Soda addict! Help!

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  • RunStart34
    RunStart34 Posts: 157 Member
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    I am just here reading everyone's comments and suggestions. I am in the same boat. My addiction is with coke cola. Its the cold sweet, caffeine flavor and the fuzz taste. It just taste so good with my food. Literally my mini goals have been how many days I can go without. So far week 3 I only failed two days....I was drinking one or two a day. For caffeine I drink green tea, for the carbonation I drink mineral water...but its been hard to remove it in general....so every day is a mini goal just to not drink. The reason I want to remove it from my diet is because I don't want this to have a hold on me. I want to be able to have that control to want it or not on any given day. But I noticed every day that passes I have less and less of a need for it. So iam bookmarking this thread.
  • golfchess6
    golfchess6 Posts: 64 Member
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    I used to have several Coke's a day. My doctor said that I had to watch my sugar intake. So i quit cold turkey. The first month was tough. By the second month, I did not even think about having a carbonated beverage.
  • hesn92
    hesn92 Posts: 5,967 Member
    edited February 2022
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    Switch to something else would probably be your best bet. I drink those spindrift drinks now but they're kind of expensive. Or diet soda every now and then. Or I also like kombucha which I make myself so I don't go broke buying them.
  • HoneyBadger302
    HoneyBadger302 Posts: 1,975 Member
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    Used to be addicted to the stuff - took some experimentation, but discovered my trigger was the bubbles. At first I thought it was the sweet/flavor, so was trying all kinds of water additives (Mio, Crystal Light, etc) to no avail.

    Then got some sweetened sparkling water and that was great. Tried cutting out the sweet (I try to avoid most fake sweeteners) and found I was still pretty dang happy without any sweet or strong flavors.

    That's what helped me kick soda to only the occasional road trip drink now, but I keep plenty of sparkling water around the house!
  • Bridgie3
    Bridgie3 Posts: 139 Member
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    Osugirl2022 wrote: »
    I need help! Who has successfully beat a soda addiction? In the past, I have been able to cut back on my soda and lose weight. But, because I never gave it up completely, I always had the craving for it and always went back to drinking multiple cans a day. I want to give it up completely. The most I’ve made is 7 days before I’m out there buying it again :( give me motivation please!!

    to be addicted to it it must be either energy drink, or sugar. I have a sugar addiction so understand completely.

    I had to switch to diet drinks, they're really cheap at my supermarket, about $1 per large bottle. The really dodgy budget ones don't do anything bad to me but the higher quality diet fanta etc give me diarrhoea, so that's fun...

    there are diet versions of caffeinated sodas you can choose. The caffeine headache is a killer to quit caffeine cold turkey.

    The taste of diet drinks is not absolutely perfect but you know what? after 3 days you won't notice. My son drinks my diet sodas and would pull a face. Now he's giving them ago as well.

    :)
  • teileen2020
    teileen2020 Posts: 1 Member
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    I’ve never been addicted to soda per se but I am an addict of various other things. In my experience the key was to understand what I want and to want that more. Just switching to something else by itself isn’t enough. Knowing my goal and that doing/eating/drinking X does not further that goal, then each time a craving or desire hits, remembering my goal and choosing to stay the course is what has worked for me. It’s the approach that has kept me a non smoker for over 16 years, enabled me to lose 70 lbs and keep it off for 18+ years, and to run everyday for the past 7+ years.
    I’m back at mfp to finally finish what I started in 2002. When weakness knocks, I remember my goal(s) and knowing that this too shall pass, I do something else like drink some flavored water, go for a walk, cut and roast some veggies, have some decaf tea or coffee, clean something, etc. You get the idea. Maybe this approach could work for you.
  • magicfoodfluff
    magicfoodfluff Posts: 228 Member
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    I thought I would never give up my Diet Mountain Dew/Mountain Dew in general, but I stopped cold turkey one day & tried the new Coke Zero. The Coke Zero reformulation tasted so bad that I also gave up that. I drink Sprite now, but eventually will stop drinking that. I need to get back in the habit of drinking more water.
  • mandiv69
    mandiv69 Posts: 5 Member
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    For those of you that have given it up or switched for a no sugar version what was it like. I’m in iso this week so my access is not there. I’m hoping this week will give me the kickstart to breaking the habit. Have had quite bad headaches and wondering if it could be from this. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day. Thanks 😊
  • cwolfman13
    cwolfman13 Posts: 41,874 Member
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    mandiv69 wrote: »
    For those of you that have given it up or switched for a no sugar version what was it like. I’m in iso this week so my access is not there. I’m hoping this week will give me the kickstart to breaking the habit. Have had quite bad headaches and wondering if it could be from this. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day. Thanks 😊

    I used to drink 3-6 regular sodas per day. I didn't just cut it out completely cold turkey. I started with cutting back to 1 per day at lunch then I cut back to every other day, etc and then to once per week and then figured I didn't really need that either. I did that over the course of a month or so...don't remember exactly.

    I didn't drink any kind of soda for a long time except I would allow myself a sarsaparilla that is brewed at a farm we visit for pumpkins in the fall...so like one a year for a few years. I did ultimately miss it and started drinking Coke Zero a couple of years ago. I have one with my lunch most days. I don't think it would have cut it if I just went from regular to diet but I've been off the regular for so long, Coke Zero to me tastes pretty much how I remember original coke (but I haven't had one in about 9 years).

    Headaches are likely caffeine withdrawal. Early on, I drank more caffeinated tea and coffee, so I didn't really ever have any caffeine withdrawal.
  • Xerogs
    Xerogs Posts: 328 Member
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    Initially I went from regular sodas to diet but the aspartame and other artificial sweeteners gave me headaches so I swapped over to iced tea with lemon. I always drank iced tea with no sugar or sweeteners so it wasn't hard to do. So for quite a while it was iced tea, green tea (hot and cold), hibiscus tea, and water until a few years ago I started drinking coffee in the morning and some sparkling waters just for something fizzy with no calories. I could see Spindrift sparkling water being a good bridge from soda to other options since it still has some fruit juice in it.

    It took some time but I finally got my mind wrapped around not drinking my calories and that added sugars weren't good for me. So just take it one day at a time replace your soda with something with less sugar until you can reach a point of no sugar. Once you stop drinking sugary soda your palate will change to a point where those things won't taste as good as they once did.
  • flagrantavidity
    flagrantavidity Posts: 218 Member
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    Sparkling water with a squirt of Mio is my go to now. There are even ones that have caffeine if that’s what your looking for. Mio is a liquid flavor concentrate.
  • Bridgie3
    Bridgie3 Posts: 139 Member
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    mandiv69 wrote: »
    For those of you that have given it up or switched for a no sugar version what was it like. I’m in iso this week so my access is not there. I’m hoping this week will give me the kickstart to breaking the habit. Have had quite bad headaches and wondering if it could be from this. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day. Thanks 😊

    I had a headache for a day or two. you're in iso so can just sleep it off with luck. Drink lots of other things. I really enjoy water with a squirt of straight lime juice in it nowadays.
  • paperpudding
    paperpudding Posts: 9,000 Member
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    I think the head aches are probably from caffeine withdrawal

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