I drink a lot of soda. Anyone have any suggestions to help cut the soda out??
Replies
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Cold turkey for 6-8 weeks. After I did that, I found I just couldn't stomach the stuff anymore. It was undrinkable.
I used to drink coke A LOT. I am not a very religious person, but had some religious friends that asked 16 years ago "what are you going to give up for Lent?" I told them I was un aware of what that was (at the time) and what it meant. They explained and I said "why not, I will join in the giving up of something" I chose to give up soda. I did not have it for the entire duration of Lent. Yes it sucks at first, the headaches/withdrawals. I compensated here and there with coffee. I made it through and to this day I still rarely drink any soda, I can't stand the taste of it anymore. If I do its usually sprite or orange soda (no caffeine). I drink TONS of water now, iced tea (no sugar), coffee. That's about it. No juice, soda, sugary drinks often at all. You CAN do this! You need to be firm with yourself. You don't have to give it ALL up either, you can cut way back, a glass a day/serving size a day. Some will say diet sodas, but in my opinion that has a lot in it that can cause harm to your body over long periods of time.
You get to choose for you, what ever will work, if you want to, or not.
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Diet soda. I just went through a few brands/flavours until I found one that I like. Not all of them taste like butt.7
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I've never been much of a soda drinker, but my brother had a great system for switching to diet. He would go to the gas station and get the fountain drinks. He'd start with mostly Dr. Pepper, then add a little bit of diet. Each time, uaing more diet, and less regular, until it was all diet. Helped to not be such a flavor difference at once. Now if and when he drinks soda, it's diet.
Not sure if this is helpful, but if you are still gonna drink soda, at least with diet, you aren't drinking your calories.5 -
no need to give up caffeine, switch to coffee and tea.
Or drink water and take caffeine pills, very cheap and a tablet is same as a cup of coffee.
Between my husband and I we were drinking 4-5 cases of diet soda a week, plus he was drinking 2-4pks of generic Red Bulls. A few weeks ago we both decided to cut it mostly out, (me for teeth issues and him because his doctor thought it was triggering his IBS.) I switched to coffee and he went the caffeine pills route. Both of us had no problem cutting out the diet soda, (I'm down to one can a day and he's pretty much quit all together).3 -
I always drank diet diet. But I have been wanting to give up diet soda even so I started drinking water with cucumber and lemon in it. So good and healthy.3
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5 calorie Minute Maid lemonade. Yum!1
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davisfanny wrote: »I did buy a 12 pack of cherry coke zero witch I can drink. I do drink alot of tea. I keep it in the fridge. So today I am only drinking one MT. Dew. I do love juice. Thank you for all the great feedback.
I urge you NOT to make juice your substitute to sodas.
Most juices have heaps of sugar, without any fiber to compensate.17 -
I cut out soda completely one day, had headaches for about three days, and then less than a week later I just went and picked up some carbonated water, I realized I missed the bubbles from the soda, but that's about it, so I only drink water or carbonated water, and occasionally milk or a few sips of juice. If your worried about the headaches, either take the caffeine pills or just take Advil for a few days and the head aches will go away. If you want to get rid of your caffeine addiction, then try quitting cold turkey, if the caffeine is something you dont want to give up, find another way to get it.1
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1) Calculate exactly how much money you spend on soda, knowing that water is free (or cheaper alternative). Once I did this it made my resolve to quit stronger - I was making a car payment every month.
2) Bottle of caffeine pills from walmart - like $4. No matter what else I drink, I carry these around and take one or two throughout the day. If I need to be up early, I set the alarm 30 min before I want up and take two and go back to sleep - by the time my "real" alarm goes off, I am usually plenty awake - and no headaches.4 -
crazyycatlady1 wrote: »no need to give up caffeine, switch to coffee and tea.
Or drink water and take caffeine pills, very cheap and a tablet is same as a cup of coffee.
Between my husband and I we were drinking 4-5 cases of diet soda a week, plus he was drinking 2-4pks of generic Red Bulls. A few weeks ago we both decided to cut it mostly out, (me for teeth issues and him because his doctor thought it was triggering his IBS.) I switched to coffee and he went the caffeine pills route. Both of us had no problem cutting out the diet soda, (I'm down to one can a day and he's pretty much quit all together).
Crap surprised your hearts didn't explode with all the caffeine.4 -
Diet Dr. Pepper was my go-to for something that tasted more like real soda. And it has more caffeine than Mt. Dew.
You can also start by buying both a Diet Mt. Dew and a regular, and mixing 1/2 and 1/2 together until you can bear the taste, and going more towards Diet slowly. Water is the goal though.3 -
I'm leery of some of the ingredients sodas, diet or otherwise. I drink 2 cups of black coffee every morning to get my caffeine fix. Then it's water, lemon water, unsweetened ginger or green tea. We all know sugar and too much fructose is not health food and has been linked to all sorts of ailments from gout to fatty liver. There was an article in the National Kidney Foundation website linking more than one diet soda per day with kidney failure. Whether it's true or not, it gave me pause and was the final straw that had me just saying no to all sodas. Added sugars are not in my Mediterranean eating plan. They add calories without nutritional benefits. I know sodas are popular and I'm not standing in judgement and I'm not speaking from a high horse. All I know is that I'm losing weight and feeling good. I wish for you that you meet your goals in the best way that makes sense for you.2
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Packerjohn wrote: »crazyycatlady1 wrote: »no need to give up caffeine, switch to coffee and tea.
Or drink water and take caffeine pills, very cheap and a tablet is same as a cup of coffee.
Between my husband and I we were drinking 4-5 cases of diet soda a week, plus he was drinking 2-4pks of generic Red Bulls. A few weeks ago we both decided to cut it mostly out, (me for teeth issues and him because his doctor thought it was triggering his IBS.) I switched to coffee and he went the caffeine pills route. Both of us had no problem cutting out the diet soda, (I'm down to one can a day and he's pretty much quit all together).
Crap surprised your hearts didn't explode with all the caffeine.
A can of coke zero (what we mostly drank) has quite a bit less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Now that I've switched my caffeine intake is actually higher. Same with my husband and the caffeine pills vs diet soda.2 -
Mountain Dew is my all time FAVORITE and I understand your addiction to it. I was drinking a can or two a day at one point as well. I can't do Diet Dew as it's just plain out gross. I switched to flavored, fizzy waters and Minute Maid Light Pink Lemonade. I still allow myself ONE Mt. Dew every week but work it in my calories usually on the weekend. Good luck - I know it's difficult to cut back!1
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crazyycatlady1 wrote: »Packerjohn wrote: »crazyycatlady1 wrote: »no need to give up caffeine, switch to coffee and tea.
Or drink water and take caffeine pills, very cheap and a tablet is same as a cup of coffee.
Between my husband and I we were drinking 4-5 cases of diet soda a week, plus he was drinking 2-4pks of generic Red Bulls. A few weeks ago we both decided to cut it mostly out, (me for teeth issues and him because his doctor thought it was triggering his IBS.) I switched to coffee and he went the caffeine pills route. Both of us had no problem cutting out the diet soda, (I'm down to one can a day and he's pretty much quit all together).
Crap surprised your hearts didn't explode with all the caffeine.
A can of coke zero (what we mostly drank) has quite a bit less caffeine than a cup of coffee. Now that I've switched my caffeine intake is actually higher. Same with my husband and the caffeine pills vs diet soda.
You had mentioned 4-5 cases of diet soda a week, plus Red Bull. Even though the Coke Zero is lower per serving 4-5 cases a week for 2 people would get you a pretty high dose.
From what I've seen medical authorities recommend 400 mg a day as safe for most adults.
http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/in-depth/caffeine/art-20045678
https://www.fda.gov/downloads/ucm200805.pdf3 -
Did you know if you drink one can of pop at 160 calories x 365 days = 58,400 calories? That's over 16 pounds!6
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A cup of coffee or an 8-oz. glass of brewed iced tea has more caffeine, ounce for ounce than Mountain Dew. Try diet soda or go completely soda free and drink a cup of coffee or tea when the caffeine headache strikes. I had to give up coffee recently because of my acid reflux and now drink a cup of very strong hot tea with Splenda and a small spoonful of honey in the mornings. Gives me the same pick up without all of the acid. The real issue is psychological. The taste and smell of coffee was something I really enjoyed. Now I am trying different flavors of tea. Change is difficult but it's the only truly lasting answer to losing weight and keeping off, the willingness to change your lifestyle.1
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My hubby would never drink diet coke or pepsi but I got him to try Coke Life (the green can) which does still have calories but much less and he liked it. Maybe if nothing else it would be a good transition from regular to diet as an in between step.1
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I was drinking two 48 ounce pots of coffee per day, and have cut down to two 8 ounce cups. Can't be much difference in breaking the addiction.
Here is the way I did it: I was drinking coffee four times per day using a HUGE cup that would hold 24 ounces, and just sort of sipping on it all day.
I kept drinking my four cups, but decreased the size of the cup by 2 ounces per week. (24 to 22, 22-20 etc.) Bought a nice thermos water bottle. So, each time I finished the cup of coffee, I had water to drink instead.
This method got me down to 8 ounce cups over about a 8 week period without caffeine withdrawal headache.
Then I made a decision to cut the afternoon coffee a cup at a time, replacing it with water.
Hope this helps.6 -
I have been drinking diet Coke for nearly 16 years.
Regular Coke tastes really weird to me.2 -
Juggernautpint wrote: »Did you know if you drink one can of pop at 160 calories x 365 days = 58,400 calories? That's over 16 pounds!
Like I said...quitting soda is the easiest 20lbs you'll ever lose
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Coke zero for life.7
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Not always but most often the headaches come from caffeine withdrawal, after a short period of time it will go away. And there is always coffee and diet sodas.1
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I am addicted to the carbonation, not the caffeine so if I ever feel like I REALLY need it then I drink those American clean waters.
I still try to stay away from it as much as possible tho.0 -
I have a lot of friends who drink flavored sparkling water to try to cut out soda Coffee is a great replacement to ween off of the caffeine because you can just drink a little bit less each day. Even if you can't drink black coffee and add sugar, it doesn't have to be a permanent part of your routine if you're just trying to get off coffee. I get headaches from lack of caffeine too so I know its a huge problem
my issue though is that I drink black coffee as a "snack" to hold off hunger for a bit to help me get used to not eating such a large amount. So definitely not ideal... but at least no calories haha. 1 -
I used the Mio Energy "liquid water enhancer" to get my caffeine without the sugar and calories from mountain dew (generic brands have some decent flavors too). I get too much of the artificial taste from most diet sodas, but not so much with these. Sometimes I'll flavor the water and then add half a can of sprite zero (or similar) to get the fizzy fix, but the artificial sweetener doesn't come through quite as much (to me). I still drink Mountain Dew occasionally, but went from a time of a 20 oz bottle a day to a few cans a week (and never more than one can in a day). Definitely easier to manage calories when you're not drinking a quarter or more of them. Good luck.1
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davisfanny wrote: »Right. I just can't do it. I'm trying hard just to cut down to one a day and trying hard to increase my water intake.
Okay, so I had the EXACT same issue. Mt. Dew is just super satisfying. I drank quite a bit a day. Earlier this year, I just sucked it up and made the switch from regular to diet. Yes, it takes some getting used to, but once you drink it for a day or so, you really don't notice much of a difference.
What I've enjoyed about this is that I can still drink two cans a day (I was drinking way more before), not have headaches (what you are complaining about) and have those calories free to eat something else I want to eat!
The upside is that since I switched, the pounds are starting to slide off waaaaaay faster than they were when I was being stubborn and not making the switch.
The other effect (for me) is that I noticed I stopped eating a lot of the sweeter things I used to crave on regular sodas. I still eat sugar (and treats), but it's far less often than I used to. Also, I still occasionally have a full calorie soda, but it's not often and it's usually only an 8 oz serving or so.
Mileage may vary, but it's really improved things for me and I don't feel like I'm depriving myself of something I really enjoy.2 -
davisfanny wrote: »Most my calories come from drinking soda. MT Dew is my biggest issue. I get headaches from lack of caffeine....
Diet Pop1 -
I second @dfwesq post about tea. There are soooo many choices. I like to make my tea iced, brew half of the cup with hot water, then add your cold water. I just brewed a cup of black tea w/ golden kiwi!
If you go to Starbucks, get an iced tea and try it unsweetened or ask for less sugar (they count the pumps of syrup).
The other thing you can try to drink more water are the stevia water drops. I get a strawberry kiwi flavor and use it when I just want a little something more than water.
Hope this helps! Just give it time, you will be over MT Dew soon!!0 -
Try Coke Zero or Pepsi Zero, taste is pretty good. I tend to drink mostly water, but I do like soda from time to time as a diversion. In the evenings I'll drink Diet Pepsi Caffeine Free to keep it from keeping me awake all night lol. There are some newer soda's out there using less sugar, but for the most part they all are calorie bombs unless you drink diet.0
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