I posted about this in my blog. But figured I would post it here to see if any of you had thoughts on the subject, or share a similar issue.
One of my biggest addictions before my lifestyle change was Coke, I was drinking about 2L of the stuff a day. It is something I had to drop cold turkey. It is truly my comfort food, I would get home from a long day at work, and much like alcohol does for some people it would take the edge off. I had a conversation with my doctor about it a while ago and he said he had recently been at a conference where one of the speakers brought up an interesting theory about the fact that the eating habits of people have not changed for the last couple hundred years, that we are not eating more fat/calories then before, but what we are doing is consuming more calories through beverage then ever before. It has been on a steady incline since the 1930’s, even pouring juices down our kids throats not conscious that its still calories they are ingesting. Every once and a while I still try to treat my self to a diet coke (which I can’t stand for some reason), or on especially good days, Coke 2. Coke 2 is more to my liking then Diet Coke but unfortunately still a relatively high caloric drink. Tonight I had a couple glasses of it as part of a little bbq I had to treat myself. It did something very strange to me. It made me feel fat. In the time after I drank it up until a little while ago when I drank about 2 litres of water to flush it out, I was feeling a bit repulsed, it was strange. It wasn’t as bad as how I use to feel at about midnight after downing a 2L between coming home from work and bed, but still I felt icky, and this was a calorie wise version of coke. I find it funny that my addiction to it was strong enough I put up with the times it made me feel like ****. But of course my entire problem was about addiction, to coke and to food in general. It’s a strange addiction, unlike any other out there. Mainly because the substance your addicted to is a necessity of life., also its every where you turn. Could you imagine a recovering crack addict walking down the street and seeing buses and billboards plastered with glorifying images of Crack, it would be a bit insane. People just can’t accept that people could be addicted to such a thing, so they just write them off with people finding excuses for their own weaknesses. It’s not much different then the people out there who refuse to believe that Schizophrenia is an actual sickness and chalk it up to people who can’t handle the real world. It’s one of the many reasons one feels so alone in the struggle to lose weight.
Anyway it would be interesting to see how many obese or weight struggling people were/are addicted to coke a cola as well.
Oh yes, I'm a fellow addict. My one saving grace is that I don't really care for cola out of a can (which is a good thing b/c DH LOVES it and we ALWAYS have it on hand) - I like the fountain kind. I could easily drink several a day. I'd stop at Taco Bell when I was out with the kiddos doing errands and get a coke. Our grocery store has a fountain machine so I'd treat myself on my shopping days...or even if I was just there picking up a couple of things. Out at restaurants, of course, I'd order coke and then get 3 or 4 refills!
Now, I do have diet vanilla pepsi on hand at home just in case I get a craving - this helps. It took me about a month to get through a 12 pack - but it has made a big difference, sometimes I just want something "fizzy!" I can't stand diet cola but the vanilla is tolerable - if you follow the buddy thread, I'll often post that I had 1/4 of a diet cola - I can't really get the whole thing down.
I do still allow myself cola (today in fact) but I add it in to my calories and adjust accordingly. Now, at restaurants, I order water first (which I love!) and I'm usually happy with that. The only time now that I'll order a cola is if the water tastes funny to me...if I must have a bit of cola, I'll mooch a couple of sips off of DH!
I agree about the juice! We have two kids - ages almost 4 and 14 months. The baby doesn't have juice at all and DD (the older one) only has it a couple of times a week and then it's only one serving per day - beyond that she only drinks milk and water. I just think juice is empty calories. Thankfully, I don't care for juice and DH isn't a huge juice drinker either...
I have read that corn syrup (used to sweeten colas, etc) is EVIL - EVIL! I think they are right.
Have you tried the Coca-Cola Zero? I LOVE it--so much better than Diet Coke. I was skeptical at first because I thought, hey, if it still has no calories, then it must be the same as Diet Coke, right? But it's not--it's much more like regular Coke! However, it does seem to be a bit more carbonated and makes me burp a bit more, but hey, I'll take a few extra burps over all the extra calories of regular coke One thing I do even with the coke Zero is make sure I drink at LEAST 6-9 servings of water BEFORE I allow myself ANY soda. That way, I know I will still get my water intake in before treating myself to the soda
Have you tried the Coca-Cola Zero? I LOVE it--so much better than Diet Coke. I was skeptical at first because I thought, hey, if it still has no calories, then it must be the same as Diet Coke, right? But it's not--it's much more like regular Coke! However, it does seem to be a bit more carbonated and makes me burp a bit more, but hey, I'll take a few extra burps over all the extra calories of regular coke One thing I do even with the coke Zero is make sure I drink at LEAST 6-9 servings of water BEFORE I allow myself ANY soda. That way, I know I will still get my water intake in before treating myself to the soda
No I haven't tried it yet, but I want to bad, they just haven't released it in Canada yet, from all i have read about it, it does seems to be what i am looking for. I have no idea when its gonna be released here - but sometimes i wish i could have it shipped by the 24 pack Good idea about the water intake before hand.
I've never had an addiction to Coke, but I'm big on coffee and tea. I've cut back immensely on both over the last few years, not to reduce kcals (because I take them both black and unsweetened) but to reduce my caffeine intake. My drink of choice is, and always has been, iced water, perhaps because pop was a weekly treat when I was a kid, and fruit juice never figured at all--just pieces of fruit.
That said, I'm sure a lot of my excess weight came from my over-indulgence in alcohol. I can easily polish off a couple of bottles of wine or a dozen tins of beer at one sitting. I still treat myself every now and again, but not to that extent. I actually find myself enjoying my drinkies much more now that I'm restricting them.
- An addiction to alchahol is something i have been fortunate to never have, I am irish and it is a desease that has certainly plagued many generations of men in my family. I have never found an alchaholic drink i like enough to drink more then a couple times, i'm sure if it was not like that i would be fat on beer
- Thanks jen
- Krys, that is awesome - sadly I think I am going to bid on it lol.
I have to say I like the Coke Zero too. Just tried it over the weekend and was pleasantly surprised how much it tasted like regular coke.
Good luck bidding on it on Ebay. LOL
I've never been a big juice drinker but I love my sweet fizzies! Coke, cherry coke, vanilla coke, sunkist and mountain dew being my favorites. I am limiting my caffeine intake though so I don't drink alot of caffinated sodas. I drink probably too much caffeine free diet soda though, Sprite Zero being my new favorite along with the Stewarts Diet Orange and Cream soda we sell at work.
I will have to be the voice of dissent here. I hate all the new diet cokes - Coke Zero, C2, Diet Coke with Splenda. I can tolerate diet coke but prefer diet pepsi.
I also have a real coke addiction. It's so bad! I've made a deal with myself that I can have real coke when I go to Tijuana (because it's made with real sugar and not corn syrup) but otherwise it stays out of the house. If it didn't stay out of the house, I would probably drink a 2 liter every night. We also have free coke at work but I tend to better behaved at work.
I crave it most on Sunday mornings (which means I was out partying the night before) and when I have pizza. Coke and pizza just go well together.
I recently started drinking Coke when I am working night shifts. Basically the caffeine is the only thing that is getting me through! I'm not much of a coffee drinker but I'll drink tea when the weather gets cooler. I was drinking those iced coffees but they have too many calories. Even Coke by comparison has less calories. Lately I've been finding when we get fast food I'll have Coke where I used to have ice tea or I wouldn't get a drink at all and just have bottled water from home. I never did like Diet Coke but I wouldn't mind trying this Coke Zero when it comes out here.
I was addicted to Diet Coke for years and years. It started in high school and that would be my breakfast (can of diet coke on my way out of the door). Oh for the days of my teenager metabolism. To this day, I am addicted to soft drinks in general, but now I try to drink the diet kind only. I am finding that now, I do not crave it as much, and knowing that it can not count as my water during the day helps with me not to drink it.
I am also addicted to coke, and latte's (you can get them to make it with 1% milk though!). I can't do diet soft drinks of ANY sorts because the aspartame and that new splenda make my throat swell up. For me, I just can't believe how hard it is to quit sugar and coffee.. I regularly do it because they are so addicting it's just wrong.
My grandma is addicted to coke as well, she's always got some in her fridge, and she's skinny as a rail! I wonder how that works...
Addicted to Coke.
I can't stand diet cola but the vanilla is tolerable - if you follow the buddy thread, I'll often post that I had 1/4 of a diet cola - I can't really get the whole thing down. 
