Soda Addiction - looking for advice/motivation

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cornysmall wrote: »

@heathbn soda addiction boils down to sugar addiction.

Probably not. It's usually about caffeine or just habit. (Indeed, lots of people struggle with cutting down on diet soda or find cutting down on sugary soda easy if they like and can sub diet.)

I'm cutting down on coffee now (not a big soda drinker and it's always been diet), and it's pretty much the same.

We get sugar in other parts of our diet, obviously, including from fruit and veg (I had 19 grams this morning from fruit and veg and plain greek yogurt).

I agree about the caffeine, but sugar in fruit and veg is different from refined sugar, especially in the way the body metabolizes it and the brain reacts to it.

cornysmall wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cornysmall wrote: »

@heathbn soda addiction boils down to sugar addiction.

Probably not. It's usually about caffeine or just habit. (Indeed, lots of people struggle with cutting down on diet soda or find cutting down on sugary soda easy if they like and can sub diet.)

I'm cutting down on coffee now (not a big soda drinker and it's always been diet), and it's pretty much the same.

We get sugar in other parts of our diet, obviously, including from fruit and veg (I had 19 grams this morning from fruit and veg and plain greek yogurt).

I agree about the caffeine, but sugar in fruit and veg is different from refined sugar, especially in the way the body metabolizes it and the brain reacts to it.

No it's not.

cornysmall wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cornysmall wrote: »

@heathbn soda addiction boils down to sugar addiction.

Probably not. It's usually about caffeine or just habit. (Indeed, lots of people struggle with cutting down on diet soda or find cutting down on sugary soda easy if they like and can sub diet.)

I'm cutting down on coffee now (not a big soda drinker and it's always been diet), and it's pretty much the same.

We get sugar in other parts of our diet, obviously, including from fruit and veg (I had 19 grams this morning from fruit and veg and plain greek yogurt).

I agree about the caffeine, but sugar in fruit and veg is different from refined sugar, especially in the way the body metabolizes it and the brain reacts to it.

This is inaccurate.

Foods are different, but the sugar is the same. If it were an issue of "addiction to sugar," you'd be getting the same sugar from apples or pears, etc.

Anyway, like I said, I agree that we metabolize and react to different foods differently (with an apple you get more fiber, with ice cream you also get fat which makes it a harder combination to resist for many, even though the fat also slows the metabolism some, if you put ADDED sugar with rhubarb or oatmeal it will be metabolized more slowly than if you add it to coffee). It's IMO important to be accurate and specific when talking about this, as it's simply not true that the sugar itself is different in a meaningful way (fruit includes mostly a combination of fructose, glucose, and sucrose, which is itself a compound of fructose and glucose that your body will easily break down, whereas table sugar is sucrose).

cornysmall wrote: »

lemurcat12 wrote: »

cornysmall wrote: »

@heathbn soda addiction boils down to sugar addiction.

Probably not. It's usually about caffeine or just habit. (Indeed, lots of people struggle with cutting down on diet soda or find cutting down on sugary soda easy if they like and can sub diet.)

I'm cutting down on coffee now (not a big soda drinker and it's always been diet), and it's pretty much the same.

We get sugar in other parts of our diet, obviously, including from fruit and veg (I had 19 grams this morning from fruit and veg and plain greek yogurt).

I agree about the caffeine, but sugar in fruit and veg is different from refined sugar, especially in the way the body metabolizes it and the brain reacts to it.

Disagree. To your body, sugar is sugar is sugar.

I really, really like the LaCroix sparkling waters, and they are super helpful for avoiding soda, which I haven't had in years, quite literally.

TanyaHooton wrote: »

Motivation? Kidney stones. Osteoporosis. Mineral deficiency. Caffeine addiction. High blood pressure and triglycerides. Pre-diabetes.

Many users report that quitting carbonated drinks makes a huge difference in weight loss.

You do not have to go cold turkey. Try sweet tea or unsweetened tea. Try juice. Try seltzer water or infused drinks. Some of these options still have sugar or bubbles, but do whatever you need to do to get where you want. There's always time later for other changes if you want.

I apparently am not one of the many. I've lost over 100lbs in 14 months without giving up my diet soda and I almost never drink plain water. When it's not soda I add Mio or the generic Mio-style water enhancers. Last time I had any plain water was earlier in the summer right after I got home from a 5.7 mile walk/jog in 85° heat. My weight loss has been right on track and really shouldn't be any quicker than it currently is so I don't see it being possible to make a huge difference for me.

The artificial sweetener in the soda can actually make you hungry. The carbonation is not good for your stomach (bloating), your bones or your teeth. It eats away at the enamel on your teeth and breaks down the calcium in your bones and the cartilage that cushions them, leading to an array of other problems.
Switch to flavored water. If you need something that's sweet, maybe that'll help. Just don't get the carbonated or sparkling waters. You can even buy the little Mio's or Dasani flavor for water. It's cheap and has no calories. Plus you'd keep hydrated and putting water into your body instead of soda.