Help me stop.

Viylette
Viylette Posts: 18 Member
in Food and Nutrition
Anyone have any tips on how to stop drinking Sprite?

For some background ref, as of a year ago, I quit drinking coke, and sweet tea, cold turkey. And coming from me, that was no small feat, with my avg daily intake around a 2L a day. I know, that was alot.

And recently (2 months), I have starting drinking sprite, just a mini, every day or every other day, but somedays it is so hard to resist, esp when i am stressed. I guess, I just need to resist the cravings and remember why i am doing this. Just need encouragement through the hard times.

And for anyone who says, well you can just have one, every once in a while, no i really can't. One, I am def a person who one leads to two and two leads to three and so on and so on. Secondly, I recently found out, I am allergic to a whole slew of items: dairy, gluten, caffeine, shellfish, tomatoes, beans, sugar and it goes on...When an allergic reaction happens it can be as extreme as my throat closing up (gluten/shellfish/caffeine) or as simple gastric distress (diarrhea) with sugar.

Somedays this is just so hard.

Replies

  • glassyo
    glassyo Posts: 7,760 Member
    Hah! I was going to suggest diet sprite too but then the allergies list came up and could have possibly put a cork in that idea.
  • chuckees130
    chuckees130 Posts: 15 Member
    I'm just like you. I was drinking pepsi 2L a day. The last two weeks only 2 small cokes and only water. Finally, just water. Have really struggled with this. The only way I know is don't keep any at home. Then cold turkey. water only. You can get a fruit-like water flavor. I'd rather have plain water. Don't like fruity drinks. Hope this helped.
  • Suzeli55
    Suzeli55 Posts: 8 Member
    edited May 2022
    Try Zevia or any other stevia soft drinks instead. They’re not quite as tasty as regular pop so I drink less of them. If I buy Diet Pepsi, I can drink three cans versus one of Zevia
  • westrich20940
    westrich20940 Posts: 921 Member
    Are you able to sort of taper off of it? Start mixing in some lemon/lime fizzy water (like LaCroix- or other brand)....then add more and more fizzy water and less and less Sprite? Until you're just drinking plain flavored fizzy water?
  • NutritionCoachVee
    NutritionCoachVee Posts: 12 Member
    I can understand the frustration around it.

    What I’ve heard you say in your post here “sometimes it’s so hard to resist” and you’ve also mentioned restricting yourself

    When it comes to food and drink as I’m sure you know often it’s what we go to when stressed, the body then starts to crave that thing whenever we encounter said emotion, stress, joy sadness etc

    It sounds like the emotional attachment to fizzy drinks is still there (as it’s no longer coke but sprite)
    So it’s like the brain has developed a reflux to deal with stress with something sweet/fizzy


    And by the way cutting down from 2l to the mini cans is progress - so good job for that!

    Tips I have aren’t do this and get that, but more so, spending some time journaling what was it about coke and sweet tea, that drew you when dealing with stress etc, why those things, and now why sprite?

    What are you feeling when you drink it, what’s happening for you physically, emotionally, etc

    How are you Stress levels
    How are your Sleep levels
    These all play a part in our cravings.

    Why do you feel you need to restrict yourself, rather than working on reducing the amount gradually.

    These questions can help get to the root cause and then set a plan to work through it in a way that’s sustainable and realistic for us.

    Often times when we restrict that’s when we fall into the cycle of restrict then binge and the cycles is brutal and doesn’t stop, we restrict something thinking that’ll help but it ends up making it worse

    I was addicted to jellybeans. So bad that I decided to go cold turkey, I developed the shakes, like a literal substance misusers, my brain became accustomed to the feel, and released endorphins so when stressed (which was the main time I bought them) it would remind me to go back to them for a release because jt made me ‘feel good’ momentarily!

    When I saw my behaviour of searching high and low for any coins I could find just to buy these sweets £10 every week on sweets! That’s when I knew it was a problem - I accepted I had an issue and then took it from there

    One thing you could also do, is work with a dietician who specialises in nutritional therapy who can help you work through this as a whole.

    It is hard to start but it does get easier once you find what works for you.

    binge.nutritionist covers a lot on this topic on Instagram

    Hope this helps

  • JohnnyQBelleville13
    JohnnyQBelleville13 Posts: 9 Member
    Some brands of sparkling water (thinking of Sparkling Ice specifically) have a Lemon Lime flavour that is pretty comparable to sprite
  • ReenieHJ
    ReenieHJ Posts: 9,724 Member
    I was a Diet Coke machine a few years back. I knew the amount I was drinking wasn't good for me, my bones, or my teeth, not to mention my pocketbook. I'd down one 16 oz. diet coke(or 12 oz. can) right after another. I had tried quitting a year or so before that when my dentist told me how it was affecting my teeth(this was my consult where he told me I was looking at 5K worth of work to be done). :( But a month or so later, I was right back at it again. Fast forward to finishing up the 5K work and I was done with soda, altogether. No substituting anything. I tried seltzer, liked the fizzies but not the lack of taste and didn't like any of the flavored ones either. So I just quit. Refuse to buy it for myself or drink any of dh's. Lord knows he goes through them as fast as I used to. :( And on a hot summer day when the sweat's pouring off me, I can almost hear the snap of the can top and taste the fizzies again, but I refuse to start. Because I know me. :/

    How would it work if 1) don't have it in the house at all and make yourself walk past it at the store or 2) tell yourself after you drink 5 glasses of water you can have a small sprite?

    I hope you can find something that works for you!!
  • kgwoozle6390
    kgwoozle6390 Posts: 3 Member
    Trader Joe’s has some cans of fizzy tea that about 10 calories. I’ve substitute one if those for one of the 2 mini cokes I drink in a day. I also cut gatoraid with fizzy water. I’ve found some times I need that tiny bit of sugar. TJ flavors include green tea pineapple, white tea pomegranate and black tea with peach. They taste weak but it’s just enough for me.
  • avatiach
    avatiach Posts: 307 Member
    I agree that fizzy water (plain, flavored, or add a small amount of juice) might help. But also, given all of your new allergies, seeing a dietitian/nutritionist might help. You may have cravings that are related to deficiencies in foods. And obviously your diet has recently had a *radical* shift so it might be helpful anyway.

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