Need help

kcmurray

I am keenly aware that water is the best thing to drink, but I am addicted I mean really addicted to pepsi. I'm drinking so many calories a day by falling to this addiction. I do not like diet drinks at all, but I think I have to learn to like them. Can anyone give me tips on how to make the transition to diet cokes? I think my eating would be fine if I didn't have all of the extra drink calories. Thanks in advance for your help!

xraychick77

not sure how to help you..i didnt used to like diet drinks either..but like anything like that its an aquired taste..meaning you need to drink more of them.

my wife is addicted to diet coke..i mean really..two three a day..its so horrible for her..so she cold turkey stopped.

i cold turkey stopped coffee for two months..now i drink decaf. my only drinks are water and decaf coffee, oh and beer..hehe.i love my beer.

GunslingerGirl

Depending where you are, Wal-Mart has some great drinks that taste good and have 0 calories. There called Clear American. Thay have 0 everything. Might be good to try it out. It's kind like carbonated water but, better. Hope I helped. Good luck.

Jesika888

i had the same problem exept i was drinking nearly 2 litres of coke a day, Soo bad hey,
i tried changing to coke zero or diet coke and it didnt work, it only made me want normal coke more,
The only thing that worked for me was the quit cold turkey aswell when i felt like a coke i would go have an apple instead, or i just down a bottle of water to i could drink anymore!!! was hard but i had a can of Coke the other day for the first time in 3 weeks and i couldnt drink it all, Once you loose your taste for it, it will be so much easier

sorry i couldnt help more

Goodluck

reikimastertchr

If I were you..don't get started on unhealthy immitation sweetened carbo ated beverages.. I was a pepsiholic too but cold turkeyed it and went to ice watet with lemon..now I hate any soda.. good luck and enjoy tbe journey

shreddingit

Pepsi will do more harm to your body than extra calories, diet is worse!!....you just need to stop drinking it....

rule3451

I was the same way...and it was my only source of caffeine. I used Coke Zero and it helped, at least with the way my brain is wired. Like at a mealtime I'd go for the Coke Zero and I could tell myself "since it's not what I want anyway, I may as well drink water." It only took about two weeks to be rid of it altogether. Good luck!

Dbashara

Grit your teeth and resist--it's the only way. The sugar craving will diminish in a few days, and it will be easier then. Link your break to something else in your life that lasts about a week. Then when the other activity is done, you'll be more ready to let go of the Pepsi, too. If you don't like the taste of diet, see if you can go straight to water instead. Be careful about artificial sweetners. They have a downside also.

ajk828

The way I transitioned from soda to water was to start drinking sparkling water. NOT the best...but better. Learned to love water and didn't find it hard to go from sparkling water to regular!

TaushasJourney

I've heard that a good way to ease yourself off a food addiction is to begin with (in your case) drinking whatever your usual amount of pepsi is, and also drinking a little water. The, the next time you drink pepsi, just drink a little bit less pepsi and a little bit more water, and so on until you're just drinking water.

Pretty_n_Pink

I love love love Pepsi, it's the best thing ever (in my opinion), I used to drink 6 or 7 a day but quit it cold turkey. The first few days are hard, but it will get better. I started drinking sweet tea instead, which is still not great, but better, and eventually started using less sugar in my tea until I went all unsweet (no sweetner, too many chemicals). I get a craving every so often and have one occasionally but it's so sweet. I can't drink it by itself, must have with food and even then I can't finish it. After awhile you just get used to it and rarely think about it, but my only advice is until that happens don't touch a Pepsi b/c you'll be right back to drinking it all the time.

One of the added benefits of not drinking soda is your teeth and mouth. You may not realize how "sticky, gritty" your teeth get or how your mouth has a "film" on it from all that sugar, once you kick the Pepsi addiction your teeth and mouth feel a lot cleaner all the time.

If your needing the caffine try coffee (if you like it). I'm an AM coffee drinker, but once I quit Pepsi, I would get so tired in the afternoons, that I started drinking some coffee to help. Best of luck.....:flowerforyou:

TrainingWithTonya

I still drink my Pepsi, but I'm very active during the day so I need the added calories and simple carbs to replace glycogen stores. However, I use to not drink water at all and had to learn to adjust my intake of Pepsi to accommodate adding in water in order to properly provide everything my body needs. So, I have set myself a rule that I can't have another Pepsi until I've had an equal amount of water. Switching back and forth all day has cut my Pepsi intake in half at least. I don't believe in cutting out anything that we enjoy completely, just making sure that it fits in our lifestyle and health needs. So, maybe trying the alternating trick you can cut down to see your goals without having to cut out something you enjoy.

Lisa__Michelle

Which one is better?..... Lab created Chemicals that are in bold on the back of the can because (I learned in a brain class I took) that if the chemical (Phenalaline.. spelling?) crosses the blood/brain barrier then it will kill you instantly (which it HAS killed people, that is why it is in bold) OR So much sugar that your blood sugar goes out of whack and you have just drank your calories with no nutritional content????

Dr. Oz explained on his show that DIET is just as fattening if not more than regular. He basically said it is lab created chemicals that you are drinking that are sweet. Your taste buds taste something sweet and your stomach waits for sugar to come down. Well, you drink your diet drink and the sugar never comes to your stomach so it panics and wants something sugary. He said it makes you crave other sugar food items. I would just quit cold turkey.

Basically, if I were to choose one, I would say drink regular only on special occassions or as a cheat. At least sugar is a real food substance.

Kath712

I've heard that a good way to ease yourself off a food addiction is to begin with (in your case) drinking whatever your usual amount of pepsi is, and also drinking a little water. The, the next time you drink pepsi, just drink a little bit less pepsi and a little bit more water, and so on until you're just drinking water.

I totally agree with this. I wouldn't bother to switch to diet soda, because that's just something else you'll have to give up. Start incorporating water and alternating. Gradually increase the water and eventually you'll run out of time in the day for your Pepsi. I gave up my Diet Coke habit a year and a half ago. Now, I have maybe one every month or so, and I really don't miss it in between.

Lisa__Michelle

I've heard that a good way to ease yourself off a food addiction is to begin with (in your case) drinking whatever your usual amount of pepsi is, and also drinking a little water. The, the next time you drink pepsi, just drink a little bit less pepsi and a little bit more water, and so on until you're just drinking water.

This is probably the best advice on HOW to go about quitting that I have seen on here! You should really try this because I think it would be less of a shock on your body.

editara13

Water is the king of keeping you healthy and always young. All sodas are like smoking, everybody knows that it kills and rotten your system and still they smoke. All you got to do is start drinking water, because is not late and once you start consuming it then your body and mind will always gonna ask for it. Also fresh squeezed fruits and veggies are superb. Me myself drink more then 10 glasses of water per day and I feel full of energy all the time. Water is all you need. Stay away of all diet sodas and others like that, because they all are full of chemicals which will destroy your body. Give your body and brain what they deserve.... :-)


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Marcus_E

Agree with most of the comments.. Don't look towards the 'Diet' versions of the drinks - which they may appeal from a caloric perspective, there's still a load of crap inside of them.

I don't drink enough water as it is (at the moment), but slowly increasing my intake. I found it very boring, to switch from Diet Coke and Coke Zero to water, so I add a bit of fresh lemon & lime into it. Makes it a bit of a nicer drink.

Also I started to drink Sparkling Mineral Water - I found that I still enjoyed the fizz you get from Coke etc.. I love San Pellegrino - it just seems to have a nice taste about it and when I go out to eat nowadays, instead of ordering a coke, I'll order a sparkling mineral water with fresh lemon and lime.. (mates normally laugh, until they actually try it.. - it's very refreshing!!)

I feel your pain though - it's hard to break the habit, but here's a good link to some ideas that could help as well:
http://www.wikihow.com/Break-a-Habit - Remember they reckon it takes 21 days to break a habit (my next two are coffee and smoking) ..

As a quick addition - one thing I noticed when I stopped drinking coke, was my teeth felt better.. Good luck anyway!!!

softballfan18

I know what your going through, all i used to drink was soda. i now limit myself to two sodas a day and am planning on cutting down to gradually to where i don't drink any. i don't like plain water so i have to have something in it like lemon or a sugar free drink packet, i find that helps me not drink soda since it still has flavor so maybe you could try that. i hope this helps, good luck!

staceydewey

Rather than drinking the Pepsi, diet Pepsi I drink club soda, on ice - with a squeeze of lemon and a squeeze of lime - I enjoy the carbonation of the club soda and the flavor of the citrus - and it helps me get my water intake - maybe it could help you to replace one or 2 Pepsi's each day.

Good luck!

cunokyle

Just make the switch to diet. That is what I did with Mt Dew! I would drink at least a 2 liter of Mt Dew a day! Now, I drink a 20oz diet soda/day pretty regularly and then drink water the rest of the time. I can not imagine drinking anything other than diet soda at this point. A month ago I never thought I would be able to make the change.

Everyone has an opinion on diet soda. The fact is, there are no calories, no sugar, and you can get it with reduced sodium.

dustyhockeymom

I used to drink a ton of calories. My drink of choice was Dr. Pepper. I can't believe that it wouldn't be unusual for me to drink 40 - 60 ounces a day. That is so many calories. The start of my process was to stop that. I just went cold turkey. It sucked for about three days, particularly because I don't drink coffee so soda was my only caffene. I don't like diet drinks, so just stopping was really my best option. When I started MFP I said that if I had it in my calories I could have one a week because they are always around (my dh isn't ready to change his habits yet). A few weeks ago I had one and I couldn't believe how sweet it was. I didn't even drink half of it.