One of the most challenging things I had to do in my life was to give up soda. I used to buy 12 2-liter bottles of regular Mountain Dew a week. That was just for me. My wife also got her 12-packs of diet Coca-Cola. Often we would have to get an extra shopping cart to lug around just hold all of the beverages we were buying.
I used to drink my soda out of a sports drink bottle through a straw. Over the course of the week the straw would take on a greenish hue from the Mountain Dew and I began to think, what is this doing to my insides? And is there really any nutritional benefit to this pricey beverage besides the fact that I like it and I’m hooked on the stuff?
It’s interesting to note that the average American drinks approximately 56 GALLONS of soda a year. Many drink more soda than they do water. That’s downright scary! Our bodies are not made of primarily soda!
There are compelling reasons to stop drinking soda. Now I know stats and reasons don’t affect everybody because, heck, if you like the stuff (and maybe have an addiction to it), there aren’t any stats that can persuade you… unless you are trying to get healthy, fit or want to live better!
Makes You Fat / Destroys Your Teeth / Leads to Diabetes
One can of soda contains the equivalent of 10 teaspoons of sugar. This can soar the blood sugar. Diabetes may be on the horizon with a resistance to insulin happens. The calories lead to weight gain and other health problems too. I heard somewhere that soft drink companies are the biggest user of sugar in the country.
Destroys Your Bones
Soda contains phosphoric acid. That just sound scary. I guess it interferes with the body’s ability to absorb calcium and can lead to osteoporosis and cavities.
Health Problems
Diet sodas contain aspartame to replace sugar. That’s supposedly harmful stuff. I guess it has been connected to lots of different health problems including seizures, multiple sclerosis, brain tumors, diabetes, etc.
Caffeine
Well I won’t get into caffeine here because I do occasionally have foods or drinks that have caffeine and have seen compelling data on side effect and benefits. But this should not be the reason to drink soda.
SO how to you kick the soda habit?
- Determine why you want to quit and what will life be like soda-free. Is it health reasons? Or are you wanting to conquer fitness programs like P90X, Insanity or Turbo Fire and want to get stellar results? Write the top 3 reasons on a post-it and put in various places.
- Buy substitutes such as flavored water, regular water, water with lemon, sparkling water, herbal tea, or green tea. (Stick to home-brewed teas, since most commercially bottled tea is brimming with high fructose corn syrup.), milk alternatives (soy, almond, hazelnut, hemp, oat, rice, etc.). Beware of sports drinks as many have a lot of sugar too. You may just want to avoid those.
Make a quitting schedule to ween yourself off of soda. It took me 3 weeks! - Buy less and less soda each week.
- Keep reminding yourself why you need to quit. See side effect from above plus your own reasons.
- Set yourself up for success. Drink more water intentionally. Buy a few refillable water bottles. Take one with you wherever you go. If you “have” to have a soda, just make it every great once in awhile and ask the question, “Do I really need this?”
Hopefully these tips will help you kick the soda habit once an for all. Give yourself a plan of 3 week weeks to one month to ween yourself off. You, your waistline and your health will be so glad you did.
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