So Long, Soda

After a week and some change, I’m still living mostly without soda! Diet Green Tea has been a lifesaver, it’s replaced my soda at most meals and has 0 calories. I’ve also been drinking various other flavors of tea, orange juice, water of course, and milk.

Changes or Progress I’ve Seen?
-I’ve eaten like garbage, so my weight isn’t looking any different. Granted, it’s been one week anyways.
-The lack of carbonation has really helped with my stomach. Since my gallbladder was removed in 2008, I’ve had trouble with all sorts of foods. While I’m still not perfect, I don’t think the bubbles were helping.
-I haven’t had too many problems with caffeine intake. I’ve gotten headaches in the past with no caffeine or less caffeine than I’m used to. Sometimes I have coffee, but not every day. I’ve grabbed a Red Bull here and there, but not enough to give me my accustomed dosage of daily caffeine. And guess what? No huge side effects! I had a terrible migraine one day that mainly came from stress and escalated at work while I wasn’t able to medicate. By the time I got home it was well on its way to knocking me out for a day, so I took a soda and migraine medicine to knock it out. I’ve found that caffeine helps the medicine work its way through my headaches better. But otherwise, no head problems or any other caffeine withdrawal symptoms. Surprising since I was accustomed to SO much soda.
-My husband gets soda I don’t like now. I always bought soda we could agree on, since we both drank it. This week he picked up Mountain Dew, which I hate, and has been enjoying one a day. He apparently has the self restraint that I’m lacking and can limit soda to one a day. It also makes it easier for me to forgo soda when I don’t have any I like in the fridge.
-I’m not ingesting empty calories to the tune of 300-600 extra calories a day. This was the whole reason I quit soda, and it’s a damn good one.

I’m hoping to keep it up. I don’t intend to never touch a soda ever again. That’s unrealistic for me. I limited it to special occasions, like eating out. So when we picked up food on Saturday, I had half a soda. And when my work had burgers and brats for sale and I brought dinner home from work, I had a soda. But just on any given night? No.

Now, I need to focus on MOVING. Jeez, my trips to the gym are nonexistant and my exercise DVD’s are sitting untouched. Even my Zumba for the Wii has been collecting dust in a bin. It’s getting chilly outside but I’m perfectly capable of working out still and I don’t. Bad. Not good for me at all. I always use excuses to convince myself something else is more important, but really, what’s more important? Being healthy or having a clean house? Getting 30 minutes of activity or 30 minutes of internet? Pathetic, sometimes.
My goal for the next two weeks is to do something active every day. Whether it’s a DVD, a trip to the gym, a walk up the 8 flights of stairs in my building, a brisk walk, something! Even 5 minutes of movement before I fall into bed would be better than nothing. This should be interesting because some other things are changing in my life, but really, when is life ever going to give you all the time in the world to work out? When I wasn’t working and was at home all day, every day, I STILL didn’t consistently work out. Really?! NEEDS TO CHANGE NOW.
Encouragement is welcomed

Swapping Addictions

This week—-

I’m going to try to swap my addiction to soda

For an addiction to coffee and green tea.
I’m stocked up on coffee
And green tea

Coffee has fewer calories than soda, especially when I prefer mine with skim milk and sweetener, but still has the caffeine boost I need to get through the day. I used to say I need to give up caffeine, but I’ve become realistic. Green tea is also super healthy and tasty, so I’m hoping I can swap our my evening soda for tea, which is more flavorful than water but won’t keep me up at night and won’t give me 140+ unneeded calories.
I’m having one more delicious soda tonight with some homemade chili that’s currently making my house smell ah-mazing, and then I’m going to try to kick the habit.
Let’s see how this goes!

My Pop/Soda Addiction

I grew up in the Midwest faithfully calling it "pop".

I argued for months in CA that it was most definitely "pop".

Then I went to a Taco Bell to order some nachos and a "pop", and she looked at me and said "what, you want pasta?"

I reluctantly starting calling it "soda" that day.




I haven't been able to kick that habit, even though now no one would know what I was saying no matter what I asked if I went to a local fast food place. (Note to self: find out what the word for that delicious carbonated beverage is in Japanese).





Whatever you call it, I'm addicted.




And as much as it hurt to see all those empty calories filling up my daily food intake, I couldn't and wouldn't kick my delicious addiction.

So I started making adjustments. My old favorite that will probably always be my first choice:



Got replaced with 0 calorie alternates that don't taste "diet", but still have the caffeine kick I adore.



If I switch them out occasionally, I don't really notice the taste difference from the good ol' regulars. Our current favorite in this household is Diet Cherry Coke. We love Cherry Coke Zero, but it's hard to find in the states, much less in the sadly stocked overseas Commissary. I saw the diet and cringed, but figured it was worth a shot. The cherry flavor overrides the diet flavor enough that it doesn't taste diet. And I don't feel guilty overindulging in my addiction!

Since we're grilling tonight, I'm pretty happy with my substitutes today. Nothing goes better with a grilled burger and corn on the cob than some ice cold soda/pop/delicious bubbly dark beverage.