budfan08

hey, ive been slowly putting pounds on over the last year or so and im pretty sure its from the amount of soda i drink daily(2-3 cans a day). Ive tried to quit drinking it and i can usually get over the headaches but for some reason i always go back to it. How do u guys abstain from drinking soda once you quit? Is their any good alteratives to soda that quench your thirst like soda does?


thanks
Budfan

10 Wheels

Just switch to black coffee or tea.

Laserman

2 or 3 cans a day? You call that an addiction? I used to scan the grocery ads for case sales and buy 4 - 6 cases at a time.

When I quit I kept Lipton Iced Tea mix and would make it one glass at a time when I really wanted something more than water. After a while I drank less and less of the tea and more water.

Once a week I hit Del Taco and have a coke with my tacos but I don't feel the need to buy or drink soda anymore.

c.miller64

For me it's iced green tea.

bicyclridr4life

you call 2 or 3 CANS a day an addiction?!?

Anyway, I was drinking between 2.5 to 3.5 two liters (5 to 7 liters total) of Mtn Dew a day, (for at least 40 years) but after having "discovered" Lipton ENERGIZE to go tea, I've quit drinking the dew (for the most part, still might have a 2 liter once in a while), and am drinking 3 or 4 of my 60 ounce jugs of that tea a day. (3 tubes of tea per jug) The "Energize" tea has 50 MG caffeine per 8 ounces, Dew was only 36 MG per 8 ounces. Gotta keep them head aches at bay! Yes, I are addicted to caffeine.

My resting pulse is 79, by the way. No, I cannot explain the "normal" heart rate with such a high intake of caffeine. And yes, I really did drink that much Dew a day and AM drinking that much of that tea day. Oh yeah, almost forgot. I'm 54 year old, 5'8" tall and weigh 150 pounds.

timmythology

I went cold turkey, in support of the wife when she was told she was diabetic. I say just do it, and remember the saying, out of sight, out of mind. Don't pruse the cooler aisle and stuff like that.

RatedZeroHero

well being that sugar is very addictive and you then toss in caffeine as well...

cold turkey really is the only way... lots of water...

funny thing is that if you can make it 60 days without a soda go ahead and drink one...

I find them gross as all get out... or have a diet once in a while but be careful nutrasweet/spenda aren't good for you either...

with a name like budfan are you sure it is the soda?

mtnbke

Budfan,

First of all soda doesn't even begin to quench your thirst.

Go and buy yourself a ceramic crock water dispenser:

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B000LXX8CI

Go to a wine making shop (maybe look for beer making too) and ask for a glass carboy. Get an Italian one not a Mexican one (the Italian ones are more stable). Anything 3 gallon and above will work. Remember water weighs 8lbs a gallon.

Fill your water bottle from a good refill water kiosk (Whole Foods, Vitamin Cottage, any high-end grocery store). Be sure to 'shop' around. The price for good water will range from .30 cents a gallon to .50 cents a gallon. Don't assume the higher priced water is better. Not all water kiosks get serviced on the same schedule, nor do they all see the same usage. You'll learn which places to avoid by what the water tastes like. You'll never want to drink out of plastic little bottles again.

Get some no-rinse oxygen bleach from the wine/hop shop and use it to clean your glass bottle and dispenser after every bottle. 15 minutes of dwell time will do. Definitely rinse (its just hydrogen peroxide and soda ash, the hydrogen peroxide dissipates, and the soda ash is inert, but why drink it?).

You'll never go back to soda again.

If you have a pre-diabetic sweet tooth, you can 'splash' your water with a little lemonade, or just lime or lemon juice.

You'll be astounded to discover how thirsty you really are. Talk to a doctor. That 'thirst' is probably early onset type II diabetes. Classic soda addiction. The early onset type II makes you want to drink more, a brutal cycle that isn't lost on Coke/Pepsi. However, corn syrup soda can not 'quench' your thirst.

Make the change or accept the consequences.

Also, the medical community is really starting to push through some clinical trials on the effects of aluminum and plastics (from beverages) in much more thorough studies than in the past. Epidemiologists are talking about aluminum and the effects of plasticizers a lot these days.

You've been warned.

lucid0ne

For me all it took was researching the ingredients and realizing how amazingly horrible it all is, that was a good 3 years ago and never looked back. Iced tea is your best friend

dipy911

Coffee, green tea, WATER, skim milk, chocolate milk, .... So many choices.

I only drink diet cola(Sams club brand) now with 50% rum.

BigUgly

Had the same problem. I hate coffee and would drink Pepsi or Mtn Dew for the caffiene to get me going in the mornings. I have swtiched to tea. Hot or Cold. I have been hooked on the Arnold Palmer Half Iced Tee/Half Lemonade Drink. Less calories then soda. Also, a lot of water but I kind of get tired of the no taste. Except Arnold has the little packets you can put into a 20 oz bottle of water that is only 10 calories/bottle and tastes good as well and gives a little shot of caffiene. My soda intake had decreased dramatically and I feel I have more energy now at the end of the day when I get home as well.

Another thing I started drinking was a Green Tea Chai Latte. Tastes yummy, got the green tea benefits, but I think they are high in calories so I am only having them once a week or so.

Neil_B

Go cold turkey. Drink other things instead. I favor ice tea, decaf.

XR2

Addiction.The word is a fallacy.Just stop if you want to.

Missbumble 

Hey - I am addicted to Diet Coke - and it's alot more than 2-3 cans per day!! So I am reading and listening here. Once I tried Crean-water - take real cranberry juice - 2oz and mix with some stevia and 64 oz water. I think I ended up drinking 2 per day. You get the benefits of the cran and not all the junk in Diet Soda - and your body treats it somewhat like water where as soda is something your body does not treat as water. Avg person needs 64 oz water per day + equal amount of water as the soda or caffeine product.

OK time to take my own advice - less soda more water or cran water.

ThePerchik

I just quit. You will be shocked how quick you feel a difference. I drink water and seltzer now.

uberalles

cold turkey..... with lots of water

i occasionally treat myself with a nice sweet tea.... it's what we live on in the south ...

EKW in DC

I've been drinking diet soda for about 15 years now. I've cut way back on it for a number of reasons, and have replaced with sugar free Kool-Aid, Crystal Light, iced tea mix... still lots of chemically stuff, I know, but it's easy.

If you don't need the caffeine, but still crave some sweetness and don't like artificial sweeteners, a mix of club soda or seltzer with a splash of real fruit juice is good, too. Gets you the fizziness and the sweetness and some vitamins, too, without all the HFCS crap.

Stray8

I drank Propel (1/10th the sugar) by the case from Costco and it helped me get past the initial "blah" taste of plain water. Now I can drink plain water.

I used to drink whole 2-liter bottles of Coke like water (i.e. not ever really tasting the sugar/high fructose corn syrup). Since quitting, I can actually taste how heavy the syrup is on the few occasions whenever I do get a soda (if there's no iced tea available).


.

RatedZeroHero

oh yeah drinking from aluminum or BPA containing plastics...

something i try to avoid even when i still drank alcohol avoided the cans... direct link to Alzheimer's...

we threw away all our Nalgene water bottles becaue of BPA...

side note NEVER microwave food in a plastic container the chemicals leech out into the food... hell I dont even have a microwave!

or a television... life is good

notbrant

I used to drink so much soda that id get headaches was caffeine withdrawals when i tried to stop. I quit cold turkey, dealt with it, moved on. I drink a lot of Black Tea, Water, and treat myself to a Coke Zero once a day or two days. Now I cant even drink regular soda cause it makes my teeth hurt its so sweet. Some people hate Coke Zero but I love it. I bought a water jug from walmart that looks like this: https://www.uvcstore.wurdemarketing.c...ater%20jug.jpg and i drink 1-1.5 of those per day depending on if i'm at the gym or not.

It's really all about will power, either you care about your body and health or you don't. I had a revelation about 4 months ago that I need to get into shape or die young. I was at 5'11 330lbs, by no means a giant, but needed to get healthy for my future. I quit smoking, drinking(I might have 1-2 drinks a month), eating bad food, drinking calories, and now i'm at 290 lbs and much leaner due to the recent addition of muscle and increased strength.


I'm also curious how something with sodium in it quenches your thirst? nothing quenches mine like slightly colder than room temp, clean water.

RatedZeroHero

nothing quenches mine like slightly colder than room temp, clean water.


amen!

NUTNDUN

I have never been a big soda drinker. Mainly always coffee and tea but it was always with lots of sugar. I cut back from drinking two pots of coffee a day to maybe 2 - 3 cups a day and a lot less sugar. I am also drinking a lot more water. For some reason I never experienced the headaches when I cut back on the coffee.

When I used to drive truck we used to deliver at a coca cola distribution center and almost every load we took in there was a haz-mat (hazardous materials) load.

cod.peace

Wow. Just wow. And here I've been thinking my 2 cups of coffee & afternoon cup of tea was a lot of caffeine to injest. Your metabolism must have been running sky high to burn off those calories - 7 L is ~3300 calories!

cyclezealot

I view juices as healthier. But, once in awhile a Diet Coke refreshes.. Regular coke.. The thought of all those tablespoons in coke is sickening.

Crazy88s

This topic has been on my mind recently. I changed my workout and eating habits but I just can't kick the soda bucket. Coke Zero is my weakness. I swear I go through about 4 to 5 cans a day. I did it once. I quit cold turkey for about 3 months but couldn't control the temptation any longer. I have more willpower with food than with soda.

Tell you what. If you quit cold turkey, I'll quit cold turkey. I've been meaning to do it anyways. I think I'd lose even more weight doing it.