Any tips for reducing soda and getting more water?

geebusuk

The chemicals in the "diet" sodas affect your hormones and can actually make you crave sugar more than regular sugar does.

Got anynthing to prove the hormones bit? Apart from the caffiene in coke, etc, which may well do.
Diet drinks can also help STOP cravings for sugar in some people.

Tap water = free, sustainabile, less carbon footprint
Soda = costs money, is not sustainable, takes much more energy to produce and be transported to your little mouth.

That didn't answer the question.
Also, why is Soda not sustainable?

Simple answer is this.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7147402_water-better-drink-soda_.html

Plus, a recent study found that caramel coloring in soda or any other food increases the risk of cancer. Are you disagreeing that water is better for you than soda? Please prove me wrong.

Please prove yourself RIGHT. That link doesn't list any citations, which any well researched advice on this sort of thing would do.
How much is the 'risk of cancer' increased. Here's some other things, see how many you can get! http://www.anorak.co.uk/288298/scare-stories/the-daily-mails-list-of-things-that-give-you-cancer-from-a-to-z.html/

malibu927

I've pretty much limited myself down to a 24-ounce bottle at dinner now, sometimes even breaking it up over two days, and I'm continuing this until what I have left in the house is gone (two 6-packs and then a 12-pack of cans). When I'm working out I go through an entire 750-ml bottle of water, so when I get home I just fill it up again. I'd rather quit than switch to diet sodas only because I can't stand the taste of diet

russellvolk

The chemicals in the "diet" sodas affect your hormones and can actually make you crave sugar more than regular sugar does.

Got anynthing to prove the hormones bit? Apart from the caffiene in coke, etc, which may well do.
Diet drinks can also help STOP cravings for sugar in some people.

Tap water = free, sustainabile, less carbon footprint
Soda = costs money, is not sustainable, takes much more energy to produce and be transported to your little mouth.

That didn't answer the question.
Also, why is Soda not sustainable?

Simple answer is this.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7147402_water-better-drink-soda_.html

Plus, a recent study found that caramel coloring in soda or any other food increases the risk of cancer. Are you disagreeing that water is better for you than soda? Please prove me wrong.

Please prove yourself RIGHT. That link doesn't list any citations, which any well researched advice on this sort of thing would do.
How much is the 'risk of cancer' increased. Here's some other things, see how many you can get! http://www.anorak.co.uk/288298/scare-stories/the-daily-mails-list-of-things-that-give-you-cancer-from-a-to-z.html/

First, why would you want to drink liquids that contain carcinogens? Caramel coloring contains them, so why not avoid them? Coke and Pepsi are changing their formulas. Read this.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/mar/09/coke-pepsi-recipe-change-avoid-cancer-warning

Second, let me ask you this. If you take two twins. One will drink a gallon of water per day the entire life. Second will drink a gallon of soda per day the entire life. Are you telling me that their health will be the same when they get older? I'm no doctor, but I highly doubt that.

Here are a few interesting articles for you to review.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/health/jampolis-dangers-drinking-soda/
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/08/07/soda-public-health-enemy-no-1/
http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/7-side-effects-of-drinking-diet-soda
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/13/there-are-dangers-in-drinking-diet-soda.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dangers-soda-article-1.963859

I just try to use common sense. Water is natural. Soda is not. Soda is created with all kinds of crap in it. There's no way that water is not better for you than soda.

LRoslin

I drink seltzer water to help kick that craving for carbonation. Make sure to get the unsweetened kind though that's actually water! When I get bored of plain water I put in (as suggested before) things like strawberries, lemons, cucumbers, etc. to liven it up. If you always have a water bottle next to you you will just grab that out of convenience! (The seltzer thing really works, I was completely hooked on diet coke for years.)

Yep, this. I grew up in a household where we drank Diet Caffeine Free Pepsi like it was water--literally, my dad would come in from mowing the lawn and grab a can and guzzle it to 'rehydrate.' I went to college and my parents would bring me flats of Diet Pepsi (with caffeine, so I could stay up late and study or wake up in the morning after a late night) when they visited. I'd drink up to 10 cans a day.

Fast forward a few years and my stomach was always burning with pain, my throat was always sore and I decided to wean myself down to one can a day. It was brutal, but I felt so much better once I got that monkey off my back. Still craved it, but I knew I couldn't go back to drinking as much as I was.

Later, when I was giving up drinking, if I ended up in a bar with my friends I'd ask the bartender for a club soda with lemon or lime. I realized all those years I just liked the bubbles of the Pepsi, not the taste itself. So our pantry now has a box of "fancy water" as my kids call it, so that when I have a soda craving I can pop one of those.

I also have a reusable water bottle that holds two cups, and I keep that with me at all times and refill it throughout the day. I get up to 10 glasses of water a day this way. Green tea is nice, too.

For me, diet soda didn't contribute to my weight gain---I gained the most weight when I wasn't drinking any at all--but I know for me, it's best to just stay away from it.

NakkedCowgirl

Really a great tip, I like this idea and I'm not even a soda drinker anymore, good way to shake up boring water without too much extra sugar.

NakkedCowgirl

What's helped me kick Soda is a quote "You wouldn't eat 17 packs of sugar. Why are you drinking them?" When you think about it, it's really gross and I can feel my teeth melting out of my head. Now I drink Ice cold water, on occasion juice but thats sugary too, hot and cold tea which has plenty of health benefits, and lots of milk.
I really indulged in diet soda too often as well, until I found out it gives you kidney stones. I'd rather drink water every day for the rest of my life than have kidney stones just so I can drink a diet coke.

RllyGudTweetr

The chemicals in the "diet" sodas affect your hormones and can actually make you crave sugar more than regular sugar does.

Got anynthing to prove the hormones bit? Apart from the caffiene in coke, etc, which may well do.
Diet drinks can also help STOP cravings for sugar in some people.

Tap water = free, sustainabile, less carbon footprint
Soda = costs money, is not sustainable, takes much more energy to produce and be transported to your little mouth.

That didn't answer the question.
Also, why is Soda not sustainable?

Simple answer is this.

http://www.ehow.com/facts_7147402_water-better-drink-soda_.html

Plus, a recent study found that caramel coloring in soda or any other food increases the risk of cancer. Are you disagreeing that water is better for you than soda? Please prove me wrong.

Please prove yourself RIGHT. That link doesn't list any citations, which any well researched advice on this sort of thing would do.
How much is the 'risk of cancer' increased. Here's some other things, see how many you can get! http://www.anorak.co.uk/288298/scare-stories/the-daily-mails-list-of-things-that-give-you-cancer-from-a-to-z.html/

First, why would you want to drink liquids that contain carcinogens? Caramel coloring contains them, so why not avoid them? Coke and Pepsi are changing their formulas. Read this.

http://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/mar/09/coke-pepsi-recipe-change-avoid-cancer-warning

Second, let me ask you this. If you take two twins. One will drink a gallon of water per day the entire life. Second will drink a gallon of soda per day the entire life. Are you telling me that their health will be the same when they get older? I'm no doctor, but I highly doubt that.

Here are a few interesting articles for you to review.

http://www.cnn.com/2012/05/18/health/jampolis-dangers-drinking-soda/
http://www.foxnews.com/health/2013/08/07/soda-public-health-enemy-no-1/
http://healthyliving.msn.com/health-wellness/7-side-effects-of-drinking-diet-soda
http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2013/07/13/there-are-dangers-in-drinking-diet-soda.html
http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/dangers-soda-article-1.963859

I just try to use common sense. Water is natural. Soda is not. Soda is created with all kinds of crap in it. There's no way that water is not better for you than soda.

The FDA says you'd have to drink over a thousand cans of diet soda a day for there to be a cancer risk.

http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/03/06/us-us-regulators-dispute-idUSTRE8250W620120306

ndj1979

1. drink less soda
2. drink more water

/end thread

ldrosophila

happy pregnancy is over cause I missed diet dr pepper

Myhaloslipped

happy pregnancy is over cause I missed diet dr pepper

Congrats!

pusheen12

Soda - I'd quit cold turkey.

Water - I enjoy my Camelback water bottle. Helps me gauge how much I've consumed each day...and it's pretty. :blushing:

jennifer_417

throw away soda. buy a soda stream, some mio flavoring, and with three or four soda stream bottles. make your bubbly water. squirt a dash of mio in. always have a bottle or two around if you are the soda-addict type. drink fizzy water. caffiene addiction, too? a cup of green tea in the morning works wonders.

worked for me when i was giving up diet soda and i had a serious problem.

Omg that's genius...why have I never thought of this? ETA: some of the MIO flavors have caffiene, too!

Awesomers

I used to drink up to 6 cans of soda a day. I really got tired of feeling like the inside of my esophagus was pickled and the acid reflux was ungodly. I bought myself a Smart Water and discovered that it's the best tasting water (it tastes like nothing). I would drink those giant bottles, and I eventually bought my first reusable water bottle. It's basically all I drink (minus coffee) and soda now tastes very foreign, to me.

It's really just a matter of deciding to stop and then following through. Don't get upset if you cave every once in a while. That's life! Get back on the horse.

alienaliens

Step 1) Throw soda in trash can
Step 2) Purchase BPA-free or stainless steel water bottle
Step 3) Drink water out of bottle purchased in step 2
Step 4) Repeat step 3

Just what I myself was looking for. It's so simple! and funny too.

Jazz_2014

Everyone has had great suggestions. I could only add that accessibility was the biggest thing that helped me. I found I liked flavored water and drank Propel. So I bought a case for home and for work. I always had flavored water available. If I were traveling or visiting friends or family I made sure I took a couple bottles with me. I tried the water additive packs, did not care for as much but that could be helpful also. Just make sure you have some ready to reach for when you need a drink.
Months later I found I liked infused water (as many had suggested) Again, accessibility was the key. I had a pitcher at home ready to pour a glass and a pitcher at work ready to use.
I find myself enjoying plain water now but my preferred method of getting in my water is drinking infused water.

Not sure what temptations you have to reach for the soda but consider eliminating or avoiding those temptations. Don't buy for the house. Don't have change for the machines if your workplace has machines. Just as much effort to having water available that you enjoy drinking put in effort to not make soda's available.