I drink a lot of soda. Anyone have any suggestions to help cut the soda out??

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Replies

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    edited May 2017
    jjulliee wrote: »

    Maybe because a biochemist knows more about chemistry than a random doctor?
    Maybe because all the actual science says they're completely harmless?
    Even the European ones.
    https://www.efsa.europa.eu/en/corporate/pub/factsheetaspartame
    Like, the big, really really big European authority on food safety.
    But why is it so important to you that people drink soda? Those of us who prefer not to aren't hurting anyone but the large beverage companies... and really not hurting them that much, based on on the people I see drinking soda.
    it's not important that people drink soda, it's important that they are able to make informed decisions about whether or not to ingest it based on science rather than woo

    This exactly. I don't deliberately consume HFCS, in fact, I fairly deliberately avoid it. It affects me metabolically and psychologically in a way that regular table sugar and artificial sweeteners don't. But I don't militate against HFCS.

    However, if someone mentions that they're experiencing parallel symptoms, I suggest that they take a look at HFCS, and try alternatives that might work for them.... then... I drop it. If they complain or mention the symptoms again, I may ask if they tried cutting out HFCS. and reiterate the suggestion if they haven't. after the second or third iteration, I ask them to either see a doctor, and stop bringing up the subject.
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,865 Member
    edited May 2017
    I was a big soda drinker back in the day...3-6 sodas per day, and usually on the higher end. I quit drinking soda by just weening down. 1 per day for a couple of weeks...then 1 every couple of day...a couple per week...one per week, etc. Once I was down to 1 per week I really didn't think about it too much anymore and just stopped drinking them altogether save for here and there on a camping trip or something...I probably have 3 full sugar sodas per year now, if that.

    I'm cutting the winter fluff currently so I'm drinking a couple of diet root beers in the evening in lieu of regular beer...

    I also like bubbly and drink quite a bit of bubbly water like La Coix...I like the grapefruit flavor.
  • HealthyFit23
    HealthyFit23 Posts: 34 Member
    Wing yourself off - cut your daily intake in half every couple days. -or- Drink a big glass of water and then you can have a soda.
  • lucypstacy
    lucypstacy Posts: 178 Member
    I honestly used to drink 3-4 cans of Dr Pepper a day and maybe even a bottle or two. If I was in the car, I had to get a pop, and I drank one with about every meal. When I started looking at the calories I was consuming, that Dr Pepper turned out to be my biggest issue. So many calories that did nothing for me really.

    I cut it out completely at first. I had some headaches in the beginning, but the occasional coffee took care of that. After not touching a drop for around 3 weeks, I decided to have a can. I couldn't drink it! It was just so sweet and felt thick. I occasionally share a mini can now, but it really helped me just to drop it.

    What I did was switch to water. I used flavoring at first and now I've moved on to plain water. It really helped me quite a bit.
  • FlattoPhat
    FlattoPhat Posts: 22 Member
    edited May 2017
    Quit cold turkey. You may ve irritable from caffeine withdrawals.
  • smantha32
    smantha32 Posts: 6,990 Member
    Carbonated water with a little fruit flavoring.
  • shersherbaby
    shersherbaby Posts: 1 Member
    I love my Diet Dr. Pepper. I have cut it out cold turkey before, but the caffeine withdrawal headaches were brutal. I have now cut down to 2 cans a day. I don't like coffee or tea, so I need the caffeine, and cutting back has worked for me. I have 1 with lunch and 1 with dinner.
  • nissarayna
    nissarayna Posts: 70 Member
    I used to drink 1 maybe 2 16oz bottles a day on top of 5-6 cups of coffee (each with a teaspoon of sugar), before I started my "diet" January 23 this year, I quit cold turkey on the soda, and I'm down to maybe 3 coffees a week (still with a tsp of sugar as stevia is horrid to me in coffee), I found it easier to just stop as soon as I had decided to make a change. I can go decaf or not, but I practically gave up caffeine whilst pregnant with my daughter 11 years ago! Dropping soda and all that coffee, nutritious food and exercise has led to a 22lb weight loss!
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.

    I'd kill anyone who tried to take tea away from my life. That doesn't mean tea is addictive.
  • kmwmart
    kmwmart Posts: 2 Member
    edited May 2017
    I used to have the same issue - now I get the flavored Perrier and I find it REALLY helps kick the pop craving. I haven't had a pop in weeks since switching to Perrier - I am thinking the carbonation helps me. I usually by a box of each flavor and take one can to work with me every day. If I crave pop, I have the Perrier instead and the pop craving is gone.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.

    I'd kill anyone who tried to take tea away from my life. That doesn't mean tea is addictive.

    Yes, but can you go a day without it without killer headaches and climbing the walls? I love tea and coffee too, but i don't HAVE to have it everyday, if i don't drink any i don't suffer through horrible symptoms.

    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    As you probably know, I've had addiction problems in the past, and that reliance on having to have something everyday to to get through that day just grates me the wrong way. I think this is my main issue.
  • stevencloser
    stevencloser Posts: 8,911 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.

    I'd kill anyone who tried to take tea away from my life. That doesn't mean tea is addictive.

    Yes, but can you go a day without it without killer headaches and climbing the walls? I love tea and coffee too, but i don't HAVE to have it everyday, if i don't drink any i don't suffer through horrible symptoms.

    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    As you probably know, I've had addiction problems in the past, and that reliance on having to have something everyday to to get through that day just grates me the wrong way. I think this is my main issue.

    If you drank a lot of coffee you would because it's the same thing in coffee as in sodas that causes the killer headaches if you go cold turkey.
    After the first week in my last internship I had a horrible headache on the weekend because I gladly took the free coffee. I only had 1-2 cups per day but because I usually never drink coffee...
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.

    I'd kill anyone who tried to take tea away from my life. That doesn't mean tea is addictive.

    In this case, tea drives your addictive behavior.

    But how often is something addictive for everyone? Alcoholic addiction is real but it's no more appealing than a diet coke for me.

  • BurlzGettingFit
    BurlzGettingFit Posts: 115 Member
    I think the lesson of the day is to not to start drinking soda everyday in the first place, save it for special occasions. Seeing the passion and desperate "you will pry my soda out of my cold dead hands" type posts, makes me glad i never picked up this habit. The thought of not being able to get through a whole day without a soda can glued to my hand, just really bothers me.
    It truly does comes across as an addiction that people will vehemently defend and justify to the end. This is just how it comes across to me from reading the never ending soda threads.

    I'd kill anyone who tried to take tea away from my life. That doesn't mean tea is addictive.

    Yes, but can you go a day without it without killer headaches and climbing the walls? I love tea and coffee too, but i don't HAVE to have it everyday, if i don't drink any i don't suffer through horrible symptoms.

    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    As you probably know, I've had addiction problems in the past, and that reliance on having to have something everyday to to get through that day just grates me the wrong way. I think this is my main issue.

    I know lots of people who you'd have to pry coffee form their cold dead hands and could never snd will never go a day without it.

    I don't get all the hoopla over pop. *kitten* drink it or don't, who the *kitten* cares?
  • BurlzGettingFit
    BurlzGettingFit Posts: 115 Member
    Sorry @christine_72 I was using a general you in my post. Frustration isn't directed towards you and I apologize if it came across that way.
  • Christine_72
    Christine_72 Posts: 16,049 Member
    Sorry @christine_72 I was using a general you in my post. Frustration isn't directed towards you and I apologize if it came across that way.

    All good :smile: I didn't take it that way at all.
  • domf_0105
    domf_0105 Posts: 75 Member
    I used to drink alot of diet soda and diet iced tea as well, but i've cut those out, and have been drinking flavored seltzer steadily for a couple of years now.
  • C_Victoria_C
    C_Victoria_C Posts: 1 Member
    You should try la croix, it's sparkling seltzer water with fruit flavor, the lemon or lime ones taste like sprite, there's a little bit of a bitter taste but it's zero calorie, zero sugar, and zero carb. You're basically just drinking water.
  • dianaejennings
    dianaejennings Posts: 13 Member
    Start to visualize it as the poison it is, that might help.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    And I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my soda addiction. The difference is, while people typically aren't told that (sugarless) tea is unhealthy, they are told that (sugarless) soda is unhealthy, even though they're about the same in terms of health and calories. That's where threads like this come from - misinformation. That's what the apparently "pro-soda" people are against.

    Are they? I'm really asking.

    Can you replace all your drinking water with soda or even diet soda and feel completely safe and healthy?

    My grandfather drinks tea instead of water all his life and he's over 90. Nobody ever questions this drinking as unsafe, unhealthy. Can the same be done with soda?
  • warrennotes
    warrennotes Posts: 6 Member
    The secret is - just don't ever bring it in the house. Don't take change with you to buy it from a machine. Quit it. You can use generic caffeine pills from the drugstore to avoid headaches, then gradually cut down on the pills.
  • clicketykeys
    clicketykeys Posts: 6,574 Member
    Can you replace all your drinking water with soda or even diet soda and feel completely safe and healthy?

    My grandfather drinks tea instead of water all his life and he's over 90. Nobody ever questions this drinking as unsafe, unhealthy. Can the same be done with soda?

    I believe so. I wouldn't want to drink ONLY soda, but that's just because there are other beverages that I enjoy, and I wouldn't want to give them up either. Some people say that artificial sweeteners have a bitter/medicinal aftertaste; I don't notice it. Most green teas taste bitter/medicinal to me; I don't drink them. I also like Powerade Zero.

    But again, I think the key point you make is that nobody ever questions your grandfather's tea drinking.

    Out of curiosity, how does he take his tea?
  • merekins
    merekins Posts: 228 Member
    AnvilHead wrote: »
    Flavored sparkling water, that is if you can stomach the aspartame.

    I'm trying to figure out what the significant difference is between flavored, artificially sweetened sparkling water and diet soda, and why the former would be any better than the latter.

    I would recommend fruit flavored sparkling water/seltzer that doesn't have any other sweeteners like Polar or Le Croix. If you have a wegman's around, their house brand is my personal favorite. A lot of people around here like Spindrift. It contains a small amount of juice but they seem to only be about 5 calories a can. Not a fan but I seem to be the only one.
  • cmtigger
    cmtigger Posts: 1,450 Member
    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    And I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my soda addiction. The difference is, while people typically aren't told that (sugarless) tea is unhealthy, they are told that (sugarless) soda is unhealthy, even though they're about the same in terms of health and calories. That's where threads like this come from - misinformation. That's what the apparently "pro-soda" people are against.

    Are they? I'm really asking.

    Can you replace all your drinking water with soda or even diet soda and feel completely safe and healthy?

    My grandfather drinks tea instead of water all his life and he's over 90. Nobody ever questions this drinking as unsafe, unhealthy. Can the same be done with soda?

    For me, a diet soda would be more healthy than tea. Tea is high oxalate and my kidneys like to form oxalate stones.
  • endlessfall16
    endlessfall16 Posts: 932 Member
    Can you replace all your drinking water with soda or even diet soda and feel completely safe and healthy?

    My grandfather drinks tea instead of water all his life and he's over 90. Nobody ever questions this drinking as unsafe, unhealthy. Can the same be done with soda?

    I believe so. I wouldn't want to drink ONLY soda, but that's just because there are other beverages that I enjoy, and I wouldn't want to give them up either. Some people say that artificial sweeteners have a bitter/medicinal aftertaste; I don't notice it. Most green teas taste bitter/medicinal to me; I don't drink them. I also like Powerade Zero.

    But again, I think the key point you make is that nobody ever questions your grandfather's tea drinking.

    Out of curiosity, how does he take his tea?

    Fresh green tea leaves purchased daily and I helped making it -- boil water and pour over it in a big pot that lasted for a long time. The water had a greenish tint instead of yellow all the way. Then, in other decades when fresh leaves no longer available, it was just regular dry tea.

    My grandfather's memory is slipping these days but I've never heard him having had kidney or urinary issues.

    I like sodas but I really don't trust drinking it for regular refreshment. I drink it once in a while for taste.

  • stanmann571
    stanmann571 Posts: 5,727 Member
    I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my tea addiction...

    And I can't see myself starting a thread asking how to get over my soda addiction. The difference is, while people typically aren't told that (sugarless) tea is unhealthy, they are told that (sugarless) soda is unhealthy, even though they're about the same in terms of health and calories. That's where threads like this come from - misinformation. That's what the apparently "pro-soda" people are against.

    Are they? I'm really asking.

    Can you replace all your drinking water with soda or even diet soda and feel completely safe and healthy?

    My grandfather drinks tea instead of water all his life and he's over 90. Nobody ever questions this drinking as unsafe, unhealthy. Can the same be done with soda?

    Diet soda may actually be less unhealthy... tea can contribute to kidney stones if you're prone/inclined.