cravings for all sorts of foods are eliminated or cut way back.

    This sounds awful. Going from zero calorie diet soda to lotsa calories of juice. If I'm going to add calories, I better damn well be eating them!
    [/quote]

    you sait it clearly-jucing not juice

    Not store bought juice! That is just sugar water. I mean real juice using vegetables and fruit and a good quality juicer. Sorry I am new to this so I didn't do the quote thing right
    [/quote]
  • kamyers1289
    kamyers1289 Posts: 129 Member
    I just stopped drinking Diet Coke as one of my new year's resolutions. I bought a water infuser pitcher and that satisfies my urge for a sweet beverage. So far, so good :)
  • jagi410
    jagi410 Posts: 97 Member
    Try pronouncing the ingredients. If you can do it successfully, then you can drink it.

    I quit Diet Coke cold turkey last year. It really wasn't that difficult. Drink water instead!
  • MrGonzo05
    MrGonzo05 Posts: 1,120 Member
    Diet soda is a tremendously important modern elixir. Not only should you drink it, you should double fist it.
  • LeahP_RR
    LeahP_RR Posts: 1 Member
    I bought a SodaStream, and I make bottles of bubbly water constantly. They also sell seltzer cheap at the grocery store. I started drinking seltzer mixed with a little bit of thawed frozen concentrated 100% juice (no added sugar), which I kept in a bottle in the fridge. Eventually, I stopped putting the juice in, because even though it's "natural" sugar, it's still sugar. Now I drink lots of plain seltzer. I have also brewed some really strong tea, and mixed that with seltzer to make bubbly tea. The only problem is that I like my tea sweet, so that means using sugar or sweetener, so I don't do that very often. I carry a 32 oz bottle of plain water with me too. Maybe you could make a deal with yourself that you can only drink your diet coke after having your 8 glasses of water every day.
  • unamoss
    unamoss Posts: 28 Member
    Hi there. I only read a few of the other responses, so please forgive me for being repetitive if you've heard this before.

    I used to love me some diet Coke, I mean, really, really love the stuff. I drank more than I cared to admit. I'd go through drive thrus, stop at 7-11, keep a 12 pack in the house. I had heard reports that it wasn't good for you but of course all of that didn't apply to me. lol

    Then one day my 13 year old son came home from his health class where they had read an article about all the evils of soda, Diet Coke in particular. He was concerned that I would have a stroke. He asked me to stop drinking it. I asked him if this was really important to him and he said, "yes."

    I had my last diet soda at a girlfriends birthday party in August 2012 and I do believe it will always be the last one I ever have. I had lots of encouragement from the aforementioned son, but also from the birthday girl who challenged me to give up the drink. "21 days" she said, was all it would take to form a new habit. She is a wise, wise, woman.

    Now I will tell you that the caffeine withdrawal was horrible and I felt like ripping the doors off the hinges for the first week or so, but I honestly haven't looked back. I know people hear about all the awful things about soda consumption, but let me tell you about the positive:

    1. I lost 10 pounds prior to joining MFP just by giving up diet coke. It made me crave less food. I found that once I started drinking Diet Coke I would crave food, particularly savory or salty food. Big trigger for me.

    2. My skin cleared up. No joke, my skin is 10x better.

    3. I no longer have heart palpitations for no reason.

    4. I sleep better at night.

    5. I am less bloated.

    6. I challenged myself to something I didn't think could be done (giving up the drink) and I DID IT! It instilled in me a confidence that I can accomplish whatever I put my mind to.

    7. My beloved son is sooooo proud of me. He feels like I listened to his concerns and showed my love by making my health a priority.

    8. I've saved a TON of money not buying Diet Coke all the time. $1-2 a day (drive through/7-11), a majority of the days of the year, was like $700 not including all the 12 packs I would buy at the market (not to mention the food I would often buy to go along with my drink). Sometimes I'd make two trips, especially on the weekends when I'd be at softball tournaments (Diet Coke apparently is the drink of choice in snack shacks in California) I wouldn't be surprised if the total was over $1000 if you added up drive thru, 7-11 and 12 packs.

    I know it's fizzy and yummy and tastes so good. I still crave it, no doubt, but now that I am this far into my no diet Coke commitment I feel like a recovering alcoholic who proudly declares how long they have been sober. It's been almost 18 months and I don't want all that restraint and effort to go to waste. Once you get started in the process of giving it up, it's hard to go back. For me, at least, its just not worth it.

    Best of luck to you. Maybe if going cold turkey isn't for you, slowly reduce the amount you drink until you are at a point where you can give up your one can a day habit.

    Regards,
    :bigsmile:
  • MinMin97
    MinMin97 Posts: 2,674 Member
    I drank coke for a whole summer when taking classes in college...first time addicted to sodas, and did not realize it.
    I quit drinking it when the classes were done, and found myself laying around for a week with a headache.
    Quitting cold-turkey is one option.
    I think sodas are better replaced with cultured fizzy drinks....kombucha is an example. GT Dave's Synergy is an example, I love those! They're actually really good for you, give you a sense of well-being and have vitamins and other factors in them.
    That "sense of well-being" could easily be related to Kombucha's alcohol content.
    NO, the alcohol content is monitored. It is, apparently, the acids...they relax the gut muscles. Also contains vitamin b12.
    It has an alcohol content, though, does it not? It's also not calorie-free like a Diet Coke, I believe.
    Yes, it does, but a trace amount....so does fruit juice. Fruit juice, of course, has substantial calories, but kombucha will have very few cals (Synergy product has 10% fruit juice).
  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member

    I'm not trying to be mean or a jerk here - but just as a heads up - any time you come across a blogpost or article that mentions studies and doesn't link them. That is a red flag. I don't just mean in this case, I mean when anyone is researching weight loss advice at all.

    Most (all?) scientific studies are easily found online and should be referenced if mentioned. That way you don't have to take the 30 word soundbite from a blogger at face value. You can actually peruse the study and find out what it really says. It is often eye opening.
  • MysteriousMerlin
    MysteriousMerlin Posts: 2,270 Member
    diet coke os gross and will kill you.

    coke zero on the other hand will make all your dreams come true :drinker:


    dun dun dun!

    And I agree. Diet Coke is teh devil!

    Coke Zero... :drinker:
  • Greytfish
    Greytfish Posts: 810
    I switched, gradually, over to nothing but Diet Decaffeinated Green Tea......and now I'm ADDICTED to that stuff, it's so satisfying...I might have 1 diet coke per month, in a restaurant...that's it, I don't even miss it :)

    Green Tea is naturally caffeine free. And what makes it "diet tea?" Just don't add sweetener, and it's calorie-free.

    No, but it is naturally low compared to many other beverages, commonly around 25 mg vs. 100-150 for coffee. It also contains the stimulants theobromine and theophylline. But, it also has the AA L-Theanine.


    Green tea labeled as "naturally decaffeinated" has been treated with a chemical solvent called ethyl acetate. There is also "water processed" green tea (and cofee) where the caffeine has been removed through a process of "effervescence" using carbon dioxide (CO2) and water. If you want a decaf tea or coffee, you want water processed.

    Do I think one diet coke will kill you? No. I think the bigger problem is that it does have detrimental effects that are often mistaken as "normal" and worse, it has absolutely no nutritional value. Even water has trace minerals. Water also hydrates. Just about anything you might drink in place of soda (assuming it,s a beverage and not, say, antifreeze) is more nutritious. The issue is less that soda is bad than that it isn't "good" which is something Americans can afford less and less as we consume foods vastly nutrient deficeint and higher calorically than they were 30 or 40 years ago.
  • tedrickp
    tedrickp Posts: 1,229 Member

    Do I think one diet coke will kill you? No. I think the bigger problem is that it does have detrimental effects that are often mistaken as "normal" and worse, it has absolutely no nutritional value. Even water has trace minerals. Water also hydrates. Just about anything you might drink in place of soda (assuming it,s a beverage and not, say, antifreeze) is more nutritious. The issue is less that soda is bad than that it isn't "good" which is something Americans can afford less and less as we consume foods vastly nutrient deficeint and higher calorically than they were 30 or 40 years ago.

    Diet Soda is like 99% water! I don't know if that is the exact percentage - but it is largely water. The additions in diet soda don't magically strip water of it's trace minerals or hydrating properties.

    You can easily track your macro and micro nutrients to make sure you are hitting your daily requirements and it isn't actually all that hard to hit them if you eat even remotely right.

    Eric Helms (far smarter than me): Once our nutrient needs are met, we don’t get extra credit for eating more nutritious food!