I can't get over my diet soda addiction. Im not sure what to do, I drink diet soda a lot. I love how it makes me feel. Part of it is the caffeine and part of it is that wonderful bubbly taste. Carbonated flavored water is ok but it doesn't have that same joy effect that diet soda gives me.
I went for my yearly the other day and the dr said that keytones was detected in my urine (Im on low carb so that's understandable) and that I need to drink more water. How do I do it? The most I made it till was 2 weeks of no diet soda then I caved. I was going to try to make November a diet soda free month but I just can't do it. It hasn't affected my weight loss but I am sure I would have better results,if not, be healthier, if I just drank water.
any encouragement or advice?
Your answer is in your question. You've convinced yourself that you can't shake diet soda, and with that mindset you can't. I'm huge on semantics. I think that when you hear yourself say things your mind processes it and it becomes your truth. I, too, used to have a crazy diet coke addiction. I'd go through probably 5 or 6 cans a day on top of 2 32oz dirt cokes I'd get while at work. So I've been there, for sure. Wien yourself off, don't go cold turkey. You're addicted, not just mentally but physically too. If you usually drink 100oz of diet soda per day, drop that down to 75oz per day and supplement the remaining 25oz with a better choice of liquid. Each week reproportion your liquid intake until you're wiened off. I know you said you don't like water, so try unsweetened tea. With the right mindset, you can make yourself start to like anything if you know it fuels your body.
You got this. You can do it.
If you truly can't do it, make a list of 20 reasons why you need to kick the diet soda and learn to drink water. Im talking like jury swaying reasons. This list will be your motivation to make the change you know you need to make. Read it every single day.
Have you tried putting several bottles of water in the freezer, then taking them out at the start of the day? Luke warm water is... meh, but ice cold water, especially on a hot day (but even in winter) to me tastes 10 times better, and can actually be one of the most satisfying beverages ever!
I only admitted this in public on another thread on this site a few days ago.
It got to the point it was very costly and embarrassing to buy. I finally decided enough was enough. I quit cold turkey. I had a half a bottle left and I poured it down the sink. I filled up 6 2-cup bottles and refrigerated them. I started that next morning. The first 3 caffeine-free days were rough, but it has been over two weeks now and I feel that finally I am following my diet plan at full tilt and now not ignoring the rule to drink water to flush out the liver of all the stuff that should be eliminated.
I am drinking some flavored seltzer water, too. At first it tasted bitter, but now I enjoy the feel of the bubbles at the back of my throat and am thinking that was really the sensation I enjoyed most when I drank the soda.
Believe me, I would be the first to say that I could never kick the habit....but I hit rock bottom.
Best thing I ever did. Take it one hour at a time, one day at a time, which will lead to your success. Before you know it, you've kicked the habit and you will feel so much better!
It wasn't willpower but wantpower!
Last edited by MorningGlory1950; 11-28-2016 at 10:28 PM.
It got to the point it was very costly and embarrassing to buy.
Yes! So embarrassing and expensive! Besides just the straight savings of not buying diet soda, I also found I had less quick runs out to the store for diet coke (like normal people might go for milk or eggs) which cut down even more on the grocery bill as some end cap sale item would often catch my eye.
I'm not sure how much I was drinking at my peak, but I'm sure it was at least a 2 liter bottle a day. I drank regular diet coke in the morning and decaf in the afternoons. I was dealing with a 30+ year addiction. I have switched to unsweetened green iced tea with lemon in the mornings and water in the afternoons. You really do have to retrain your taste buds to eat food without the sweet taste of diet soda, but now I look forward to my morning eggs and tea. So many less headaches these days. Life without diet soda is good.
Yes! So embarrassing and expensive! Besides just the straight savings of not buying diet soda, I also found I had less quick runs out to the store for diet coke (like normal people might go for milk or eggs) which cut down even more on the grocery bill as some end cap sale item would often catch my eye.
I'm not sure how much I was drinking at my peak, but I'm sure it was at least a 2 liter bottle a day. I drank regular diet coke in the morning and decaf in the afternoons. I was dealing with a 30+ year addiction. I have switched to unsweetened green iced tea with lemon in the mornings and water in the afternoons. You really do have to retrain your taste buds to eat food without the sweet taste of diet soda, but now I look forward to my morning eggs and tea. So many less headaches these days. Life without diet soda is good.
Treasa, I so agree you.
Life without diet soda is good. So true! I would never believe I could say that!
Hey! I'm kind of in the same boat- in ketosis, trying to quit diet soda (at least mostly). Things that made a difference to me were recognizing 2 major negative impacts of diet soda:
1. Caramel color (that's in basically all the brown sodas) is carcinogenic if you drink more than 12 oz a day.
2. Most of these sweeteners are low calorie, but not zero calorie. And people digest them different amounts. I would expect that with my 52 oz of diet mountain dew a day at least habit, I digest it better than most people (since you digest stuff you eat more often better). So who knows how many carbs I was actually ingesting? It made my carb counting messy, so I finally ended up taking it out.
3. Splenda is associated (maybe) with insulin resistance and being overweight, so maybe if you quit the artificial sweeteners you'll lose a little weight!
Stevia is better for a keto diet, but when I googled it I found a study in which rats fed large amounts of stevia died younger of all causes. Stevia is similar to estrogen molecularly, I guess, and that is the potential reason why- it can mess with your hormones. Just like how people who have their ovaries removed die earlier of all causes. So perhaps some caution, anyway.
On a happier note, I don't LOVE seltzer either, but I do like one particular brand of seltzer. Have you tried La Croix? I think the flavors are stronger than most seltzers. There's also always tea and coffee!
I've never been addicted to soda, but I've been adicting to sugar. And I found out one thing: cold turkey is, for me, the only way to go. Much like with smoking, I guess different things for different people. Sugar makes me crave more sugar. If I go cold tureky, I pass couple of bad days and then my craving is gone. In fact, I start enjoying healthier, much less pronounce sweet tastes, such as carrot or apples, which, to my sugar-blinded taste buds, didn't feel sweet enough before.
I can't have a little sweet here and there, because it doesn't end there. It never does. When it comes to sugar, I'm an all-or-nothing person". The only excpetion being very high quality 85% cocoa chocolate. I can have a square or two without being triggered to eat more.
As for diet sodas, there's the issue of artefficial sweeteners that are, plain and simple, NOT healthy for you. Also for reasons unknown to me, many people seem to shake lot of weight off once they stop drinking diet soda.
Just my two cents. I hope you find something that works for you!
Lots of great suggestions here! For me, I was (and still am) hooked on diet soda. I cut from real soda to diet and now I'm here. What I've done is switched to Polar flavoured water but I do allow myself diet soda. Just not as much. I cut down as some have suggested here. I was drinking 4 a day, then I went to three, then to two, and then 1. Now, I don't drink any unless I feel like treating myself, but I think it stalls me. It doesn't kick me out of Keto but it does stall me. But I do find myself 'treating myself' to three or four a day at times!
to buy. I finally decided enough was enough. I quit cold turkey. I had a half a bottle left and I poured it down the sink. I filled up 6 2-cup bottles and refrigerated them. I started that next morning. The first 3 caffeine-free days were rough, but it has been over two weeks now and I feel that finally I am following my diet plan at full tilt and now not ignoring the rule to drink water to flush out the liver of all the stuff that should be eliminated.
