It's officially been since June 1st since my last binge/serious guilt ridden junk session. It's not been easy. My body associates my caffeine intake with the carbonation of soda. I tried to cut all things fizzy out, but was really driving myself to the extreme edge of sanity, as I was bored with my options of milk water and crystal light in the house. The migraines that hit in the first two weeks were almost unbearable, even actually prevented me from sleeping no matter what I took to help. I got past them, thankfully, and am glad I kept with it. I'm now hooked on sparkling flavored waters! For me, it's a surrogate soda thing. It tastes good, keeps my mouth busy with the fizz, therefore taking longer to drink, but I'm also not ingesting calories with it or caffeine, but don't tell that to my body!
For years, especially in the last six months, I found myself sneaking food into the house, like pepsi and oatmeal cream pies (even though I don't like them!) to self medicate. I was feeling incredibly unhappy with a lot of things in my life, especially my body, and as I know many of us do, I ate to try and comfort myself. Finally, I pretty much whacked myself in the head and decided that enough was enough. I needed to stop going to the store for junk all together. (Not to mention feeling embarassed being a fat chick buying junk food!) I threw out all trash I had hidden around the room, went on a total cleaning spree, and am so very glad that I did it. I'm going to say I don't have junk cravings or days I just want to eat like crap, because I do, and often, but now that it's not ruling over my days and I feel that I'm the one in control rather than the binge urge, I feel I'm over that hurdle.
(If only I could get over another one that would allow me to enjoy mowing the lawn! Ugh!)

Good for you Featherfire! In the longrun it's these small changes that add up. I used to be such a soda junkie, and eventually a diet soda junky. Splanda and equal were my best friends and I never thought I could part with these beloved things. But I did and I switched to seltzer. My favorite is Vintage seltzer lemon/lime or tangerine/orange but even plain seltzer is good. I drink my coffee without sweetener and I thought I was just gonna die. But I didn't, it took several months but I'm finally used to it.

If we can make changes like this little by little they will add up in a big way!

Great job Feather! Good for you for sticking to your guns and staying determined. I know it's hard, I loved pop too and nothing would beat an ice cold coke with dinner, but I've learned to use substitutes that are WAY better for me and I still get flavor! Glad to hear you keeping up the great work!

Mmmmm - Diet Coke! 25 year, 6 pack a day habit. Broke it over a year ago. I've had 2 since. One last July, and one in March. You know - the one in March didn't even taste that good! AND - my arthritis almost went away with my increased hydration. And I sleep better due to the caffeine reduction. And I have more money now that I'm not buying all those sodas. And I'm not filling up landfills.

Win, win, win . . . . .

Stick with it, and if you solve that yard thing, let me know! Maybe I can apply the same methods to housework!

ugh! I totally hate the pop industry and blame them for a lot of people's woes. The high fructose corn syrup explosion is one of the things that has caused diabetes and obesity. Not to mention the phosphates steal calcium from your bones faster than your body can lay it down.

I hate splenda and any artificial sweetener especially that it is recommended for diabetics because this stuff is very similar in chemical structure to formaldehyde (embalming fluid). And that's what it does. It removes elasticity from blood vessels and other important body structure. So a diabetic with venous insufficiency will have EVEN more problems. I myself can't use them anyways because of the debilitating headaches I get from them, but some people aren't sensitive to it and don't realize the danger.

It is good you kicked the habit of that junk and replaced it with seltzer water. I don't know if the carbonation produces the same phosphates soda contains, but make sure you are getting adequate calcium from your diet too.

I agree fully on the hatred of artificial sweeteners. I try to avoid them at all possible, though I know they're in the waters I love. *shakes fist at manufacturing companies* I'm tempted to see if I can find out where the coffee shop I used to run got their containers to hold carbonated water that I made for italian sodas and such. They use those little co2 cartridges that you just plug into the canister to charge it. It's an idea for making my own without the need for chemical additives.

that would be awesome! maybe you could get them--yeah I get so mad. Pretty much all gum has that stuff in it--I can chew it for a few minutes and out it goes in the trash--even teeth whitener has it in it. I bought some strips--and it is like torture to keep them in.

The Soda Club brand Soda Stream is supposed to be pretty good. I'm not sure if I can put up a link, but just goodle soda club or soda stream. I've been tempted to get one because I love flavored sparkling waters too! They start at $90 though. But if you spend $1 a day on flavored waters, it'd pay for itself in a few months.