I’ve been thinking about this for a while now… I’ve been eating way healthier, read/write about healthy eating and I’m doing the worst thing – too much diet pop!
When I think about how much money I’ve spent on the stuff over the years, I could probably have taken a nice vacation somewhere at an all-inclusive resort! I may only have 1 -2 per day, but to me, that’s way too much. I have one every day with my lunch. If I don’t bring it from home, that costs .75 cents per day at the vending machine in my office. And I’ll usually have one while I am making dinner. If I am out shopping, I’ll pick one up, if I fill the car with gas, I’ll sometimes pick one up, and of course I buy some at the store doing my weekly grocery shop.
I recently watched Andrea Beaman in an interview she did on TV. She was on Top Chef, and she completely turned her life around by changing what she ate and she said one of the worst things you can do is drink all the chemicals that are not only in diet pop, but regular pop too.
I read an article on msnbc about diet soda and this is what the article said.
They found adults who drink one or more sodas a day — diet or regular — had about a 50 percent higher risk of metabolic syndrome — a cluster of risk factors such as excessive fat around the waist, low levels of “good” cholesterol, high blood pressure and other symptoms.
“When you have metabolic syndrome, your risk of developing heart disease or stroke doubles. You also have a risk of developing diabetes,” said Dr. Ramachandran Vasan of Boston University School of Medicine, whose work appears in the journal Circulation.
Prior studies have linked consumption of sugar-laden sodas with multiple risk factors for heart disease, but Vasan and colleagues also found the link extends to diet sodas.
The results surprised the researchers who expected to see a difference between regular and diet soda drinkers. It could be, they suggest, that even no-calorie sweet drinks increase the craving for more sweets, and that people who indulge in sodas probably have less healthy diets overall.
So, I’m going to do it!! If I can quit smoking, run 2 marathons, I can certainly do this…..right?
Any advice any tips, have you successfully cut pop/diet pop out of your life? I’d like to hear what you say!
Also, do you think that drinking diet pop is bad for your health??
Good for you! I used to keep a case of Coke Zero in the fridge and found that whenever I was thirsty, I was pulling out a can of Coke instead of drinking water. I was having up to 4 a day and not drinking any water. So now it’s just a once in awhile treat once a month or whenever I’m at another person’s house. I just did it cold turkey. I find that if it wasn’t around then I wasn’t drinking it. Hope it’s as easy for you!
You can TOTALLY do this. I have complete faith. Especially if you quit smoking! That is fantastic! YOU got this! 🙂
I drink maybe 2 diet sodas a month (if that) so I don’t feel that they hurt me, but I could see how drinking several a day could be harmful to the system.
I feel totally conflicted about diet soda. I go through times when I have 1 per day and other times I have none. I guess it’s a personal decision unless your doctor says something. Good luck and you’ll have to keep us posted with what strategies you use.
Hey Jenn! I haven’t had diet pop for over two years. I quit cold turkey March of 2008. Just decided that I wasn’t going to do that anymore. And I have found myself drinking regular pop which is way bad for you so I don’t have much of it and right now I am considering not having it at all either.
The problem is that I like pop — diet or regular. Sometimes it is just what sounds good. I am a water drinker (I know, you couldn’t tell by looking at me! lol) and I like unsweetened iced tea. So I drink those. But when the urge is for pop, I have regular now. I think I will try to quit that when I go back to work in a couple of weeks.
I KNOW you can do this. You are one of the most motivated people I know. It won’t be easy but it will be so worth it. So I promise you, I will quit my occasional regular pop while you are quitting diet. K? It’s a plan, girl. One of many we have : )
Wow. I’m not even up to that level yet, Jenn. I NEED my diet soda every day. It’s like an addiction, and I can’t say I’m brave enough to give them up yet!
I used to drink a lot of diet Coke, but stopped completely a couple of years ago…since I was eating such good healthy foods, it felt wrong to drink several cans of chemicals a day. My water intake increased dramatically when I did this.
You can totally do this! And hey – you quit smoking? Impressive! This will be a piece of cake.
Hi Shelley! Yep, my sister and I both smoked for about 6 years, and I’ve been smoke free for 15 years!
I stopped drinking diet soda a couple of years ago, when I did my health overhaul. I have had it a few times since, but it’s never my first choice. And I used to drink 1-2 cans a day, too.
I substituted with water, plain iced tea, or flavored hot tea. (My favorite kind tastes sweet, but has no sweeteners in it; it helped me cut back on sweets in general.) I still have Crystal Lite now and then, so it’s not like I’m completely artificial-sugar-free when it comes to beverages.
I think if you really want to do it, you’ll be able to do it! Best of luck to you!
I am with you! I love my Coke Zero. However, every since started P90X, I have craved water and G2 (low calorie gatorade) which I know is still a bad thing….
I still have a Coke Zero every other day or so but am down from 2-3 a day. It’s a work in progress. Good for you for sharing this info. Its not good for us!
Good for you Jenn! I gave up pop in February and have been great ever since. I think I drank a lot of unsweetened iced tea early on but now I just drink water. I had a couple of rum and diet cokes at a wedding last weekend and they were good…I also had a regular root beer and discovered that it was awful. My tastes have certainly changed since I gave up pop. You might want to try some fancy tea…I get mine at teavanna.com (we have a store in our mall so you might too). Good luck! You can do it!
First of all, you can do it!!! I used to drink sooooo much Diet Coke several years ago, and I was able to give it up. I honestly never thought I could. I felt I needed my Diet Coke.
When I decided it was time to cut back, I made changes slowly. First, I stopped buying Diet Coke to drink at home. Then, I cut back on the ridiculous amounts of refills I got in restaurants and got no refills. I still enjoyed a Diet Coke as a “special treat” when we went out though. Eventually, however, the desire for Diet Coke lessened, and I drank water instead. It honestly happened sort of naturally… However, THE TOUGHEST habit to break was the Diet Coke I consumed while visiting my in-laws (who live 5 minutes away, so we visit often!). I was sooo used to drinking a Diet Coke (or two) whenever we visited. But after I stopped drinking it at home and at restaurants, I got eventually used to it. I now make sure I come prepared with my own water bottle! 🙂
I had my first Diet Coke the other day after not having any for over a year! It was nice to be able to stop after I drank about 70% of it and not feeling at all like finishing it! And I can honestly say that I feel a lot better today than back when I drank a lot of Diet Coke.
You can do it, Jenn!
Good for you! I started drinking diet pepsi my sophomore year of college and love it. I guess it will be 10 years next year – eek – I have one a day at most…. I never thought about the $ though – you’re so right about being able to make a vacay out of it!
Loved Dr Pepper for years (regular stuff, not even diet) and would drink 1 or 2 a day.
I decided to go cold turkey and give up all sodas (and most juices, etc) leaving me with just water.
I feel different, lighter and less bloated. I love it – but I’m very hard core – not a sip of any sodas in 8 mos. The craziest part is I do dream about them, I’ll wake up and realized I dreamed about drinking a Pepsi then feeling guilty, etc.
But overall, one of my favorite things I’ve done for myself recently.
Good job!!
I’m reading so many posts of people who have decided to give up diet coke! It’s like a ton of people had a light bulb moment at the same time, including me, lol! Except my weakness was diet dr. pepper!!
I’m trying to quit drinking so much Diet Pepsi and one thing I’m drinking instead is Tazo Passion Tea mixed with Crystal Light lemonade. I don’t know if you’ve ever tried the Passion Tea Lemonade at Starbucks, but it’s really delicious. I decided to do a calorie free version so I buy the tea bags, brew the tea with some hot water, add the packet of lemonade, pour over ice and shake until it’s ice cold. It’s so sinful and really quenches your thirst. Give it a try!
Good for you. Isn’t it amazing all the things that we didn’t know we were eating? We made the switch almost ten years ago to carbonated juice drink instead of soda, like Juice Squeezes–anything without high fructose corn syrup. I am just grateful that our kids are growing up knowing how to eat right. Regards – M. G.
Good for you! You can do it!!! I drank a lot of pop when I was in college and decided to give it up one day. I wasn’t drinking enough water and I knew it, so I decided to stop cold turkey. It’s hard at first, but I did it! You can do it! I have maybe 1-2 pops at most a month now…I just order water!
Something that I always like to do is slice up lemons or limes in my water and take that with me during the day. Someone once suggested doing the same thing with cucumber, but I haven’t done that yet!
oh man…i’d imagine it’s not all that great for you…but i’m still not ready to give it up! i love a nice cold diet pepsi. i go through stages of drinking it all the time, and then rarely. i’ve never tried to kick the habit though. some days i want it, some days i dont. maybe one day i’ll give it up for good…good luck!!!