Soda. To drink or not to drink, that is the question

Just the thought of what is IN it, makes me run a mile! Horrendous stuff....

I gave up my pepsi in May 2011. I drank it daily as my main source of hydration, lol. It was very difficult for the first 2 months when I quit.

I do not miss it now, and it has no appeal to me at all anymore besides on occasion when eating pizza. If that occurs I will take a sip of it, think that it is nasty and be good for a few more months. It just tastes like syrup to me, and not in a good way so I do not enjoy the taste anymore fortunately.

The same thing occurred with salt, I used to put salt on everything and now foods taste salty enough for me so I couldn't imagine adding any.

Lent must have been a good influence on a lot of people.

I used to drink one diet soda after another, starting when I hit the office at 7:00 and stopping about 9:00.

I gave up soda in two stages. First, for Lent 2008, I gave up caffeinated drinks and shifted to caffeine free diet soda. Then, last May, 2011, after I got serious about my weight, I gave up all diet sodas.

Now, pretty much all I drink is water. I don't miss the soda at all and I wonder why I went so many years drinking it.

I drank a lot of Mt Dew up until August when I started this. I started drinking Crystal Light lemonade instead. I find if I don't have that, I resort back to soda. But when I drink it now, it's usually too sweet and undesirable. But I'm OK with that. :-)

So happy to see this post. I have not had a soda since November. But I do still do sparkling water and I'll add lemon. cranberry or pomegranate juice to it when I get a little taste for fizzle. Does that count?

NEVER drink it. It is horrible for you, especially the bones. Believe or not either of my daughters (18 and 20) have NEVER had it in their lives. Their friends think they are from another planet. Probably best thing I have ever done as a mother -LOL.

I think people who are "cutting down on caffeine," and who give up sodas under that context, are hilarious, because then they drink tea and such. Sodas have A LOT LESS caffeine than tea or coffee, even the ubiquitous Mountain Dew...

I drink Diet Mountain Dew and occasionally other diet sodas in reasonable moderation (I try to limit to 1-2 per day now). The worst thing about them is the acidic nature, which has no effect whatsoever on weight loss, but is not good for your teeth.

I'm taking the advice of a very successful WeightWatchers leader I had years ago (a man, named Mike): When I have a craving for something sweet, I'd much rather have a ZERO calorie diet soda than a anything-calorie sweet thing or candy. Sure, there are other zero-cal options (sugar free jello and such), but diet sodas are available virtually everywhere, and are a great option to grab instead of a sugary snack to satisfy a craving.

If you go without, that's cool, but I don't dig the proselytizing as if diet sodas are the devil somehow. There's nothing I can find that legitimately indicates that.

I've also completely "given up" soda, for the most part. I'm not sure if I count, since I rarely drank it to begin with. We used to have it around when I was younger but it was limited, so I don't think I really developed a taste for it, and as I've moved through school and live on my own, it's not something that has ever made it on to my grocery list and my meals out are always accompanied by water (and the occasional wine). I had some drug abuse problems in my past, and the carbonation in sodas hurts my nose (though I've heard other people say this without knowing why it bothers them), so I avoid it.
Every so often I'll get a craving for a fountain coke- not bottled, not canned, must be fountain. Usually I resist, but I think I had one or two last year. I try to think of what cravings could be messages that my body needs certain things, but aside from possibly sugar (as I rarely have that, either), I have no idea.
I'm all for giving up soda, diet included. I guess I just don't see the point of guzzling something that isn't good for you.
However, to make this post even more unnecessarily long, sometimes I hate that I'm not a soda person because it's usually one of those first things people tell you to cut out of your diet to lose weight, and that's not an option for me. Ha.

I wish I could get to a point where it wasn't appealing. When I quit, it gets less appealing and I stop craving it, but just one soda and I'm back in the game. Does it just take a long time to completely lose the taste for it?

If I want soda i'll have whatever I want (diet or non depending on what I feel like) but only very little. Like a couple sips. It gets rid of my 'craving' for it. However the reason I stopped drinking soda wasn't for 'diet' reasons. I used to drink sodas all the time and drink them throughout the day .. but after a visit to my dentist and how he explained what the sugar can do to your teeth, (similar to meth mouth if I remember correctly) I stopped. That's my reason behind it. I mean sure if I drink soda, wait for over 30 minutes, then brush my teeth you'd be good .. but meh .. I want to only brush my teeth after I eat .. not after I drink too!