Overcoming addiction to soda...?

[nemu]

Hiyo, I'm Nemu from Tennessee! I'm a tall and gangly lady newspaper illustrator who is really just ready to stop feeling tired all the time.

I'm excited to get off my butt and do something and be proactive, but I keep finding myself being held back by the fact that I am overwhelmingly addicted to soda. I keep seeing, "Diet is 80%!" and hurriedly try to convince myself that I will be fine, but I know I really need to stop if I'm getting anywhere.

I'm 5'8" and 115 lbs and drink probably...two liters of soda every day. I work in a fast food restaurant during the summer, so the soda is free and constantly available.

I wake up every morning with a huge pounding headache and horrible attitude until I can drink it. My boyfriend, who lives with me, has tried to hide it or withhold it from me before and I've broken down in tears and screamed at him over it. Really pathetic...! We make constant trips to the store to keep up. In addition to the soda, I probably have 1-2 energy drinks every day as well since they are available at my work palce. Yeah...I know, I know.

Without all this, I have no energy, however, WITH all this...I still have no energy. I am still dragging myself around all day every day and I feel like my quality of life has diminished terribly. I wake up, feel awful, go to work, feel awful, go home, feel awful. All day. I try the energy drinks, they don't work, and I still drink them, every day. Why?

TL;DR: How do you kick an extreme dietary habit like an addiction to soda? Does anyone else have experience with this awful vice...? Thank you..!

[Siferiax]

I have no experience with this, but maybe this is a tip you could try?

How about instead of eliminating it just like that, slowly bring down the amount?

For example skip one glass you'd normally drink, or put less soda in the glass. And then go from there, if you adjusted to less then put the amount down again.

And so on and so forth.

[Vicarious Ink]

I did this finally, and have been pretty successful at it. The big thing was for me, to switch to diet sodas for the time being, and then cut my portions down from there. Eventually, I was drinking more water/tea/coffee and cut out all the soda.

[Bamboozel]

When i started cutting soda out, I would keep a bottle of water with me. I found that I would drink the water if it was right there instead of going and looking for something that had sugar in it.

There are plrnty of ways to keep water with you camelbaks, canteens, water bottles or hire a minion to follow you with a pail of water and a ladle.

[Kewilson]

Hi nemu,

Some tools I've used to massively change habits without straining will power at all:

1) Counting. You're drinking 2L per day, so in a 7-day week that's 14L of pop (which is, FYI, 5600 calories and 1568g of sugar). Whenever you're ready, start tracking how much you drink (even just tracking will likely reduce how much you consume). Then place a cap on how much you allow yourself to drink. Last week was 14L, make this week 13L or 12L or 5L or whatever level you feel like you can achieve without driving yourself completely insane/straining yourself hugely. Keep feathering it off at a pace you're comfortable with and eventually, you'll find you're within range of consuming none at all... and doing so wouldn't even seem that hard.

2) Use Substitutes. Whether it's diet pop (yeah, I know, I just made all the hardcore Paleo people cringe) water (flavored, carbonated, normal, whatever), eating vegetables or doing push-ups, whenever you feel like you need some pop just do something else instead (read: don't just stand there thinking about how much you want pop).

3) Change the Price. You like pop and are willing to pay a certain price to obtain it (which is apparently free in your case). Fair enough. Economics teaches us that as increasing the price reduces demand, so just make every glass/can more expensive to you in whatever way works. Every time you get some pop, pay a fixed price for it. It's normally free? Pay the price customers pay. You already pay the same price as everyone else? Add $0.50 or $1.00 or whatever to the price until it starts wearing down on your interest to drink a pop. Money not really an issue for you? Make yourself do push ups, go for a walk/run, or give a speech in public (or whatever) every single time you drink a can of pop. Want to decrease your consumption even more? Just raise the price.

4) Use Other Incentives Set a goal for how much pop you want to drink over a given period (and track it) and then set a reasonable reward for accomplishing your goal. Been eying that NerdFitness shirt or wanting to go scuba diving? Make that your reward, and commit to only taking it when you accomplish the objective, whatever it may be. Alternatively, set up an enforceable punishment for failing (e.g., make a contract with a friend/relative saying that you will pay them $X for failing).

Or any combination of the above, really.

[Georges]

I'm a soda addict. I quit 2 challenges ago. Again. In the past, what has derailed me was ONE single, usually not even enjoyed soda. After a long time away from soda, it tastes... wrong to me, but once I've had one, I will crave more. I'm not sure if it's a chemical addiction or if it is entirely psychological (I still drink caffeine, so I know it's not just withdrawals from that). I know that I can never have a soda again without setting myself up for failure. I also know that I'm incredibly lucky to be addicted only to something that's legal, affordable(ish), and won't cause all the problems that other addictions carry with them.

Other thoughts:

You might not want to quit soda, caffeine, and energy drinks all at the same time.

Can you drink a non-soda option at work (iced tea or fruit punch, most fast food places have something)? That would cut it back.

Alternately, could you make a "soda only at work" rule? That would cut back consumption, plus, if/when you level up your job, you'll be out of the one situation that has habitual soda.

Instead of focusing on cutting back on soda, maybe make a point of drinking "x" amount of water during the day. You may find that your soda intake drops.

If all else fails, clean up the rest of your diet except the soda. It's still progress, and if it's what lets you make the other healthy changes, it can wait until later.

[progress126]

I used to be a 2-litre (or more) a day Coke drinker. Made the switch to Diet Coke and then a couple years ago I gave up soda for Lent. I rarely touch the stuff but do indulge every once in a while. I think I was addicted to the dizziness of soda, specifically Coke and Diet Coke. I don't know if that helps but it is what I did.

[Strawberry Squatcake]

My favorite part of soda is also the fizz! Such a strange thing to be tied to.

I used to endlessly drink diet soda. I could go a whole day without water. Not good! And the lack of water definitely made me sluggish, which made me want more soda. Cycle! Plus, all of the caffeine was affecting how well I was sleeping, which was, you guessed it, making me drink more soda! I finally replaced my afternoon soda with water, and if I felt a headache coming on, tea. But I also really like tea, so it wasn't too painful. And finally cut out any afternoon soda. Sleeping better was enough of a payoff for giving it up, it was easy to quit in the afternoons.

I still have diet soda in the mornings at work a few times a week, but it's much more manageable, and if I don't have it, no big deal. When I want it, it's the fizz I'm craving. So I try to pick the fizziest one I can find and enjoy it.

I'm not a fan of "white knuckle sobriety" (hanging on for dear life - you will eventually let go), so approach slowly like everyone's recommended, and be patient with yourself.

[Mad Sci]

I'm still a soda addict. I've tried to quit a few times but I keep crawling back...

[fire.eagle]

I used to drink a lot of soda (albeit not that much; more close to 3 cans a day). I cut it out about a month ago; the key for me has been as several people have already recommended, use a substitute. My work has nice reverse osmosis water filters, plus I figured out how to make iced tea in my water bottle and I started carbonating some water if I just really wanted the fizz.

So, my advice would be to try to find some other drink that's not as bad and drink it instead. Might want to have some sort of caffeinated beverage available for this also like coffee or tea, since you might be getting the side effects from lack of caffeine. Alternatively, dehydration might be causing some of the headache (although in this case, I kinda doubt it). If you really have to have a soda, just be sure to log it and slowly decrease it.

I know that's fairly generic and already been said for the most part. Good luck; it can be a hard habit to kick.

[Luthorcrow]

I used to be a Coca Cola boy. It got to the point that I was drinking almost no water and living off coffee and Coke. Two kidney stones within a 2 year period motivated me to change. I simply stopped drinking all soda but I do get about 2 cups of coffee a day with 8-10 cups of water. I am not believer in substitutes or gradual weening. The problem with diet sodas are they are still bad for you and the artificial sweeteners are sweeter than natural fruit and vegetables. For me the biggest win was reprogramming my tastes to lower expectation of sweetness. Otherwise natural foods will always pale in comparison.

[KAllen]

I'm addicted to Cokes and really don't want to give it up. However, I did cut down my consumption to 2 a day. Its caffein and I can't stand the taste of coffee...it's nasty.

BTW...it's called Coke people...not pop, soda, soda pop, pop drinks...Coke. You then diverge into the various flavorsof Coke (Dr. Pepper,Sprite, Mountain Dew...etc) You may all edit your posts now to show this correction.

[Raincloak]

You know what I think? You're a hardcore caffeine addict. Two liters of soda and 2 energy drinks a day?? That sure explains the morning headaches and mood dips -- you're suffering from drug withdrawal. I would actually recommend you see a doctor about this, because if you go cold turkey from the amount you're consuming, you could give yourself a heart stutter or something just from detox.

The police sometimes use Coca-Cola to clean pavement after blood and hazmat spills. Think about that for a minute... Now think about what that same stuff is doing to your teeth. Have you ever seen the experiment kids do in grade school with a baby tooth and a can of Coke? (spoiler: the Coke dissolves the tooth.) If you don't have dental insurance (and most people don't), you may be in for some VERY expensive procedures soon. I just paid $400 to fix 2 minor cavities and get 1 x-ray, and I narrowly dodged a dental crown that would have cost thousands. (eep!) Bad teeth aren't very pretty, either.

a few possible substitutes:

1) If you're hooked on the fizzy, get some club soda (or use the seltzer/plain soda button on the machine) and just drink that. Squeeze a little lemon in if you want, or get the kind with a hint of essential oil but no sweetener (Talking Rain is good). Avoid tonic water, it's really bitter.

2) Kombucha is a naturally fizzy, fermented tea beverage. It tastes sour, but it's considered very healthful (probiotics and all that). You could give it a try as a milder alternative to soda. It is sold in health food and gourmet food stores, or you can brew it at home if you have the right equipment. It's not good to drink by the bucketful, but you probably won't want to anyway.

3) Try iced tea or iced coffee. If you make them very sweet, they're not terribly good for you, but you can control the amount of sugar in them and slowly pare it down. They're pretty cheap if you brew at home, and they will provide some caffeine, but less than soda or Mountain Dew.

You're going to have to practice saying no to things that are free. Clutterbugs have to learn this skill too (but with pens and magnets instead of food). Even though they look free, there are hidden costs to accepting them, and we need to control the impulse that says "it's free! Take it!" Remind yourself that if you really need it, the freebie or something equally good will still be available later. You don't have to grab it right now. Grabbing it is a bad idea. It's a trick, the people who offer it are not just being generous. They are doing it to hook you, so they will have power over you. Don't fall for it.

[wildross]

I've been working on getting off for several years now. The only thing that is working is the mantra for alcohol and pregnant women. Not a single drop. I don't think it is just, or even mostly the caffeine. I think the entire concoction is addictive. I used to drink more diet mountain dew than you are.

I'm afraid you just have to decide you've had enough and sacrifice a week to get off of it. It will take at least that long to begin the detox process. But you will feel much better, with more energy afterwards.

It is not easy at all

Sent from my DROID4 using Tapatalk 2

[PhoenixRising]

My soda addiction was two fold.

1. Sugar. I had to cut out all sugar and surprisingly I no longer need caffeine. I am pretty sure my "caffeine" headaches were actually sugar headaches! I went cold turkey. It was bad for about a week, but the added energy after that kept me strong!

2. Fizzy stuff. I switched to club soda. I love it!

I am also pretty sure I was mildly dependent on caffeine, but I really don't need or crave it any more now that I have cut out all added sugars.

[allnightgrocery]

Caffeine withdrawal is no joke. Start substituting with water or club soda and be very careful on the pace of your change. Do not decrease too quickly or you can end up very sick. Create a simple plan that tapers your intake down over time. Stick to the plan, you'll be happy you did.

I'm also very surprised to read about how people switch from a regular soda to a diet soda. Diet Coke, for example, has almost 50% more caffeine than regular Coke.

[tigersheart]

This is how I did it. It was pretty simple, and worked well for me.

I was really bad when working behind the computer that I always had a soda to drink..even if not thirsty, so I decided to do this. I made sure I had ice cold water with something I could add to it...lemon, lime, sage, etc to give it some taste.

And then, all I would do is switch off everytime I went to get something to drink. First time, I would get a glass of soda, next time I went to get a drink, I would make it my ice water....then next time soda...etc.

Eventually over time, the soda started getting way to sweet, and I would have two glasses of water in a row..then three...then eventually I just could not stand soda anymore because it had gotten to sweet.

Well, that is how I did it, not sure if it will help you, but whatever you do, take it one step at a time.

[jds121289]

put a few drops of hot sauce in every cup of soda, then drink as much as you want (it wont be much). after a while the taste of soda will make you want to vomit... worked for me lol

[nemu]

Thanks so much for the support and encouraging words, guys! I got breakfast with my boyfriend this morning and he almost fell out of his chair when I asked for water instead of soda. I kept cups of water all day with me at work and put lemons in them and it made it taste much better. I probably drank six cups of water. I took Pamprin as soon as I woke up which is acetaminophen, aspirin and 65 mg of caffeine just to keep the headache out while still having a small amount of caffeine. I have honestly drank only soda for as long as I can remember so it feels very weird and foreign to drink...water...but I felt really good. I'm just unsure how long it's going to last before I break down.

Those who mentioned tooth decay and kidney issues-- I suffer from both. I didn't want to sound too pathetic on my first post, but...yeah. My teeth are incredibly weak and sensitive and even semi-transparent at this point. I use an enamel-replenishing mouthwash and brush them twice a day and all that, but 20 years of damage is done. In addition to this, I've been hospitalized numerous times due to possible kidney failure or dehydration. I just...even with all this, I have never been able to put the soda down. My will power is so terribly weak. I'd like to become stronger in both body and will; I just feel so pathetic that I'm being held down by....Dr. Pepper.

Really though, again, it helps to know other people have gone through the same thing and have been able to overcome it. (: !! Thanks so much for sharing with me, it's great motivation!

[Tansden]

Over the last 3 months, I've gradually stopped drinking soda. I was drinking at least 4 30 oz. cups of soda a day, more if we then went out to eat. I used a 3 part plan that seems to have worked for me.

1. Go to diet. Diet Dr. Pepper is really not that bad, and there are the new splenda based drinks that taste pretty close to the original. Stay there for a few weeks, and get used to the lack of sugar in your diet. You will get tired if you're used to having a ton of sugar in your diet. Once you can get through your day without feeling sluggish, move on. I will admit that I have had fruit juice sometimes, but not as a regular drink; more of a treat.

2. Now that you've gotten rid of the sugar, drop carbonated drinks. That refreshing carbonation in my mouth is the hardest part for me to quit. When I feel like I have gunk in my mouth, I still sometimes want to reach for a sprite or pepsi. At this point, I mostly drank sugar free lemonade and unsweetened tea. The tea was to keep the caffeine headaches away during finals week (thank God I'm done forever!). It ended up helping a LOT. The fact that it allowed me to separate the addiction to that happy fizz from the draw of caffeine made it just a little bit easier to drop for me.

3. Drop the caffeine. I weaned myself off on this stage, working down to just one cup during lunch, then a day off, a day on, etc. A week and a half ago, I drank my last cup of tea. I did get some caffeine headaches, but some ibuprofen (not excedrine - it has caffeine in it) got me through it. And they weren't life altering headaches, like I've seen others get when they quit cold-turkey. I am still getting soda cravings, but a cup of cold water almost always gets rid of it.

Super Bonus Step: Anytime you're discouraged, consider these things:

a. You are cutting a HUGE amount of calories out of your diet. When I switched to diet, I dropped 1,500 calories a day out of my diet. This made it pretty easy for me to lose some weight.

b. Even though I got a large amount of my soda for free, I still bought soda at least once a day, and multiple times on Saturday and Sunday. That's 9 or 10 purchased drinks a week. Closing on 2.00 a drink these days, and you're saving at least $15.00 a week. Keep track of it. Give it to yourself as an allowance to spend on whatever makes you happy. I purchased a bunch of board games, and have been having a blast having friends over. When I consider that I'd have to give up the board games if I drink soda, I'd rather have the games. Now I'm saving up for a nice commuter bike. Screw soda, I want mah new bike!

c. You are making yourself healthier. This will benefit you, your family, your boyfriend. When the above 2 things didn't motivate me, I thought about my future kids, growing up without a dad, because he died of health complications when they were 6. My mom, outliving me. Or having to stick myself with a needle every day to test blood sugar, then injecting insulin one or two times daily.

d. Breaking free of the machine. One less control on my life. I don't want to be addicted to anything. I don't want my choices to be forced by my being reliant on something, if I can avoid it. My life is mine to live, and I'd rather do what I want, and not something else because I 'need' it.

I'm still working through it. But these things have made a huge difference. I'm already getting back to a good energy level. My sleep schedule is also becoming more in tune with the day. I used to be a constant night owl, sleeping in through noon if I didn't have a reason to get up. Now I'm naturally getting up at 8, sometimes earlier.

I'm starting to ramble. I'll stop now, and hope this helps!

Good luck!

[The Curse]

I've been fighting the same thing. I'm not doing too well, but what has helped tremendously was substitutions. For now don't worry about drinking healthily, just worry about quitting soda pop.* Every time you want a bottle/can/cup of soda get a bottle/can/cup of kool-aid, crystal lite, water, tea, or something similar. If it's the caffeine you are addicted to a placebo may help. When you want a soda instead of a caffeinated beverage grab a root beer or a sprite. (Just to remind you in case you have an absent minded moment like we all have, tea has caffeine too.)

Once you have broken the Caffeine addiction you can work on the soda addiction.

* NOTE: Do not use alcohol, that would just be replacing one addiction with a worse one.

[EnygmaEve]

The police sometimes use Coca-Cola to clean pavement after blood and hazmat spills. Think about that for a minute... Now think about what that same stuff is doing to your teeth. Have you ever seen the experiment kids do in grade school with a baby tooth and a can of Coke? (spoiler: the Coke dissolves the tooth.)

Lol, I'm surprised no one else has yelled SNOPES to this yet.

Anyways, this is how I kicked soda when I had a HUGE HORRIBLE SODA HABIT:

Caffeine pills. Yup. Get one of the no-doze type "awake" pills (make sure to read the label and get one that is caffeine). Then get a pill splitter. Start off taking one when you wake up, with a glass of water in the biggest glass you have. If you start getting headaches, take another pill. Then as you feel better, start halving and eventually quartering the pills until you can stop all together.

THIS IS A COLD TURKEY METHOD so you don't want to be consuming ANY caffeinated beverages while you're doing this. Bring a big jug wherever you go and refill it with water throughout the day and chug. Chug like a champ. Figure out if you/your body prefers cold water or room temp water (your body, I hear, absorbs cold water faster, but I found when I was drinking so much water, I could get it down easier if it was room temp.)

You need to drink a lot of water to flush all the crud out of your system. I was clearing A GALLON of water a day when I was detoxing the soda out. (I was only on a gallon a day for about a week before I felt like I was hydrated enough to go back down to "normal" amounts.)*

If you are having a really really tough time with stomaching a flavorless beverage after all those years of sucking down soda, I recommend using the Mio water enhancers. Yeah, it's sugar-free chemical crap, but what I like about it is that you can control how much you put in, and thus wean yourself off the flavor too.

*Bonus story about my gallon-a-day intake: This is what completely sold me on water as a magical elixir. I had my college graduation party at the end of this week, and I got HAMMERED DRUNK. Like, drunker than I have ever been in my whole life, and I was in the Army where getting drunk was part of the job description. I had several people call me the next day wondering how bad my hangover was. And every single one of them hated me because I was WAY more hammered than any of them, and I had ZERO HANGOVER symptoms. I even committed the sin of "beer before liquor". Thanks, water!

I will still sip Ginger Ale when I have a cold that includes a sore throat, because the fizz feels so nice going down.

Anyways, that's my 2 cents and I wish you the best in overcoming your habit.

[Luthorcrow]

Lol, I'm surprised no one else has yelled SNOPES to this yet...

Funny I was actually watching the episode of Myth Busters on Netflix that debunked the majority of the old Coke myths including the tooth and dissolving meat myth.

Personally I think the trick on the missing taste in your drink thing was the opposite for me. I bought a Brita filter which made the water taste better by leasing mineral or dirty tasting and then I just trained my tastes buds get taste from food.

[EnygmaEve]

Personally I think the trick on the missing taste in your drink thing was the opposite for me. I bought a Brita filter which made the water taste better by leasing mineral or dirty tasting and then I just trained my tastes buds get taste from food.

Yeah, when I did this, Mio wasn't on the market, so I would just either use a Brita or buy a gallon on bottled water. It should be noted that if someone else reading this forum wants to go buy bottled gallons, they shouldn't get distilled water. Water that is distilled isn't meant for drinking, because pure water will actually leech out needed minerals (like calcium) from your body. That's why you'll typically see three types of the gallon water: distilled, drinking, and spring. Stick with drinking or spring.

The Brita (and PUR, etc.) filters still allow trace amounts of stuff through, so they're okay to use.

[Toph821]

I've recently overcome Mt. Dew addiction and it feels great. The first few days (or weeks, depending on your level of addiction) are complete and utter HELL, but after the hump, it is a really awesome feeling. I haven't read all the other posts/responses, but hopefully you can kick the habit. I'm down to just drinking water and I love it. Haven't had a real craving in a couple of weeks.

I guess the key to being successful is really just willpower. Imagine what it will be like waking up without the cranky attitude or NEED for caffeine/soda. It'll be great. Work hard and stick to it!