Giving up diet soda

zumbajheri

I think what it is for me is the sweetness and the fizzies. I can get sweetness from juice, but no fizzies. The drink I do miss is New York Seltzer. I used to be able to get 1-liter bottles of that in the 1980s.

Whatever happened to the little New York seltzer grenades? Did they have sugar? They were great.. Polar doesn't taste how I remember NY seltzer or remember Clearly Canadian??? That was bomb too..

For the record, I've given up pop mostly. The occasional coke with pizza or Mexican food (I'll get the Mexican coke). I have about one a week now. Usually opt for hfcs over the aspartame, but now feeling like I should quit all together.. Cheers y'all, it's very hard!

Edited to add- now I drink water, coffee, mango black tea or passion flower tea, both unsweetened.

Sieden76

What I did first was went to walmart and bought the carbonated flavored water. It's still diet soda when you think about it but it's a mental game... it's clear so it looks like water, it's still diet so no calories and it's carbonated. It's helping you break your addiction just one step at a time. So drink that for about a week. After about a week start to add in a few cups of plain water in between drinking that stuff. Also you can buy carbonated water and add fruit juice or something to it, that helped me a lot also. There's also Ozarka with lemon, lime or orange essence which is really good. Any of these things will help you to transition over to plain water. If you just try to go cold turkey then it could be harder to do. I used to drink a 12 pack of diet cokes every single day and now I don't drink any at all... ever. You can do this but it's all about breaking the addiction a little at a time instead of doing it all at once.

Sieden76

remember Clearly Canadian??? That was bomb too..

The carbonated flavored water that I'm talking about from walmart taste like the old Clearly Canandian

MyChocolateDiet

just keep in mind it has caffeine and you may experience withdrawals like some here have mentioned. I personally had to give up caffeine slowly over a years time, but i was a migraine sufferer who could get a migraine from the withdrawal headaches. Research for yourself what seems like the best method for you. I am encouraged for you by the people here who have said it felt bad for 3 days and then they were fine. I hope that's the case for you because the sooner the better from the artificial stuff. Which I had to limit too for the same reason. Just give yourself space to explore the options and try what seems best to you. You can do it!:flowerforyou:

dga226

yeah i gave up soda well not all together i drink one can at lunch at work since i work night shift to keep me awake and most of time carbonated water or ice tea

marsviolet

I have been addicted to it for years and went cold turkey exactly one week ago. I have only been drinking water and tea and honestly, so far it's been kind of easy. I really do feel better. My stomach is flatter too!

kreza98

Hi, I gave up all caffeine almost exactly one week ago. I had been drinking at least 2 cans of Diet Coke a day and two or three cups of tea also. I had a headache for about 48 hours after I quit, then mild cold symptoms for a couple of days. I'm now on day 7 and have been going to bed a lot earlier.

I've had 8 hours sleep every night for the last three nights, which feels amazing, before I'd be lucky to let myself have 6. The difference in the gym is noticeable too, I'm already able to hit the weights harder and for longer. For me, caffeine definitely was an addiction, and though it's early days, I have no intention of going back.

chelseagirlfl

This is going to be really hard to do but I'm going to give up Diet Coke. I'm really addicted & have been for about 25 years. Not sure even how to begin.

Be prepared to not feel so great. You will have headaches and possibly other uncomfortable feelings from changing this behavior. I personally suggest going cold turkey and not looking back. Diet soda is garbage for your body, maybe not calories but, its nothing natural or healthy. Drink plenty of water and just stick to your plan to stop drinking the soda. When you feel like you just have to have it, talk yourself out of it and drink ice cold water. I stopped drinking soda about 2 years ago..and I am really glad I did it. I hope you are successful in your new venture for better health.

yellowsnowdrop

I gave up diet coke when I started my healthy eating plan ( i drank 2 litres a day!!) and replaced it with Carbonated Water. I don't miss the diet coke at all and feel better for having lost the habit.I put lemon jusice or lime juice fresh squeezed into my water and that way I'm getting some vitamin C as well. You will have some withdrawal symptoms but if you're totally determined to say farewell to the diet soda habit then you will do it.

GOOD LUCK.

Trilby16

I'm giving it up because I think it makes me hungry & I don't like that I'm addicted to something.

Those are great reasons. I hope you've taken the first step of getting rid of any stockpile in your house.

wiebelnancy

I decided to stop buying 2-3 20 0z. Diet Cokes a day and I use that money to pay for my gym membership, and occasional session with a trainer. It was a good motivation to just fill my water bottle!!

jyneefur

I went through a pretty long period of only drinking diet sodas. I found that kicking the habit was easier when I switched to MiO liquid flavor enhancers in water. They do contain sucralose, but they were my stepping stones to pure water. They gave me that sweet taste I usually got from my sodas. I kept using less and less of the MiO in each drink until I eventually stopped using it altogether.

katevarner

I just finished my last 12 pack of Coke Zero and have decided not to buy them anymore. I am still going to allow myself to have one when I eat out from time to time (water just doesn't cut it with pizza, for instance), but I don't like the feeling of dependency they gave me always having one in the fridge.

pegasus925

In three days I;ve had 3 Diet cokes, caffeine free!!!! Phew. I just want it and not having the cosntant injection of caffeine is killing my head

tjsoccermom

You're getting there. Three days is great, don't give in!! You can do it!

Calliope610

Hey - I was the same. Drank diet coke for over 25 years - every day!!
I quit cold turkey on January 15th this year and haven't had even a sip of it since then. I have completely replaced it with WATER!
I don't even miss it at all anymore - and feel so much better. Greatest change I have made to my diet in a long time!

Me too, quit cold turkey sometime in early March. Just started drinking water instead.

KristenRidl

I decided to give up diet soda about a week ago. I have been drinking tea instead. Even though it has some calories (because of the honey and splash of milk I use), I feel better about drinking something natural. So far, using the tea has really helped me get over my soda cravings. For me, soda provided me with a sweet caffeine buzz. I find the caffeine from tea to be even more effective. YAY!

Ashwee87

because it's addictive to most people, no different then getting hooked on nicotine or mairjuana etc. they know it's bad for you but the body craves it once you get hooked

Marijuana is addictive...ffs :sick:

elainecroft

Tea and seltzer water helped me kick the habit - I went from up to 6 cans a day to 1-2 cans per week. You can do it!

judtod

You might want to give it up gradually if you have been drinking soda with caffeine. Otherwise, you could get caffeine withdrawal headaches.

grizzdj

Just started my efforts to give up diet soda too. I have gone from drinking about 64oz of regular soda a day to drinking under 12oz of diet and now want to cut it out all together. I have read all of the really nasty things it can do to your body and I don't want to subject myself to it anymore.

Good luck with your efforts!

slendercurves

Also, because people think diet and calorie-free drinks are healthy, they tend to drink way more of them. This means people are getting way more artificial sugars due to drinking "healthy" drinks than if they just drank the regular, sugar-filled drinks.

Justjamie0418

because it's addictive to most people, no different then getting hooked on nicotine or mairjuana etc. they know it's bad for you but the body craves it once you get hooked

Marijuana is addictive...ffs :sick:

*snort*

jessicaperkins52

I am in the middle of quitting diet coke. I didn't like that my body was addicted to something (or the price of it) and when I first stopped drinking it, I had a headache (I assume from lack of caffine) for a couple of days. Not wanting to have that headache again is my motivation to stick to water.

cmart69

I got a Soda Stream and now drink tons of carbonated water. It can be done! I don't really miss it much any more.

I stopped drinking diet soda on 1/1/2013. I found that I missed the carbonation more than anything and also use our soda stream machine now. I'll mix in splash of lemon/lime juice or sometimes 100% cranberry juice for a bit of flavor.