I’ve had a good ‘win’ this week and I’m chuffed about it! (Well, I would be if I wasn’t so bloody tired and caffeine-deprived!)
I have given up Diet Coke. Again! Well, perhaps only five days sans the black fizzy stuff is too soon to start sprouting – I rarely make brash statements when it comes to getting on-track diet-wise because I often don’t trust myself to live up to my promises. But… even going cold turkey for five days is a massive achievement for me as I’ve been talking about giving it up (again) for ages!
Why one shouldn’t brag or speak TOO soon!
Just under a year ago I wrote about my Vanilla Diet Coke addiction and the agony of giving it up; which was later followed by a post boasting of some unexpected benefits I was experiencing off the demon drink.
I’m not at the latter point yet – though I’d like to be – as I can still remember how strange it was to not constantly feel hungry, which I generally do when drinking the black fizzy stuff.
In addition, as I don’t drink tea or coffee, I’ve essentially detoxed from caffeine as well as whatever it is in diet coke that people say is not good for you… making my achievement far more remarkable – I’m sure the coffee addicts out there will agree!
The time’s been ‘right’ for a while. Vanilla Diet Coke has become harder and harder to find and now only available in small expensive bottles – and I can no longer drink normal diet coke or other imposters variations. But, in reality, it’s not the money, but the vague recollection of how great I felt OFF the stuff that’s motivated me to hang in there and not cave in when tiredness or blahness kicked in over these past few days.
After I weaned myself off VDC last time I allowed myself one on occasions and did very well for several months; but when my dad was in hospital I clutched onto any vice available… and it was one of several! I can still recall buying one each day in my hometown as I walked (for exercise) up to see him in hospital. (And things went downhill from there. In more ways than one!) This time around I hope plan to be more resilient, but I figure decreasing my consumption has to be a good thing (even if it’s short-lived!).
Do you partake in diet soft drinks or sodas? Or perhaps you’re a coffee drinker.
Have you felt the need to give up either? Even briefly?
April 20, 2012
I’ll tell ya, every time I make an pronouncement, I regret it LOL
Every once in a while I’ll have a soda…like once every three or four months. One of my favorite things to do is get a Diet Coke and add a little Dr. Pepper to it (I only do this when I am at a restaurant that has a “serve yourself” fountain). To be honest, the whole soft drink industry pisses me off so I don’t like to support it…in fact, it’s my anger at what “big food” has done in general that makes me not want to eat a lot of what I used to think I loved. It’s a good example (I think) of how I was able to effect change on a cognitive level.
I drink a cup of coffee every day and don’t feel the need to give that up. I also drink a glass (or two) of wine every day and don’t feel the need to give that up either (although back when I was drinking a bottle or more? THAT was a problem!)
April 20, 2012
Yep… I’ve pretty much stopped my ‘I’m back on track’ announcements because I crash and burn not long after!
I kinda wish I was a coffee drinker, because when work colleagues asked me WHY I was giving up diet coke (the chemicals or the caffeine) I had to say it was mostly the former. I never drink diet coke after lunch for fear of making my insomnia worse… so it’s really a ‘wake-up call’ (hee hee) for me! (Plus something to help me get through the morning at work!)
April 20, 2012
I LOVE vanilla diet coke too. 🙂 I discovered it when I was in the US 5 years ago, but as it’s not sold in Finland I haven’t had it for years.
Normally, I just drink tea, water and Diet Pepsi. No coffee. Sometimes I try to cut my consumption of Diet Pepsi (it’s bad for teeth and wallet) – with varying success: my abstinence my last from one day to several months. Last year I tried drinking green tea insted of black in the evenings but then I gave up the habit.
April 20, 2012
I’m not a tea drinker either Satu, so my fluid intake consists solely of LOTS of water and wine in the evening.
I had a sparkling apple cider thing at work yesterday as I really needed a ‘shot’ of something, but usually don’t like juices etc as I find them too sweet (weird for a chocolate fiend!).
As you say, I do worry about diet coke and my teeth. My uncle (who was a dentist, now retired) used to tell me the only reason my teeth hadn’t rotted after 20+yrs of excessive diet coke consumption (ie. 2 litres a day at one point) was because I drank lots of water!
April 20, 2012
I’ve been a Diet Coke/Coke Zero/Pepsi Max addict from way back! I gave it up when my dentist told me it had eroded the enamel on my teeth – in around 2006 I think. I’ve gone through phases with it ever since. These days I don’t drink it at all during the week and occasionally have some on the weekend (although at times I’ve been known to knock back 2-3 cans in a row when I do!). Sometimes I just want to drink something that isn’t water or tea/coffee without having a shitload of calories with it!
April 20, 2012
Amy, I so agree that having something without calories is the whole allure of diet coke (or pepsi max etc). I know that the ‘experts’ say that one should drink ‘real’ coke rather than diet – in terms of the stuff that’s in it, but I balk at ‘wasting’ 100-200 calories – which is ridiculous cos I’ll just as easily inhale 1000 calories in chocolate!
I just commented to Satu that my uncle / dentist told me that drinking lots of water was the only thing that saved the enamel on my teeth!
I suspect I’ll have a DC when I’m out for breakfast or something (rather than tea / coffee / juice) or as an occasional weekend treat. (Well, at least that’s the plan!)
April 20, 2012
I am addicted to Pepsi max; I just love the stuff. To the point that if I haven’t had one by 10 in the morning, I have a headache.
I’m like you; I hate the thought of wasting calories on drinks, unless it is wine. It jut seems pointless.
Imteresting you say you felt hungrier with it; I’ve heard that there is something in diet coke that actually prevents you from losing weight, but I have no idea if it’s true or not.
April 20, 2012
I’m the same with diet coke – I could drink it at 5am if it was there… it was my early morning caffeine hit.
Last time I gave up (though I’d also quit alcohol for a month or so and was eating healthily) my stomach stopped constantly grumbling and I rarely felt hungry!
Deb
April 20, 2012
I don’t drink soft drinks, or diet sodas, but do drink a coffee a day, heaps of herbal teas & (sometimes too much) wine at night. In February when I was doing FebFast I gave up alcohol, and temporarily took up diet coke/pepsi max…and put on a kilo in a week- all bloating, watery stuff. And started craving sugar again. WTF? Obviously I was missing the fermented sugars, but a kilo? It took another couple of weeks to wean myself back off them.
April 20, 2012
Id also read that the brain sends out the same insulin response when confronted with artificial sweeteners as it does with real sugars & hence means that you can put on weight with diet sodas- especially if you are prone to insulin resistance or PCOS.
April 20, 2012
Jo, I think that’s my problem with diet coke – the constant hunger… I think in my old post I wondered abut GI factors in fake sugars etc… (I’m also often bloated, so am wondering if this will help!)
Deb
April 20, 2012
Hi Deb,
Yes, there’s a lot of mounting evidence suggesting that Diet drinks increase sugar cravings. The body is smarter than we think – it thinks we’re getting sugar/calories and we’re not. Eventually that debt needs to be repaid and it’s not pretty.
I went from a 2l habit a day to nothing – it’s taken six months for the cravings to disappear completely and I have no regrets about ditching it.
xx
April 20, 2012
I remember the feeling when I gave up last time and that’s what I’m using to try to motivate me to stay off it. (I might have an occasional one, but don’t want to get sucked back in!)
Even if it doesn’t help with weightloss at all, I should be doing my body some good with less chemicals etc…
Deb
April 20, 2012
Man I’m boring. It’s only on the rare occasion that I have a fizzy drink let alone a coke and when I do have one, I usually have to let it sit for a few minutes because they are usually too fizzy… I also don’t drink coffee…. starting to feel left out… must find myself a vice 😉
April 20, 2012
Absolutely Amy… one can’t be vice-less. I (myself) have several. I figure I’m pacing myself as I can’t possibly write my memoirs in years to come if I give them all up at once!!!!
April 20, 2012
Good for you, Deb! You are making so many positive changes to your life!
April 20, 2012
Thanks Julia…. And you’re right. I may not be losing heaps of weight, but I’m focusing on the small wins!
April 20, 2012
Hi Deb! Well, I love soda too much. I’d drink it all day long if I was not concerned about the acidity on my teeth. There is no other research that has really dented my love for soda–except corrosion to my teeth. I have a very hard time thinking long term, but I want healthy teeth in 20 years from now. So I keep fighting the addiction to soda, some days better than others. Many days I drink none at all, but on those days I miss it.
🙂 Marion
April 20, 2012
I have to admit Marion, I worry about the enamel on my teeth as well… (Although red wine probably doesn’t help!)
April 20, 2012
Hello there, nice to meet you. Well, I love a coffee and have one or two a day and drink bucketloads of tea, some herbal but mostly Earl Grey. But I’ve never really got into the hard stuff ie Diet Coke. Just have the odd one when stopping at petrol stations on long journeys. Hooray, a vice I don’t have!!! It’s a first!!
April 20, 2012
Hi Seana,I guess I confess to worrying more about the chemicals than the caffeine. I’d like to think I could casually ‘partake’ in a diet coke from time to time in future without running amok! Well done on avoiding that vice!
Deb
April 21, 2012
I gave up caffeine in college, over two decades ago, when I realized it was keeping me up at night and contributing to my polycystic breast disease. I did drink decaf soda for a while but gave that up at some point and I can’t remember when or why. Every so often I like a flavored decaf coffee for a snack, but don’t drink coffee otherwise. In the past year I have adopted tea drinking for the purported health benefits and to help me drink instead of snack. Other than that, I drink water. Sometimes some Crystal Lite. But mostly water.
April 21, 2012
Well done Karen, on kicking your caffeine habit so long ago and keeping to it! I often wonder if people enjoy tea. It’s kinda tasteless for me, but my folks were/mum is a big tea drinker so I figure there must be something to it!