Advice on Giving up Soda?

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CVislosky89
CVislosky89 Posts: 2
in Food and Nutrition
Hi ya'll. I was just wondering how you guys gave up soda? Was there something specific you did to stop drinking it?
My husband drinks soda so I can't just stop buying it... I'd like to drink something else and resist the soda.

Replies

  • Swoopette
    Swoopette Posts: 118 Member
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    All I can say is GOOD LUCK! I have the same problem. I am trying my hardest to at least cut back. I started drinking Fuze Shapes. (they have the calorie mark around the neck of the bottle (15-25 calories) the other ones have 200 + calories. So if you try these make sure you get the lower calories. Honestly lots of people say drink water and more water it really doesn't help. It has to be your own will power. GOOD LUCK and if you find a way please let me know. I usually have a can a day. So try to cut a few days out in the week. Some days I end up having 2 a day but I don't beat myself up over it as tomorrow is a new day!
  • vickiele1
    vickiele1 Posts: 394 Member
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    replace with a flavored water of some kind. I like the Crystal light green tea with raspberry - doesn't have that diet taste. You can choose any kind of low sugar/low sodium drink, though and then slowly wean yourself even off of that to something that has little to no calories to just water most of the time with other beverages being a treat.

    Vickie
  • SuzanneRogers
    SuzanneRogers Posts: 250 Member
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    just buy smaller portions. I buy 7.5 ox coke cans so when I decide to drink one which is once month, it is only a little. try drinking water with special K protein powder added, or lemon in water, or sweet tea. Even try drink de-caffeinated soda to kick the cravings, you probably will miss the caffeine more than anything else. Just cut out a little at a time in the beginning so you don't get headaches if you normally drink a lot of them.
  • Amarillo_NDN
    Amarillo_NDN Posts: 1,018 Member
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    Best thing that helped me was the flaoverd drink powders you add to water. Different brands out so just find some that you enjoy the taste of. If you have to have the carbination, there are flavored waters that are just like soda but 0 cals.
  • PecanSandy
    PecanSandy Posts: 8
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    How about a Crystal Light Spritzer or just plain old sparkling water with a lemon wedge (club soda or tonic water I think) but make sure you get the no sodium kind....Good luck...I have the same prob in my house with my husband and pepsi...totally addicted! lol
  • Steelytop
    Steelytop Posts: 145 Member
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    My body is mostly water. My brain is like 80% water. (Yours too) And sodas were my BANE. I don't drink them ever unless I'm having alcohol and then very very sparingly. I know I'm supposed to have 8 to 10 or more cups of water a day without exercising. Add exercising and you need more. I didn't switch to milk or juice or tea or anything else. I switched to water. And I set my blinders so far forward it's working great. I can have tea. I just have to make it. I can have anything I want really. But good ol' water is zero calories!!! And so that's why it wins 99.99% of the time. I can drink it all day, especially when I think I'm hungry (but i'm not) and I'm doing pretty good so far. 82 days and counting.

    I'm so glad the opti-fast diet made me feel ill after 3 days to point I couldn't continue it. And then I just took my "sensible" dinner and turned it into sensible breakfast, lunch, dinner and 2 snacks. I don't always get in the snacks but usually I do. And instead of waiting until I get hungry to eat breakfast I eat it as early as I can. It's still a battle but some mornings I wake up starving! Most mornings not.

    I've got two bottles of Ozarka in front of me as we speak. And I'm waiting on some combination vermicelli and 2 egg rolls with hot mustard. I have like 950 calories I still need to consume today. (More than that if you add my exercise calories in)
  • Suedre
    Suedre Posts: 435 Member
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    I just quit. I told myself that I would give myself a single week. The first day was really really really really really hard (squared). The second day was ok, by the thrid I was feeling a bit confident. I just took it one day at the time until the 7th day when I told myself I could have a giant diet coke with dinner. When I got there I didn't want it. Six months later, I'm still surviving without it. I licked it a few weeks ago and UGH! it tastes terrible! Up until two days ago, I had diet coke in both my pantry and my fridge because I knew that getting rid of *it* didnt get rid of my problem. My advice is to just take it a day at the time and make sure there is plenty of cold filtered water around. Good Luck! :)


    Just as a side note, three of my medical mysteries that I've been to doctor after doctor for, dissappeared soon after giving up the soda.
  • LuckySue333
    LuckySue333 Posts: 109
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    I get walmart brand flavored water. It has a lot of flavors to choice from... Also you can get bottles of water and get the crystal light packets to put in it to drink... I like soda and have cut down a lot. Although I still have one ever so often...
  • littlems
    littlems Posts: 28
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    i switched to diet. but i also don't buy it for us. i now don't drink anyof it. wish you luck.
  • maurierose
    maurierose Posts: 574 Member
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    Call me crazy (won't be the first time) but for me, if I stick exclusively to water after a few days of drinking soda, iced tea, etc, it tastes "funny", "boring", "wierd" for a couple of days, and then my body seems to readjust and that's all I want.

    I've turned into a water freak on this journey..... I carry a starbucks stainless steel insulated coffee mug (no handle) full of icewater in my purse whenever I leave the house.... carry it around the house with me wherever I am during the day..... :bigsmile: Told ya I was bonkers.... but it worked for me. :drinker: Good luck!!!

    The first couple days were the worst. Be stubborn and persistant! You can do it! Why waste your calories on something like a beverage when you could have something yummier and more filling!? :tongue: Makes eating out cheaper too..... haven't ever been charged for water..... :smooched: If I get bored with it (which I do, every now and again) I toss something healthy in, my favs are a couple cucumber slices, or orange slices, or lemon slices, or strawberries, berries, etc. It always does the trick!

    :smile: :flowerforyou:
  • bjberry
    bjberry Posts: 665 Member
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    I stopped drinking sodas a couple of years ago, since the carbonation was not good for the people standing around me! :laugh:
    If you have that problem, this is your excuse to stop the sodas! :wink:

    My sister did not have my problem (well, I don't think so ;), but when she gave up sodas, she just added about a tablespoon of water to her soda (one a day) for the first week. 2TBSP of water the second week, and so forth, until she was down to about 1/4 cup of soda in her water. The soda flavored the water and did not add huge amounts of sodium.

    I know you can do this. :drinker: (plain water, with a touch of lemon juice, from me to you!)
  • Steelytop
    Steelytop Posts: 145 Member
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    Btw, diet sodas got me to this weight too. But regular soda REALLY kicked it into overdrive. I had an illness and was off diet soda for a week and realized I hated the taste of them and was no longer used to their awful flavor. They're the worst. Regular sodas are easy to give up. 160 calories for 12 oz's just doesn't seem worth it. But if I really wanted ONE.....I'd have one and figure it into my totals. But totals dictate a lot of what I eat based on calories. Certain things have a lot more calories for very little.

    I've had pretty much nothing but water for almost 3 months. I don't miss the Cokes, Pepsi's etc. I do feel bad for places I go out to eat at because I'll probably almost always order water and occasionally iced tea. I like ice tea with lemon only (no sugar) anyway. So, I just throw lemon into the water and it's the same thing.
  • ashleighk2010
    ashleighk2010 Posts: 135
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    I just don't buy it any more. I drink more soda than anyone I know, and I know it's no good for me. I buy bottled water and always have the fridge stocked with them. I have powdered mix for iced tea and Gatorade and I use one or the other once a day (not something I monitor, that's just how often I crave it)... But I still allow myself to have soda when I go out to restaurants or get fast food. Cutting it out completely isn't for me. Just keeping it out of the house has DRASTICALLY reduced the amount I drink and I think that's enough. =]
  • bsitts
    bsitts Posts: 6
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    I went from a 2 liter of dr pepper a day to dt dr pepper. Now I don't drink it at all. I can't because I had a lap band, or I totally would be guzzling dt dr pepper all day still. Since I can't have the carbonation, a month after surgery, when I felt better and was back on real food I tried making some soda really flat and drinking it. ugh bleh!!! It felt like battery acid. So gross. So I drink crystal light, lipton diet citrus green tea, and coffee. I feel like I have enough variation that I don't crave soda anymore. It took a long time to not crave it. About 9-10 months. But it would be worth it.
    There are some diet soda's at the health food centers made with stevia. My husband says they're pretty good. I thought they tasted like real sugar and I hate that taste after being a diet drinker.
    GOOD LUCK!
  • PecanSandy
    PecanSandy Posts: 8
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    Saw something on Dr Oz about how to give up soda...missed the segment though...but you can check it out on his website...i believe it aired either yesterday or the day before. Good Luck!
  • maurierose
    maurierose Posts: 574 Member
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    Soooooo.... it's been about a week.... how are you doing on either "no" sodas, or cutting back? What's helping so far?
    :smile: :flowerforyou:
  • kingdom_belle
    kingdom_belle Posts: 3
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    When I am pregnant I only drink water...so after I had my daughter I just found myself barely drinking it. To be quite honest knowing that it is harmful for me has made me not want it. I may drink it once or twice a month if that. Some of the soda's have high fructose corn syrup and really they are made of stuff that is not good for you. Be careful with the flavored powders for water as well. Is your goal to lose weight or is your goal to be healthy. If the latter than you should pay attention to all labels. Hope this helps and GL to you.
  • mrtourne
    mrtourne Posts: 3 Member
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    Another way around the flavored fizzy waters (which I am a bit weary of since a lot of them use artificial flavorings or added sugar) is to buy club soda or seltzer water and just add cut fruit in the glass (slices of orange, lemon or lime; cut strawberries or crushed raspberries or blueberries...). Of course, you can do the same with flat water as well...

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