How did you kick the soda habit/cravings?

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remaho80
remaho80 Posts: 126 Member
in Food and Nutrition
I'm a Mountain Dew addict. I just cannot kick the cravings! I still have to drink at least one per day. Anyone have any advice on HOW to ditch this addiction? Cold turkey is too hard and leaves me with BAD caffeine withdrawal headaches. I tried just limiting it to the weekends, but I caved after a week. Help! Oh...and I detest diet pop, so that's not even an option.
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Replies

  • smbakke77
    smbakke77 Posts: 273 Member
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    Try green tea...or diet green iced tea. Zero calories!
  • staceyo1211
    staceyo1211 Posts: 163
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    For over 10 years Coke was my liquid intake. I went to the dentist one day and he said my teeth was showing signs of enamel damage. He said I could reverse it but I had to stop drinking pop. I quit cold turkey! I havent had Coke or pop in almost 2 years. I only drink water now. You can do it just take one step at a time.
  • ambie35
    ambie35 Posts: 853 Member
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    I kicked my diet coke addiction cold turkey.
    Was just sitting there one day .Not religious but it was around the time lent started so I thought I would "give something up" for 45 days. Easter came and went and I have had 1/2 glass of diet ginger ale since.
    I drink lots of herbal teas now.
  • artemis222
    artemis222 Posts: 390 Member
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    Try plain carbonated water, but add your own lemon and lime to it.
  • snakegoddess_3
    snakegoddess_3 Posts: 83
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    I had a bad Dr.Pepper addiction. I forced myself to drink diet and because I didn't like diet I wouldn't drink as much and went then right to water where when I had Dr.Pepper I would have a few. You have to want to stop it and not cave. I wanted to be thinner much worse than I wanted the DP. I will still have the occasional coke zero because that doesn't taste as diet like as the others but it took sheer will. Good luck
  • ohthatmomma
    ohthatmomma Posts: 115
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    Dr. Oz says you have to wean yourself. So maybe this week you have 1 full soda a day. Next week 3/4 of a can a day. The following week 1/2 can a day. Next week 1/4 of a can a day... and so on. It could work.
  • jaimejean478
    jaimejean478 Posts: 152 Member
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    Have you tried buying the smaller 6 or 8 oz baby size cans? Cutting back in anyway can help. I axed the Diet Coke habit cold turkey... and yeah, the withdrawal was brutal for about 4 days. Holy headache! It was worth it though. I find myself grabbing them in dire caffeine need situations, and it doesn't even taste as good to me anymore. Plus I don't have that 3pm craving for a candy bar or something sugar packed!
  • ohthatmomma
    ohthatmomma Posts: 115
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    Dr. Oz says you have to wean yourself. So maybe this week you have 1 full soda a day. Next week 3/4 of a can a day. The following week 1/2 can a day. Next week 1/4 of a can a day... and so on. It could work.
  • viggie
    viggie Posts: 155 Member
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    Maybe try watering it down a little bit at a time. Like if you drink 16 oz. put 2 oz of water in it and increase the water in it over time?
  • Mandi1968
    Mandi1968 Posts: 30 Member
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    I wish I had some great advice, I can't kick my mocha habit either...and what is worse I justify it by my exercise!
    I do drink Snapple Diet Rasberry Tea when water doesn't appeal to me....try that? sometimes it just takes forcing yourself for a week or so and then wehn you try the MD again it might not even taste good anymore.....good luck.
  • djevans2353
    djevans2353 Posts: 1
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    You can try cutting back first, or cutting it with seltzer. I love coke and am craving that like crazy but I'm trying really hard to seriously cut back on sugar. I also hate diet soft drinks. The only artificial sweetener I like is xylitol, so I've been drinking a ton of tea with it.
  • msmindyf
    msmindyf Posts: 133 Member
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    I am a big water drinker..when I have a craving for 'soda', I'll have a flavored carbonated water :-)
  • Kaiafa
    Kaiafa Posts: 8
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    Hey! I was a complete Mountain Dew addict as well. I gave Diet pop a try, but my body did not do well with the aspartame which gave me very limited choices. I started by limiting my self to one a day, and then one every other day, and so forth until I was able to manage to live without it. I do admit, I've had one every now and then, but tapering my consumption of it, has made the cravings almost non-existent. I now drink mostly just water, which a year ago I wouldn't have been caught dead doing. I make sure my water is ice cold which somehow helps, and every once in awhile I allow myself a water flavoring.

    I guess the most important thing is to be patient with yourself, change doesn't happen overnight. If you cave, just start over. You can do it! :)
  • Decemberfun
    Decemberfun Posts: 1
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    Try flavored waters, they're pretty good. To replace the caffeine, try a small amount of dark chocolate. You can really only kick it if you really want to. Make up your mind to do it, and you will. Just be forceful with yourself.
  • mpfand
    mpfand Posts: 98 Member
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    Maybe try watering it down a little bit at a time. Like if you drink 16 oz. put 2 oz of water in it and increase the water in it over time?
    I did that with my kids' juice when they were toddlers! :laugh:
  • quishajuice
    quishajuice Posts: 106 Member
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    I know you said no diet soda but maybe try replacing it with sobe life water 0 or diet snapple? There's also vitamin water 0 but to me its not as tasty as the other two. I recently gave up my one a day diet dr.pepper habit and for lent just to see if i could and it was hell the 1st week and a half but after that I forgot I was trying not to drink soda and it became second nature to just choose water. once you break through that tough point you'll be fine :)
  • lpoppenwimer
    lpoppenwimer Posts: 5
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    Cold turkey last August from at least 2 a day. Guzzle plain water all day long. If I want something flavored, I just get ice tea and use some Stevia to sweeten
  • joannbuist23
    joannbuist23 Posts: 127 Member
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    I used to have at least 3 or 4 cans of Mt. Dew a day. I gave it up about a month and a half ago, cold turkey. Infact I still have three sitting out in my garage but they don't even tempt me anymore. Take a good look at the nutritional facts/ingrediants and maybe that will help. It makes me sick knowing I was drinking that crap.
  • cckeimig
    cckeimig Posts: 194 Member
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    I agree that diet soda is just not an option (I'm aspartame-intolerant...talk about HEADACHES!!). I was drinking a lot of Coke when I started this process and pretty much just forced myself to switch to water. I like the baby can idea a lot, though...first cut back to one a day, then to a baby can a day, and then eliminate that as well. Watering down soda pop works with little kids (I also did it with mine!), but I personally find it icky-tasting. Although if you just add some ice and let it melt, it does the same thing...I guess it depends on what works/tastes best for you. But continuing the habit as-is is just so unhealthy that you have to cut back, definitely.

    Cut back at a rate that works for you, but know that you're spending calories on soda rather than food to nourish your body. I have a feeling that after a few days you'll be surprised at how easy it is to cut back. I drank half a glass of Coke the other day and it was almost too much. How weird is that??
  • CynthiasChoice
    CynthiasChoice Posts: 1,047 Member
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    Bravo for wanting to kick the habit!! I did it last year, and it was hard. We did it as a family for Lent, so I was really motivated...kids were watching! It was hard for about 6 - 8 months - I'm not going to lie. But now I never even think about having a soda. Honestly.

    You're trying to ditch three habits at once, caffeine and sugar and soda. So here's my humble advise:
    1. To help with the caffeine withdrawal, tea works. One I like is Yerba Mate. It has a different type of caffeine that gradually kicks in instead of hitting you suddenly.
    2. To help with sugar withdrawal, try eating more fruit or carrots for a while.
    3. To help with soda withdrawal, you just have to make up your mind! If it helps, think of this: There's a large quantity of fructose in soda. They use it cuz it's cheap, but it's really bad for you. It turns to fat quicker than table sugar, and it also has the exact same toxic effect on your liver as alcohol! The FDA recognizes it as a chronic toxin, which they don't regulate. They only regulate acute toxins.
    4. Don't even think about acquiring a taste for diet soda - aspartame has been proven to kill brain cells. I don't know about you, but I need every one of mine!

    Good luck - you CAN do it!

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