How do I cut down on my soda intake?

I cut them out cold turkey. It took 3.5 days. Every day, when I felt the headache coming on I would take a couple of over the counter pain killers and chug lots of water. The second day in I really, really needed a nap...so I took one. After that I was fine. I didn't drink any soda for well over a month until 1) I was certain I wouldn't have a withdrawal headache the next day and 2) I new I could keep it limited. Now I sometimes drink one on my free day but not always.

Follow Troutsy's advice.

Don't buy the crap, I refuse to buy anything but almond milk, green juices, tea, coffee and we have filtered water and sometimes I buy the flavor pouches for the kids. And that's all we drink, don't buy it, don't drink it! I used to drink nothing but soda, no water, nothing else. Got fat and felt miserable. Had kidney stones, high bp, bloated, etc etc. ever since cutting it out I am skinnier and feel so much better!! You can do it!

If you don't drink coffee or tea, start! Try them black, or with a little milk, but no sugar.

Then, replace all your sodas with sparkling water! If you can't handle the taste of regular sparkling water, add in some fresh herbs, fruits, or veggies like cucumber to give it some flavour. You can even do that with regular water.

And most of all, get rid of all the soda in your house. Just do it. Throw it away. Nobody needs that in their body. When you go out, don't carry cash you could use in a vending machine. At restaurants order water with lemon if you can't do plain water.

Clean drinking can be amazingly delicious!

I find that water displaces the soda effectively. If you are drinking the amount of water recomended (especially if you are being active or exercising as part of your change) it's actually rather hard to fit soda or much else in.

Yeah soda has water but realistically I can't during the volume of soda needed to keep up with the water I need so soda isn't really a substitute, especially when I'm really needing a drink.

When I realized my headaches were tied with being dehydrated it made it pretty easy to hydrate with water before picking up a soda.

I quit soda completely and only drank water for a few years. Then I found out I really love tea. It's a lot easier to avoid soda now because I don't even want to drink it--I'd rather try a new herbal tea or infused water. Try and find something else that's good for you that you love even more than soda. I get pretty bad caffeine headaches a few times a year after my semester is over (since I binge on black coffee all through finals), but I really don't think you should give in to those headaches. Even if you need to take a few days to focus on getting away from it, or taper yourself down off caffeine using lower-dose tea or half-caffeinated coffee, I think it's an important exercise of willpower to not let caffeine addiction have any control over your life and decisions. If it ends up being the taste of soda you crave, you could try carbonated water for the feel and fruits for more natural sugar. I feel like diet soda isn't really breaking the habit..

just stop drinking them...it is likely the headaches are due to caffeine withdrawal...so for that, have some coffee or tea. I eventually weened myself down on this as well and really only have coffee in the morning. I drink a lot of green ice tea as well, but I drink it in the evenings so I do decaf.

i used to drink a ton of soda and now i will very rarely have one...like maybe one every few months or so or when i'm out camping or something. i drink a lot of sparkling water now...i drink a lot of La Croix grapefruit.

just be forewarned that it will also take some time adjusting to your beverages not tasting like a sugar bomb went off...but you'll be a lot better off in the long run. now when i do have a soda i'm like, "damn...how did i used to drink this stuff multiple times per day"...just too sweet for me and i'm good for another few months until i get a wild hair and want a sarsaparilla.