Would you like to lose five pounds? You may be able to do so by cutting back on your diet soda consumption. Now, I can’t guarantee you will see a huge drop in weight, but I think I probably lost about 5 pounds when I quit. I have read that some diet soda drinkers lose up to 15 pounds upon quitting. In addition to any weight loss that may or may not occur, you will be doing your body an enormous favor.
I have had a love/hate relationship with diet soda for as long as I can remember. One of my earliest childhood memories is of my mom holding a Tab can. I began drinking diet soda as a teenager, and became a hard-core consumer shortly thereafter. I couldn’t have just one. I would start with one at the movies, but after a few months diet soda would practically replace my daily consumption of water. I tried several times to quit, but I always gave in to the craving.
As my husband and I started converting our diet to healthier, more organic foods, I decided it was time to address my diet soda addiction once and for all. I knew that soda was not healthy (how can something that removes battery acid be beneficial to the body?). However, I rationalized that since it was diet soda, and it didn’t have all of the calories, it really wasn’t that bad for me. I quit (again) in January, so I am about to celebrate my four-month anniversary being diet soda free.
The jury is still out on the possible negative impacts of heavy consumption of diet soda. However, the artificial sweeteners, caffeine and sodium in diet soda definitely can’t be helpful in large quantities. I have read conflicting reports, some of which suggest that there may be a correlation between drinking diet soda and weight gain. The artificial sweeteners may confuse our taste buds and cause us to want to another sweet item. Alternatively, we may think we just saved ourselves 150 calories by drinking a diet soda, so we splurge on something else.
My big substitutes now have become unsweetened iced tea and soda water with a splash of cranberry or other juice. I still miss the taste of soda, and its frosty, cool feeling, especially when I eat a slice of pizza or sit down at the theater to watch a movie. However, when I consider the alternative of planning my drive-thru run to get a diet soda shortly after I wake up, I am able to withstand the urge. I have more energy and feel better, that is for sure. I hope you can kick the habit too!
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