help me give up pop...

JJLM

I need suggestions of what I can replace my diet pepsi addiction with....Its a BIG addiction. and i need step by step instructions how to do it LOL. I am helpless. I drink a bunch of water already 4 16 oz bottles a day sooo aside from more water, what is a great replacement? should i quit cold turkey?

JJLM

I need suggestions of what I can replace my diet pepsi addiction with....Its a BIG addiction. and i need step by step instructions how to do it LOL. I am helpless. I drink a bunch of water already 4 16 oz bottles a day sooo aside from more water, what is a great replacement? should i quit cold turkey?

EmilyAnn89

someone told me that they use sparkling water and the crystal light flavor packets. i tried it and it's really good. i used grape flavor.. it tasted exactly like grape pop but it was actually just flavored carbonated water! yummy!

blondie_girl14

I think you should definitely try quitting cold turkey. I use to drink a lot of soda, now I never buy it or drink much, once in a while I do. You should try just drinking other stuff like your water, powerade 0, diet iced tea etc. Don't buy it and see how you do :drinker:

pandyp

I would recommend going in steps! I found that my addiction wasn't pop, so much as caffeine! :noway:

I first decided to stop drinking caffeinated pop (caffeine-free diet pepsi and diet sprite), then limited myself to only one a day until I felt that I didn't need the fix as much!

I stopped drinking all pop in January 2009 and haven't looked back once! You'd be amazed at how good you feel, how little you miss it, and in truth, the one time I 'sort-of' slipped and thought 'I needed some carbonation' - I took a sip and got really sick - my stomach just couldn't handle that much carbonation anymore!

Good luck and hope this helps!:happy:

Iceprincessk25

Coming from someone who LOVED DIET COKE TO DEATH when I first started MFP I can tell you that it's not as hard as you think it will be.

I switched over to iced green tea that I make at home in my Iced Tea maker. I never got the headaches because I was still getting the caffeine in the tea and now when I drink Diet Coke ti doesn't taste as good AT ALL which is TOTALLY shocking to me. I have one maybe once or twice a week now and that's usually because I need to make more tea!

My favorite tea is Uncle Lee's green tea. You can get it at Ralph's/Kroger. It's not like your usual GREEN green tea. It's more of a darker brown color and tastes delish!

LuckyLeprechaun

if you get headaches because of the caffeine withdrawal, use excedrin. it has a little caffeine in it, so it will help the best.

LuckyLeprechaun

if you get headaches because of the caffeine withdrawal, use excedrin. it has a little caffeine in it, so it will help the best.

chrissyh

My family is on a NO Soda month for may....

That's me, my hubby, my 17yo and my 13 yo....we've all done great - it's a contest so nobody wants to lose!

ering

I quit cold turkey. :happy:

I used to drink a 6 pack of mt. dew everyday when I was in High School. About 5 years after I decided I couldn't drink it anymore because I drink it like water. Not good. So I don't touch Mt. dew at all anymore.
My husband drinks pepsi so I for the last 5 years have had my 3:00 p.m. pepsi everyday.
So, to make a long story shorter after a 1 week binge on pop during a vacation I quit. Cold turkey. It wasn't easy. When my husband opens a pepsi near me I can smell it. :frown: I want so bad to drink it but I don't. I also will eat a healthy snack at arond 2:45 every day to help keep that urge from coming back. I think the person who said it was the caffeine was right. The need to drink it will pass, just don't give in. If I drank 1 mt. dew right now I would prbably be an addict again. I feel so much better now, that I don't ever want to go back.

Good luck!!

staclo

You say "pop" too. Are you from Michigan (or close by)? I always get made fun of for saying "pop" instead of "soda" from friends of mine who live in NY. Anyway....I would probably just quit cold turkey if it were me. Maybe find a healthier alternative to replace it with. Good luck!

Tayla08

Ha....I say pop too.... I'm from Iowa! :laugh:

I quit Cold Turkey.... I drank Diet Pepsi like it was going out of style... A few years ago I quit and went 2 years without drinking pop, I don't know why I decided to start again, but I did quit cold turkey again....It's really not as hard as you think it is.... and after awhile, it doesn't taste good anyway! Good luck!!!!

chrissyh

Funny - when I was a kid we called everything Tonic (in New Hampshire) but here in the south it's soda.....

mfinney

i think for most people it's a disciplinary issue. i gave up pop, and yes, just like anything else, it was tough at first, but it slowly gets easier.

i switched from diet pop to diet lipton green tea. green tea is excellent for you, and still gives you the caffeine you may need from all the pop you used to drink.

you just have to make a strong conviction to do it, and before you know it, you don't want pop at all. i drank pop non-stop through high school and my twenties, but now it's my LAST resort for something to drink, and only then, it's only diet and only if i need the caffeine. otherwise i stick to the green tea and water and i feel tons better for it.

whatever you may decide to switch to, you can do a reduction timeline -- so if you normally drink 5 pops a day, start out for three days with 4 pops and 1 replacement; then another three days with 3 pops and 2 replacements; then 2 pops, 1 pop, etc. until you've made a healthier switchover and don't need the pop anymore.

good luck!!

jlhcrh3

I agree with any and all of the above. If you think you have the willpower to quit cold turkey, then give it a try. Or slowly reduce the number of them you drink each week (or day). Good luck and know that we're here for you! We all have things we're trying to quit!

and I say coke....for all of them, even if they're not coke southern thing

jlhcrh3

Funny - when I was a kid we called everything Tonic (in New Hampshire) but here in the south it's soda.....

that's strange, cause I've lived in various parts of the south my whole life and it's always been coke, lol:laugh: