Anyone having a hard time giving up soda??

candlegal

jrich, I am with you. I have been drinking diet cherry coke forever and have no intentions of giving it up. I have 2 to 3 cans a day and it is my "drug" of choice. There are so many things I CAN'T have, I must have my diet cherry coke, maybe some day I will give it up, but not now. I actually do half diet cherry coke and half crystal light fruit punch, so good, it fills my need for a "sweet" taste.:bigsmile:

caryn2010

I've found myself not drinking pop at all anymore. Not that I was a pop-a-holic by any means before I started using MFP, but I did usually have at least one can every other day. (hubby was a pop-a-holic so it was always available in our fridge) But now, aside from the fact that I don't buy it anymore, I find I reach for the water or for a little twist, the fruity water. (Fruit2O is yummy but also has some kind of no calorie sweetener in it though) I also do the herbal teas...warm or cold...for a switch up on tasty kinda water.

I do agree that havin a pop every now n then instead of completely giving it up would be the best way to go. Just like chocolate. ) But find yourself something else that keeps your taste buds happy besides the pop. As always, water is the BEST choice, but doesn't have to be the only one. Oh yeah...and weighing everyday just doesn't give you accurate results. Try to ween down to just once a week weigh ins, or even every 2 weeks. Just my 2 cents. Have a great day.

BigGail

I think if you deny yourself anything - you're gonna crave it even more. Maybe try and save it as a treat? I can't drink anythingcold or fizzy (except Champagne :drinker: ) but when I was pregnant with my daughter I had a craving for freezing cold coke (full fat) with loads of ice.

LowCarbAmanda

That was my biggest thing. I don't do coffee, but I drank a lot of Coke. I've bought some cans of Coke Zero, and when the cravings get crazy I have half of one of those instead. They taste similar enough to satisfy the craving, and bad enough to stave off the craving for another few days...

knittygirl52

Boy, I am with you, too! I used to drink at least a six pack every day. I really feel like it's important to move toward more "real" food and less chemically-enhanced and/or generated "fake" food. I've been cutting back a little more every so often and I'm now down to about 3 cans per day--still way too much. I find I drink water like its medicine. I really don't like it and I have to make myself drink it. So if I have a cup of coffee, I have to finish with a water "chaser" before I let myself drink anything else. Then I also dilute my diet pop with cold water or ice, but I don't count that water.

Oh the games we play. But sometimes we need to do that to get us closer to the right path!

sherryg

I drink alot of soda... and I do mean ALOT! I broke down and bought one today... I'm trying to get down to ZERO! I drink flavored water and green tea or regular tea as replacements.

lizzys

soda i like a soda now and again but the truth i like a good glass of ice tea better its sugar sweet and low or splenda i would like to get of

freebirdsnsc

Former diet coke addict here.....Im proof you can give them up....I was drinking an ungodly amount

The following is a big reason to cut them out or at least only allow yourself a couple a week


Three Reasons to Rethink that Diet Coke You’re About to Drink
January 3rd, 2010Leave a commentGo to comments


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Care for some water? No way, get me a Diet Coke, or a Coke Zero.

Water is for washing hands, not drinking. And regular soft drinks and juice are full of sugars and calories.

So you decided a long time ago to go with artificial sweeteners. After a while, you didn’t even notice the slightly different taste compared to sugar sweetened beverages. And, diet drinks are zero calories. Win-win. Both taste buds AND body are happy. A no-brainer, right?

Not so fast.

A fascinating article – Artificially Sweetened Beverages Cause for Concern – recently published in the Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA), challenges the notion that artificial sweeteners are risk free.

The article’s author, David S. Ludwig, MD, PhD, a Harvard professor and Founding Director of the Optimal Weight for Life (OWL) clinic at Children’s Hospital, Boston, makes three important points, especially in the context of artificially sweetened drinks:

1. Our body gets confused by artificial sweeteners – the dissociation between sweet taste and calorie intake may put the regulatory system that controls hunger and body weight out of sync, thus sabotaging weight loss plans. A study on rodents showed that those fed saccharin actually gained weight compared to rodents fed sucrose.

2. We’re “Infantilizing” our taste sense – Artificial sweeteners are a hundredfold sweeter than sucrose (table sugar). By getting ourselves used to so much sweet, normal sweet flavors, of fruit for example, become bland and so do other healthful foods such as grains and vegetables, thus reducing our willingness to consume them and ultimately the quality of our diet.

3. Long term effects unclear – while there have been many studies on artificial sweeteners and disease such cancer, very few focused on long term weight gain. A seven year study, (San Antonio Heart Study), showed a relationship between diet drink consumption and obesity, but the causation is not clear. Consumption of artificial sweeteners is growing yearly. According to Ludwig,

If trends in consumption continue, the nation will, in effect, have embarked on a massive, uncontrolled, and inadvertent public health experiment. Although many synthetic chemicals have been added to the food supply in recent years, artificial sweeteners in beverages stand out in their ability to interact with evolutionarily ancient sensorineural pathways at remarkably high affinity.

What to do at the supermarket:

Whether sweetened with sugar, or artificially, our body does not need anything but water. And while switching overnight from a life sin H2O seems impossible, you can opt for baby steps such as watering down juice, consuming soda only during predefined meals / weekly activities, and getting your sweet tooth filled with juicy fruits such as oranges, melons, pears, and apples. If money is your motivator – think about the $500 a year a family of four can save by just switching to tap water.



added by me
Studies are also showing Diet colas can bring on Metabolic syndrome
Metabolic syndrome is a collection of heart disease risk factors that increase your chance of developing heart disease, stroke, and diabetes. The condition is also known by other names including Syndrome X, insulin resistance syndrome, and dysmetabolic syndrome. According to a national health survey, more than one in five Americans has metabolic syndrome.


I can say I feel so much better with them out of my system....I have also given up sweet tea just not worth it anymore

maroon58

i use to drink one the morning, one at lunch and sometimes one in the late afternoon. now, i just drink one in the morning and most of the time, i never finish it. i replaced water for lunch and in the afternoons i drink a v8 5.5 oz can. i also add some of those crystal light packets to go....they help to add a flavor to water. surprisingly, the other day i had a 20z bottle of coke zero (my fave) and i didn't even finish it, i poured it down the drain...crazy!!!

TK266

I have given up soda for the most part. I end up having about 1 or 2 a month...but is was hard as heck at first. started drinking coffee for my caffine fix and have unsweeten ice tea when I go out to eat. and I drink G2 a fair amount. my advice is ease out of the sodas

LuckyLeprechaun

I love coke zero. I really really do. I started drinking it when I started with MFP, and you can see on my ticker that it hasn't hampered my progress...I bought a 32 pack from Costco and my hubby joked...oh stocking up for the next three days, huh? I don't drink that many each day, between 1-2, but I do not plan to give it up, nor do I understand the claims that diet soda has a lot of sodium...40mg per can isn't even making a dent in my daily amount.

If it makes you feel good to abstain, that's cool, but among all the bad things I could put into my body, coke zero isn't even on my radar. So enjoy! :drinker:

blerch18

Did you know that consuming 1 regular soda per day for 1 year equals to 10 pounds. I have a friend who used to work for a soda manufacturing company. The things she told me that were in soda is enough to make me stop drinking it. phosphoric acid, glycerin, corn syrup. If that isn't enough, the more sugar you consume the less of a chance you have at having gorgeous skin.

coroner66

For the past four Easter Lents, I gave up soda, tea, and chocolate. Talking about headaches and withdrawls, they were pretty nasty. After Lent was over, I returned to the my vices, but I noticed I did not have the urge for them like I use too. I gave up soda for good (I can proudly say that I am a recovered Diet Cokeholic!) My teeth started to hurt everytime I drank a soda. My dentist also mentioned that although I was taking care of my teeth, the soda was ruining the enamel and giving me small cavities. My dentist said that she is seeing a lot more adult and children with tooth decay due to soda. In addition, with all the chemicals in the soda, that itself can kill you. I recently discovered that you can pour a Coke in your toilet to take out the hard water stains! Can you imagine what that Coke is doing to your bones and brain? Little by little, wean yourself off and you will see the weight drop and you will feel better!

dj_stevie_c

Just given up my main vice, pepsi max. Was drinking upto 4ltr's a day.

Gave it up monday, had withdrawal symptoms tuesday, today I'm fine. A Little tired perhaps (less caffine I guess) but otherwise I've been good. So I guess the answer is no... I thought I would struggle a lot more with it.

Oh and since Monday I've lost 3lbs.... not sure if that's a co-incidence or not...

Jennwith2ns

Ugh yes, I won't be able to give it up completely. I have cut back a lot though. I used to drink at least 6 cans of diet coke a day, I am down to 1 or maybe 2. I haven't been able to conquer the caffeine headaches, so I drink it with lunch to battle the migraines.

rfialkiewicz

I'm a Mountain Dew addict. I've switched to Diet which helps a lot, but I don't think giving it up entirely is ever going to happen.

MzMolly

I have given pop up totally. I have not had one in over 8 months. Every once in a while I miss it but for the most part I don't. I find if I give myself other good things to drink with some flavor it helps with the craving. I drink a lot of Liptons Diet Green Tea, either the Mixed Berry or the Cirtus. Love them both. I also add fresh lemon or fresh cucumber to my water and that helps. Give yourself other options not just water all the time and see if that helps.

Mama_Bug

Diet soda is my addiction. I am fully aware of this. I should not drink it at all due to all of the chemicals in it. But, that ice-cold fizz just keeps calling my name every day! Better a soda addict than something else, right? :drinker: Cheers to you!

dj_stevie_c

I found the 'less sugary' water drinks have given me a real boost in keeping off the Pepsi max.

Perfectly Clear, supermarkets own brands.

Things like volvic touch of fruit has as many calories in it as fruit juice so I tend to stay away from that (it's all sugar) but there are plenty of drinks that are 3-8 cals for 250ml, those appear to be the ones worth going for. Although they do have Sucralose in them.

That or just plain water.

I haven't craved any soft drink although I did come really close to buying a bottle out of habit the other day.... which was odd.

betheranne

I go back and forth. I started drinking Diet Pepsi in 1997. Gave it up completely from around May 2009 for almost a year, then slowly worked it back in.

I'm cutting it out again. I simply feel better without it. Without aspartame my sugar cravings and my hunger levels both decrease. Diet Pepsi is the only place I was getting it.

I have a coffee in the morning (around 20 ounces w/o any cream and sugar and that was harder than giving up soda!), and then water for the rest of the day. I keep limes and lemons around to squeeze into my water.