Diet Soda - Quit Cold Turkey or in Moderation

I quit cold turkey about 9 years ago. I was a BIG diet soda drinker but I quit for my sister who was dying of cancer. She only had to ask me once!! She was a big aspartamine(sp?) drinker and her Dr. felt it had something to do with her cancer. (Not to get into the aspartamine discussion) Now I have a Zevia(made with Stevia) soda every once in a while.

If you listen to people in these forums, they will tell you that diet soda does/contains the following things:

-- Legit cancer
-- 300lbs of aspartame
-- Electrodes that re-program your brain to be a nazi
-- The tears of starving children
-- Makes you fat
-- Makes you hungry
-- Makes you kill your family

And so on.

I've said it before and I'll stick with it. There are great reasons for stopping soda, diet or not. Dental health is a great one. Personal preference. Doctor's orders. Or maybe you just found a drink you like better. That's great! In that case, to answer your question, I'd stop slowly and wean yourself off because, like any other addictive drug, caffeine causes withdrawals and your body needs time to adjust. Cold turkey MAY work but I imagine you will be much happier going slow.

But if the only reason that you're quitting is because of the artifical sweetener, I'd say don't stop. There haven't been clear, unbiased studies about negative effects on diet soda, and there are plenty of people here who drink them all the time (myself included) and don't have health problems because of it. If missing the caffeine is going to make you upset and irritable and potentially stray from your fitness path, keep it in your diet. That's the most important thing

My rule of thumb -- diet Coke is OK only when rum is involved.

I have been a Coke Zero fanatic for years, drinking 4-5 a day. I was crazy because I was on a beta blocker to lower my heart rate as well. I finally wised up about caffeine and read a lot of bad things about how the aspartame affects insulin so I gave it up pretty much cold turkey. I love the fizziness so i switched to a LaCroix sparkling water. I drink 1 or 2 a day and now make half decaf iced tea at home. I've cut my caffeine to about 1/8th of what I used to drink and my body is thanking me. My heart rate improved, headaches improved (but the first week was bad). Now I rarely get headaches and I'm less jittery. I just feel better about my choices. Good luck. It CAN be done. Hard to believe though.

Moderation. I like those small 8 oz. cans of Coke Zero.

I started tapering down by just drinking it with meals out of the house. I did that for a few weeks and then stopped completely. The hardest part was breaking the habit of ordering diet coke, not actually giving it up. Good luck to you!

Moderation. Similar to my advice for normal soda, moderation is the key. Drinking a can a day is probably not a good idea, but every few days won't kill you.

From what I've seen, you're far more likely to be successful if you don't cut out the things you love cold turkey. I'm not suggesting a "cheat day" or anything like that (I find those grossly overrated), but allowing yourself the things you love on occasion instead.

I went cold turkey. I read up about all the additives, caffeine and crap that are in soda and decided that I was worth more than that. I only ever drink water, fresh juice, smoothies and herbal tea now