Severe Soda Addiction

Hi, I drink diet soda too, how many do you drink in one day?

I gotta say I'm kinda with ya on this one, I've been drinking Diet Coke since I was still drinking from a sippy cup, my mom drank it while she was pregnant with me and was giving it to me off her finger when I was teething, so I've almost had an IV of it hooked into me since birth!

I haven't had more than one can of DC a week in over a month, but I'm still drinking caffeine free sodas sometimes...trying to wean off slowly, since I get the withdrawal symptoms from the caffeine my body is so used to every day. It's taken a few weeks to get to caffeine free totally, and trying now to cut back more and more of what sodas I'm drinking now. Hoping to be switched to just juice, lemonade, water and tea in another couple weeks.

I read an article about why we hold onto to fat and one part of it was about environmental and other non-food related causes. One cause is from exposure to the chemical BPA. Most canned foods leach BPA from cans, especially acidic foods and drinks. Sodas from cans, tomatoes, and canned fish all have high levels of BPA. If you don't know about BPA it's extremely harmful. It's been banned from all baby products and most reusable water bottle makers have stopped using it. It causes, among other things, reproductive problems. So all canned drinks are not good for you. Plus, Hansen's uses genetically modified ingredients.

Try drinking sparkling juice drinks like Izze. They are 70% juice with just a little sparkling water and no added sugar. They come in a variety of flavors and come in glass bottles. Clementine (like mandarin orange) and blackberry are my favorites. Pomegranate is very tart, grapefruit is ok and I think they might have an apple flavor too.

Soda can be a big weakness for me. The longest I've gone was from 01 January - end of May 2010. I have now been without soda since October 26th! Every once in awhile I'll have a sip of whatever my husband is drinking...I'm doing that different from last time, that way I still get my "fix" every once in awhile. Like a previous poster said, I was weaned on soda. I remember it being a daily tradition in my broke family to walk down to the 7-11 and buy a soda. Cherry coke was my first, then it was just Coke, then Sprite, back to Coke, then Sunkist Orange, then A&W Cream Soda. I was always very specific about which I was addicted to, and had to have a specific food to go with it. I would hunt around for the exact match and if I couldn't find it, I would sink into depression. Example, when I was in my A&W Cream Soda Phase, I had to have cashews with it....if I couldn't find a convenience store with cashews I would be frantic.

My suggestions would be maybe try the 0 calorie Pepsi. Still lots of bad stuff, but better than the calorie-laden junk. Try to either wean yourself off of it, or quit cold turkey. Now I drink Vitamin water...some of them are decent and help me to get my water intake in, without it feeling like I'm drinking water. Sobe has some good stuff and they're doing the buy one get one free deals in a lot of locations.

I worked for a national soda brand for over seven years and admit to being addicted to the stuff. I have to have a mountain dew everyday but am slowly backing away from that. I'm down to one 20 oz bottle of regular dew from the several 44oz cups that I could free pour in the break room.

What's so bad about diet soda? I know the aspartame is bad for you, but sucralose (Splenda) is an altered sugar molecule, and there's a soda made with stevia (I think it's called Zevia, but I could be a little off on the name - I just know what the can looks like and buy by that), and that's a natural plant extract.

For me it's the way to get my soda fix with no calories, and I don't find it makes me crave more sweet things, like some people say happens with artificial sweeteners. YMMV of course, because everyone is different, but I don't think a can or two a day can cause that much harm, as long as you stay with the more natural sweeteners.

I mean, it's no worse than Crystal Light, which isn't soda.

I'm SO glad you asked this question! I am completely and utterly addicted to Diet Coke. I probably drink three or four of the 44 oz. cups of it a day. It's ridiculous, really. I have my morning cup of coffee, but then go straight to Diet Coke and I don't stop until I've gone to bed. I've tried to quit cold turkey, but end up with migraines from the withdrawal. I've decided I'm going to try to wean down a cup a week until I'm off of it. I really don't know what else to do.

I hope everyone on this board reads this, I created an account just so I could share this information. Below I've posted a documentary on the evils of aspartame. It's a long documentary, so if you don't have time now, maybe bookmark it for later. I was a diet soda addict for years, who thought the only evil that could come of it was weight gain or aspartame symptoms like head aches. Not true, sadly. Aspartame is toxic. Sheer poison. I will not touch the stuff now. Haven't had one sip since watching this. If I crave it I drink a few gulps of regular soda instead.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P-usbGZez40

2-3 diet sodas (8 oz cans) in one day should not be a big deal... there are worst things than that, we all need a little escape...

No, I don't think diet soda is better than water.

My two cents.