a confession!!

[ut0pia]

Hi, I'm Mariya....
and I'm a diet coke addict!!!!

Seriously though, I always talk about how I'm addicted to diet coke, in the weight loss thread and elsewhere I'm sure- but I never actually said how bad it is. Well I'm going to say it- I drink about 2-3 2 liter bottles of diet coke every day. I don't drink any water at all or any other liquids. I've been like this for about a year and I honestly think it's like an addiction, because if I don't have it I get very frustated and I start to daydream about how i'm going to buy a bottle of diet coke and I'll hear the fizzzing as it opens and everything will okay as soon as I take the first sip...
I don't like any other sodas, not dr. pepper or mountain dew or even any other diet drinks. I actually find all other diet sodas very nasty and leaving a bad aftertaste, including coke zero...

So I have decided that I've had it with this madness. I bought all kinds of juices- grape, apple, cranberry- the kind that are sweetened with real sugar, and I plan to dilute them with water so that I can start getting water...

Anyone else addicted to anything so random??? I'd love to hear about it

 

[Willowy]

Just wanted to say....EWWWW, UGH, YUCK!!!

I never could stand Diet Coke. I thought it tasted like dirty dishwater. I liked Diet Sprite and Diet 7-Up, though. I stopped drinking any soda a few years ago. Except for the very occasional real Ginger Ale---the kind with real ginger chunks floating in it and real sugar, mmmmm.

I do like salt and vinegar potato chips. I can't get enough of them.

 

[otto]

Be prepared to go through caffeine withdrawal, but I hope you can do it! That stuff is so bad for you!

I have a friend who is addicted to diet coke. I don't think she drinks as much as you do, but quite a lot. Even when we climb mountains, she doesn't bring water, she brings diet coke! I'll go through three 32 oz bottles of water on a 7 hour hike, and she'll go through four 20 oz bottles of diet coke. UGH!

Keep us posted how you do.

 

[trouts mom]

Yeah pop is the worst for you...good luck kicking the habit!

I am addicted to sugar in general. I cannot pass up any baked goods, candy or chocolate. I have been trying lately to cut down but it is very hard.

 

[katachtig]

Good for you

I saw some recent studies where diet soda was hard on the kidneys.

3 1/2 years ago I stopped drinking Coca-cola (the sugared stuff) and other cola type drinks. I was doing about 40 oz a day and even now, I can empathize with you. When I'm under stress, I imagine opening a new bottle with its hissing, tasting that first sweet cola sip and the tickle of the bubbles.

But I know that I can't have even a little taste without getting back to overdoing it. So I stay away.

Be ready for some withdrawl from the caffeine. I did find drinking tea helped with that.

 

[natalie_ca]

I love Diet Coke and Diet Coke with Lime! I can't say that I'm addicted to it though because I don't always have it in the house. If I'm working I sometimes buy a bottle from the vending machine.

I do find it more thirst quenching than water. However, I primarily drink water or Crystal Light. Too many soft drinks can lead to the wearing of your tooth enamel, esophageal cancer and kidney stones.

 

[katiemae1277]

I'm a Diet Pepsi addict, I get irritable if I don't have my afternoon DP

 

[ut0pia]

Thanks for the good luck wishes!! I know it's bad for me and sometimes I get seriously scared about what it will do to me because the amount i drink is just A LOT. ..I mean there is aspartame which supposedly can screw with signals in the brain, and then a whole lot of sodium..
And it is definitely really thirst quenching for me, when I drink it I feel like it neutralizes any taste I may have still left from eating. I'm going to chew a lot of gum to replace that though, because chewing gum also improves any tastes i may have. I'll try to get coffee and tea to help the caffeine ...

 

[rubsluts'mommy]

Originally Posted by katachtig

Good for you

I saw some recent studies where diet soda was hard on the kidneys.

3 1/2 years ago I stopped drinking Coca-cola (the sugared stuff) and other cola type drinks.....

Actually, if you live in the States, even the regular sodas are bad in large quantities. They don't have sugar, they have HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup). The diet drinks have the man made junk. I stopped drinking all mainstream sodas several years back. Occasionally, I will have a Dr Pepper... but that's maybe a few a month... I drink water, usually flavored with Propel sometimes... especially when it isn't cold. I also do different fruit juices, and coffee a few times a week. My addiction is Chai tea. Cold. More specifically, Oregon Chai. Not heavily spiced... and really good.

Yes, I know about how HFCS is okay in moderation. But take a really good look at everything you buy that is sweetened. Frozen juice bars (one exception there is from Whole Foods or Trader Joe's, those have sugar), sodas, you name it. It's in a lot of stuff. So while people may think they aren't taking in much of it... they aren't looking at the ingredients. I started reacting to it earlier this year.... now I am really paying attention... I wish the soda companies would go back to sugar. Seriously.

Amanda

 

[otto]

High Frutcose Corn Syrup is EVIL. I started a personal campaign to remove it completely from my diet last year. It wasn't easy, but except for salad dressing, which I am very picky about (and don't eat that much of) I have eliminated HFCS. I had to go organic on a lot of things, which means more $. And it took a while to adjust my taste buds, because HFCS is a flavor enhancer. But I feel much better being off that disgusting stuff.

(most chocolate does not contain any HFCS thank goodness!)

I gave up coke (regular) when I quit smoking 10 years ago. I had this after work, between jobs, routine where I'd drink a nice cold coke and smoke a cigarette. Once I didn't have the cig, the coke seemed to no longer make sense. Coke was still being made with sugar then.

I don't drink any soda now. Water , milk and juice.

 

[sk_pacer]

Aspartame is evil....did a bit of reading before posting this, and there are dozens of physical problems caused by ingestion of large quantities of it.

I will have the odd Pepsi or Dr Pepper, and now found something from Super Store called Mulled Apple Cider - light on apple taste, heavy on malic acid (artificial apple, the sour in sour candies) and cinnamon. I will try the new flavours, just out of curiosity but for the most part, drink juice mixed with club soda or even plain club soda - love the stuff. The mix of fruit juice and club soda may reduce the craving for the fizzy stuff.

 

[nekomania]

Well, I can't drink caffiene so I HAD to give up Diet Coke. I prefer diet drinks to regular soda, but now that I have to find caffiene-free ones too at first I had a hard time.

I agree that most diet soda's taste pretty rancid, but here in Michigan I finally stumbled across a brand that I LOVE more than any other Soda ever!



Diet Rite....

0 Sugar, 0 Calories, 0 Caffiene, and 0 Sodium. The sodium is a double bonus for me because I try to avoid excess salt in my diet as well.

If you have to get addicted to Soda, give Diet Rite a try if you haven't, their Cola is pretty good. =) It's almost as good for you as drinking water would be, except it contains aspartame... ^^; But the only negative thing that it has on me is that it makes me crave REAL sugar and that can be a hard urge to fight.

 

[ut0pia]

Well the majority of the energy I get comes from HFCS and sugar

sometimes complex sugar, but a lot of times simple

Apparently a long healthy life means little to me...

Not really- I just feel like these things keep me from losing my mind. When I have a paper due or a test I'm pulling an all nighter for- I feel like I just need something that tastes divine, such as candy, chips, all kinds of junk food, before I can calm down and approach the fact that I've just spend half of the semester never opening a book, and I have one night to study the entire material before it's mid term time, as an example...
Notice how things are so interconnected?? Like my bad study habits lead to bad eating habits and bad or nonexistant work out routine...
I've thought of healthy snacks tho and I have a list of them, such as baby carrots, fresh pineapple, bananas, etc- and I keep the list for when my brain is so tired that I just want to reach for the first available calorie bomb...
so at least I'm working on it

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by sk_pacer

I will have the odd Pepsi or Dr Pepper, and now found something from Super Store called Mulled Apple Cider - light on apple taste, heavy on malic acid (artificial apple, the sour in sour candies) and cinnamon. I will try the new flavours, just out of curiosity but for the most part, drink juice mixed with club soda or even plain club soda - love the stuff. The mix of fruit juice and club soda may reduce the craving for the fizzy stuff.

that's a great suggestion!!

Originally Posted by Nekomania

Diet Rite....

0 Sugar, 0 Calories, 0 Caffiene, and 0 Sodium. The sodium is a double bonus for me because I try to avoid excess salt in my diet as well.

If you have to get addicted to Soda, give Diet Rite a try if you haven't, their Cola is pretty good. =) It's almost as good for you as drinking water would be, except it contains aspartame... ^^; But the only negative thing that it has on me is that it makes me crave REAL sugar and that can be a hard urge to fight.

I have tried diet rite and I thought it left a bad odd sweet aftertaste. I hate tasting something in my mouth after eating/drinking, which I think perpetuates my need to always drink stuff, and stuff that neutralizes tastes..

 

[nekomania]

Sometimes when I crave something sweet I'll grab a bannana and dip it in sugar, it's still "bad" for you but not as bad as a chocolate candy bar or a whole bag of chips, plus you get a serving of fruit.

I do the same thing with apples dipped in caramel.


Counting calories can drive a person mad, but when you are too busy cramming to work out (or if you're just lazy) cutting your calorie intake to fit your activity level can cause you to lose weight as well.

 

[nekomania]

Originally Posted by ut0pia

I have tried diet rite and I thought it left a bad odd sweet aftertaste. I hate tasting something in my mouth after eating/drinking, which I think perpetuates my need to always drink stuff, and stuff that neutralizes tastes..

Ahh well....

Are there any non-soda drinks that you like a lot and can maybe add carbonated water to?

For me, the pop craving is all about the happy little bubblies...

But in all reality, I don't see much wrong in drinking diet coke at all

unless you have a caffine restrictive diet.

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by Nekomania

Sometimes when I crave something sweet I'll grab a bannana and dip it in sugar, it's still "bad" for you but not as bad as a chocolate candy bar or a whole bag of chips, plus you get a serving of fruit.

I do the same thing with apples dipped in caramel.


Counting calories can drive a person mad, but when you are too busy cramming to work out (or if you're just lazy) cutting your calorie intake to fit your activity level can cause you to lose weight as well.

That sounds pretty yummy!! I actually just had a snack of honey on a toasted whole wheat bread and I think it satisfied my sweet craving. Honey is soo sweet that it really really makes you want to get away from sweets for a little bit...

I always try to cut my calorie intake rather than exercise, because it's so much easier. I exercise mostly to keep my metabolism faster and to feel less like a couch potato...But i've been slacking off on that and cold weather makes it so much harder...

 

[wellingtoncats]

I'm addicted to coke, too. The normal stuff for me.

 

[ut0pia]

Originally Posted by Nekomania

But in all reality, I don't see much wrong in drinking diet coke at all

unless you have a caffine restrictive diet.

It scares me because not only do I feel dependent, I also drink sooo much of it...
Like not drinking any water at all

- I think that's a bit of a problem...
I mean occasionally it's fine but I go wayy overboard...

 

[nekomania]

Originally Posted by ut0pia

It scares me because not only do I feel dependent, I also drink sooo much of it...
Like not drinking any water at all

- I think that's a bit of a problem...
I mean occasionally it's fine but I go wayy overboard...

Simple fluid intake is what is important, doctors will pound into your head that water is the best thing to drink, but you can be perfectly fine as long as you have adequate fluid intake.

But diet coke contains sodium which may end up making you crave more liquids and you in turn drink more diet coke, it could be a vicious circle.