Any tips for reducing soda and getting more water?

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13

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  • vienna_h
    vienna_h Posts: 428 Member
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    Step 1) Throw soda in trash can
    Step 2) Purchase BPA-free or stainless steel water bottle
    Step 3) Drink water out of bottle purchased in step 2
    Step 4) Repeat step 3

    THIS times a million. Could not be simpler. Please don't pollute our world by buying bottled water. You have a tap. Use it.

    I have multiple BPA-free bottles around, so there is always one nearby. And there's always a tap or water fountain nearby too.
  • vienna_h
    vienna_h Posts: 428 Member
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    Do this.

    1. Understand that water is good for your body. Soda is not.
    2. Buy a Camelback water bottle. Keep filling it up with water. You'll be amazed at how much water you'll be consuming.
    3. Understand that water is good for your body. Soda is not.
    4. Repeat everyday.
    What does water do for your body that soda - particularly diet soda - does not? Please clarify. It's not hydration.

    Tap water = free, sustainabile, less carbon footprint
    Soda = costs money, is not sustainable, takes much more energy to produce and be transported to your little mouth.
  • threefancy
    threefancy Posts: 93 Member
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    Cold turkey worked best for me. I had a headache for two days.
  • dbmata
    dbmata Posts: 12,951 Member
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    Last month I decided to stop drinking soda to humor myself as a New Years resolution. I'm one of those people who drink about 5 cans a day of coke. I've done that for years since caffeine is the only thing that prevents me from passing out during the day since I have a sleep disorder. Plus everyone keep nagging me saying soda is the only reason why I have a sleep disorder so I also partly did it to prove them wrong. So I quit cold turkey for the most part, except the first 2 days or so when I had about 2 cans instead of my usual 5.

    It's been about 3 or 4 weeks now, and it hasn't been terrible. I've had some headaches, but nothing a quick nap and some advil doesn't cure. I asked my mother to stop buying soda because when I have access to it in my house I have no self control haha. When I crave something sweet and sugary, i'll eat a piece of fruit or drink a cup of juice. For the most part that curbs the craving for soda. When it's the carbonation I crave, I'll also eat fruit and focus on the pulp. I don't know why, but snacking on fruit is an absolute savior for me.

    When we go out to eat, I'll ask for juice instead of soda as well. I'm a weirdo who only can stomach room temperature water, and drinks so water at restaurants is out of the question since they seem to acquire water from Antarctica or something.

    Speaking of temperature, finding a temperature of water I enjoyed REALLY helped. What temperature do you like your soda? Everyone always insisted I drink ice cold water, but I don't even like ice cold soda. I hate ice in my stuff period! I've always drank my soda room temp. When I tried room temp. water I actually found myself enjoying it a lot more.

    Also: water bottles. If you are lazy like me, having something you can just grab as opposed to taking out a cup and pouring makes all the difference. If you absolutely can't do it cold turkey, I suggest buying a large bottle which requires pouring and then keep smaller water bottles you can just grab and drink. That really helped me at least hahaha.

    Thank you for having paragraphs. So few people do these days.
  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    have you ever poured a coke over a car battery that was corroded? if not you need to youtube it....it so crazy how it strips all the yucky stuff away....only imagine how it effects your insides....food for thought. can anyone say ----no more soda----taste wonderful but is horrible for you

    It's absolutely nothing compared to the natural stomach acid in the body. These things are taught in grade school.
  • asciident
    asciident Posts: 166 Member
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    I still drink soda, but I've tried to limit it to about 12 oz a day. I find water easier to drink with a little flavoring. Just a lemon wedge or juice helps. I've also started drinking more unsweetened iced tea and more coffee (regular coffee, 1 cream no sugar).
  • russellvolk
    russellvolk Posts: 102 Member
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    Do this.

    1. Understand that water is good for your body. Soda is not.
    2. Buy a Camelback water bottle. Keep filling it up with water. You'll be amazed at how much water you'll be consuming.
    3. Understand that water is good for your body. Soda is not.
    4. Repeat everyday.
    What does water do for your body that soda - particularly diet soda - does not? Please clarify. It's not hydration.

    Simple answer is this.

    http://www.ehow.com/facts_7147402_water-better-drink-soda_.html

    Plus, a recent study found that caramel coloring in soda or any other food increases the risk of cancer. Are you disagreeing that water is better for you than soda? Please prove me wrong.
  • Jacwhite22
    Jacwhite22 Posts: 7,012 Member
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    If you notice headaches when you quit cold turkey, wean yourself off by drinking 50% less than whatever your average daily intake is for 2 full months.

    at the end of that time do the same.

    repeat until you are caffeine free.

    Ain't nobody got time for that. a little excedrine for 2-3 days and you are good to go.
  • TheWorstHorse
    TheWorstHorse Posts: 185
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    throw away soda. buy a soda stream, some mio flavoring, and with three or four soda stream bottles. make your bubbly water. squirt a dash of mio in. always have a bottle or two around if you are the soda-addict type. drink fizzy water. caffiene addiction, too? a cup of green tea in the morning works wonders.

    worked for me when i was giving up diet soda and i had a serious problem.
  • auntiebabs
    auntiebabs Posts: 1,754 Member
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    By soda I assume you are drinking cola... with caffeine, which makes it much hard to give up.

    I drank diet soda since I was 10 or 11, back in the days of TAB.
    I'd tried several times to give it up,but wasn't successful until I replaced it with coffee.
    I didn't consider the caffeine in and of itself a problem, as much as the chemicals.
    (If I'd been drinking regular soda, it would be the sugar I held issue with)

    Soda some how stressed me in a way that coffee does not.
    I feel much better, less stressed.
    I've also recently read articles about coffee's health benefits... mood enhancer, anti-oxidants,etc.
    So there are benefits too.

    ALSO Tea and coffee do NOT dehydrate you they just hydrate less effectively.
    (I had always counted 1 cup as 3/4 of a cup.)

    BUT recently read and article about a study that was done about the effective hydration of water vs. coffee... the bottom line was that there was a difference, but it was a very MINIMAL DIFFERENCE and bottom line was, unless you are drinking over 7 cups a day it's okay to count 1 cup of coffee as 1 cup of water. .


    Googling now to see If I can find a link for that article...


    MAYO CLINIC SAYS: (http://www.mayoclinic.com/health/caffeinated-drinks/AN01661)
    Recent research shows that this is not true and that caffeine has a diuretic effect only if you consume large amounts of it — more than 500 to 600 milligrams (the equivalent of 5 to 7 cups of coffee) a day.

    HUFFINGTON POST SITES PENNSYLVANIA UNIVERSITY & LA TROBE UNIVERSITY STUDIES
    http://www.huffingtonpost.co.uk/2012/06/07/hydration-tea-coffee-lettuce-hydration-better-water_n_1577105.html

    So if you feel the need to ditch caffeine all together use coffee as a bridge and wean yourself down, bit by bit. (Once you open a can of soda, you end up drinking the whole can. Much easier go from to pouring yourself part of a cup of coffee and slowly reduce your intake...
  • EvenThatNameIsTaken
    EvenThatNameIsTaken Posts: 164 Member
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    Totally there with you! I've been drinking some form of soda since I was about 5. It's my security blanket. And you can't get rid of that cold turkey (at least I can't, it's just not how I work personally.. some people can do it). But I am drinking way less of it lately than I have in the past, so I can offer a few pointers from my own experience:

    - Exercise more and sweat! - your body will be craving WATER, not coke, and once you get the satisfaction of drinking water when your body really wants it, you'll start to understand why it's so awesome. Seriously your body will thank you for this.

    - Yes, having a particular container to drink out of is a great motivator also. I have a pink bottle with black top and I love it. I take it with me to parties to make sure I'm drinking enough water (people ask what my secret mix is, I tell them water. ha)

    - I'm NOT forcing myself to "quit" drinking soda. I'm eating healthier, exercising more, losing weight - that in itself is all good stuff, and I decided consciously that I'm not going to try to force myself to stop drinking diet soda. If I want one, I have one. I have tried to switch to tea or other non-water options but that hasn't really stuck for me.

    - I DO force myself to drink water. I make an agreement with myself sometimes, if I want a diet coke, I need to drink a glass of water first.

    - If you are drinking full-sugar soda, you might try to switch to one of the diet varieties as it will make a huge difference in your sugar intake (if it's too high for you right now).

    For me, I have an inner rebel that can take over if I try to deny myself anything that I really like or am habituated to (and then I turn into a fiend for whatever it is I'm trying to restrict). So forcing yourself to DO something is much easier in this case than trying to force yourself NOT to do something.

    My strongest suggestion is don't force yourself to quit the soda... but DO force yourself to drink water. The rest will fall into place.

    Good luck!!
  • Myhaloslipped
    Myhaloslipped Posts: 4,317 Member
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    Mio flavor enhancer plus carbonated soda water. It tastes like a fairly acceptable alternative to soda if you are trying to wean yourself off of it.
  • GetSoda
    GetSoda Posts: 1,267 Member
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    Mio flavor enhancer plus carbonated soda water. It tastes like a fairly acceptable alternative to soda if you are trying to wean yourself off of it.

    But that is soda.
  • EvenThatNameIsTaken
    EvenThatNameIsTaken Posts: 164 Member
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    Seriously though, for me it REALLY helps for the water to be cold and in a container I like. I prefer the big insulated plastic cups with a straw for some reason.

    Agree with this. I prefer fountain diet coke over cans or from bottles, and I realized one thing I must like about that is the straw. So my water bottle has a built in straw and that makes me enjoy it more.
  • jennifer_417
    jennifer_417 Posts: 12,344 Member
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    Make a point to drink your water first. I find that as long as I am drinking plenty of water, I seldom actually crave soda.
  • littleandysmom
    littleandysmom Posts: 173 Member
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    I drink green tea as a substitute for coke. I had such a bad habit of going to qt (gas station) every morning and getting coke/dr. pepper. Now instead, I get their unsweetened pineapple/papaya green tea. The switch has been pretty easy. Think it would have been alot harder had I just switched only to water.
  • sarainiowa
    sarainiowa Posts: 287 Member
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    I recently gave up soda. If I'm craving a Coke, I will flavor my water with Crystal Light. That's what worked for me.

    Good luck because it's a hard habit to break.
  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
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    I love soda. I drink diet soda almost every day. It is my guilty pleasure, and I've used it as a crutch when dieting gets "stressful" (re: I can't eat the things I want and throw a mini tantrum, lol)

    Though I said I drink it almost every day, I drink a lot less of it than I used to. Drinking more in general will help you curb this. Drink more water, more tea. I bought sugar-free iced tea mix and often use that, though I suppose it isn't so different from drinking diet soda...

    As other people have said, a good way to choose water more often is to have your water exactly the way you like it! Straws? Small bottles? Big cups? Sippy cup? I don't like my water too cold or too filtered. And bottled waters taste different too, so buy the one you like.

    If what you're really looking for is bubbles, try a flavored sparkling water or the like. I hate seltzer, but some people find it's the best way to get off soda. But if what you're really looking for is flavor, you can't go wrong with iced tea! Find a (natural) tea that you like, brew a big batch of it and put it in the fridge so it's easy for you to grab and drink. You can even bottle it in separate bottles if you like.
  • AnIrishLibra
    AnIrishLibra Posts: 54 Member
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    I too used to drink tons of diet soda, and sometimes, when I have a pounding headache, I will still have one. Or sometimes I will treat myself to on. Maybe once every few weeks.

    But I, like many others posting, just made the decision to drink more water. Now that my body is used to more water, i'm getting less UTI's, more energetic, and just feel HEALTHIER.

    I got a Citrifuse for Christmas... LOVE IT. Definitely makes regular water more tasty. You can put fruit in it to flavor it. (I just use frozen strawberries, load it up the night before, and take it to work with me.)

    http://www.amazon.com/Decodyne-Flavor-Infuser-Water-Bottle/dp/B00ELLCO8K/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1391641080&sr=8-2&keywords=citrifuse

    I still have an issue where I don't drink enough water.... but 4 glasses of water in one day, is still far more healthier than 4 cans of soda!!
  • Azra124
    Azra124 Posts: 39
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    How to make water seem good to drink.

    - Start drinking a something really nasty everyday instead of water or soda.

    When you start drinking water instead of that nasty stuff, it'll be a relief for you. Try something yucky like tomato juice or unsweetened tea. >:P

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