What have others done to..

What have others done to get away from soft drinks, chips and chocolate? ... what have others done to get used to not having those things?
Love my Coke ... huge fan and drink far too much of it. What did you do to either get used to drinking less, or what to replace it with?

Chips and chocolate are another for me :-( I have a bowl of fruit at home but always go for the rubbish and before anyone suggests not buying those things to start with .... I have a husband who will never stop bringing these things into the house as he does the grocery shopping.

If you eat less sugar you definitely crave it less.

Since I've gone low carb and appreciate the natural sweetness of something like a bell pepper a LOT more.

I used to mainline Coke ... Then I switched to Coke Zero ... Then I got headaches so now I'm a big fan of water and green tea ... I lapse occasionally and have a Coke Zero (and hate myself for it) but there you go.

You may want to search for Zevia as a more natural alternative to the mainstream soda brands.

Sorry, there is no getting away from it, cutting it way back and letting the body adjust is the best way. IMO

That's a tough one, and from what I have seen different things work for different people. My way of addressing it was to just avoid everything crap for a few days. After that a lot of the cravings subsided, and I could slowly introduce different things back in to my diet.

Now I have the occasional gorge, but they are very few and far between. Most of the time I can happily have none, or a small amount and not worry about it.

I have two tricks for getting off these foods. The first is to think of what you are really craving. If you want chocolate, you're craving something sweet. Have a piece of fresh fruit instead and it will fulfill the craving. When I want potato chips, I am craving something crunchy or salty, so I either swap it out for celery and carrots or a small handful of low-sodium pistachios. Eating something similar, but lower in calories and with more nutrients, fills you up and fulfills the craving.

The second is to stop thinking about how good it will taste in the short-term and focus on how bad you will feel if you eat it, both the guilt and the bloating fatty feeling.

The rest is just self discipline. Stop saying to yourself "I CAN'T eat that; I'm on a diet," and start thinking of yourself as a strong, fit person who instead will say, "I DON'T eat that; it's not good for me."

Hope that helps!

Great post! If you stay away from these foods in a couple of weeks your body will go through a detox and you will feel so much better.

Also, I switched to Arizona unsweetened iced tea instead of the 1-2 diet pepsi's I was drinking a day.

I just stopped drinking Diet Coke. I was shocked that I didn't have withdrawals, since I used to go through at least a 2-liter bottle a week (more during finals week and other stressful times!). But I drink more water and I'm not as thirsty. And when I'm not thirsty, I don't crave Diet Coke. As for other sweet things, I've just swapped them out for healthier sweet things. I love vanilla Greek yogurt. It's sweet enough to satisfy my sweet tooth, but it's not junk food. Bananas are also good for satisfying a sweet craving. As for chips, try having baked kinds or swap them out for whole-grain pretzels or a handful of nuts.

And stick with the healthy eating. Eventually, you'll automatically reach for the heathy stuff instead of the junk. I don't crave junk food anymore and don't even think to buy it when I'm in the store. An amazing thing from someone who (very recently) used to wolf down a full-sized bag of chips without thinking twice

I mix tropicana 50 OJ with a can of diet ginger ale. I find it is very good as a thirst quencher, and I get just enough of the bubble/soda feel from the ginger ale, and it is low cal. Works good with diet cranberry juice too.

I have never drank pop/soda, I don't like the bubbles. For the chocolate, I never really bought a lot of it, unless I was at my period. My housemate is allergic to chocolate, so we don't buy it. I only have chocolatesprinkles for breakfast on a slice of bread, so I still get some chocolate, haha.
I can have one portion chips every week, during a movie or something. When I do crave chips, I usually am just craving something crunchy and I substitute it with for example cucumber or red bell pepper.

Good luck!