Sassy69.....how did you give up Diet Coke?!?!?

[IslandGirl]

That's the one thing I just CANNOT give up! I've never been a huge soda drinker but diet coke crept in there during my boarding school years and now it is such an ingrained habit. I am now down to 1 caffeine free diet coke in the evenings (maybe 2 on the weekends but I'm generally pretty good about keeping it to 1).

Sassy - how did you kick the habit? Last summer I went off it for 6 weeks but as soon as school started up again I just needed to pop that can open at 9pm on the first night of studying!

I just feel like I need it to finish off the day - it relaxes me mentally and gives me a nice bloated full feeling without any calories. But I know aspartame is bad stuff and I avoid it in everything else that I take in.

I wonder if there is anyone else on Elite that has the same addiction?

 

[smallmovesal]

i know what you mean. i just gave it up three weeks ago. the way i did it was to substitute it for a flavoured fizzy water (like a perrier, we have a 2L cheap brand from IGA called virgin springs) or crystal light. the iced tea with a lemon thrown in it is fantastic! i haven't tried other flavours, but i hear they are pretty good. most of the time i just try to drown myself in lots of water but when i'm at home i crave flavour.

hope this helps!

 

[IslandGirl]

thanks smallmoves - That's what I need to find, a substitution. Does crystal light have aspartame in it?

 

[smallmovesal]

no problem!

i don't think so but i'm not totally sure... i tend to just stick to the flavoured fizzy water.

i'll check when i get home unless anyone here can do that beforehand... anyone?

 

[wyst]

I did the same thing SMS did -- switched to seltzer. It's just carbonated water, so the phosphorous won't leach the calcium out of your bones and turn them into chalk, and the aspartame won't give you brain tumors, etc, etc.

Wyst

 

[smallmovesal]

ok the crystal light bottles have no aspartame but the powder mix does...

http://www.kraftfoods.com/crystallight/html/cl_storage.html

 

[Sassy69]

I think anything crystal light is going to have aspartame--anything Nutrasweet is aspartame.

I just quit drinking it-- I've been drinking it for a long time, but I always get so full & bloated feeling from it. I bought a bunch of cranberry juice & pineapple juice and some seltzer water. Just a small amount of juice and some seltzer works good. I've always been paranoid of juices because of the high fructose content, but I think that its less destructive than diet Coke. Plus I've gotten addicted to diet Coke in the past - like during finals week in college - I could kill a 12 pack / night studying.

Mostly I just was getting sick of the flavor and I force myself to drink alot of water--- like about 2 gal/day. I had to while prepping for my bb contests, so I just think of my "lifestyle" as bb prep. A couple of times I've had an urge for diet Coke, but I'm sticking w/ the juice & water. Also I found that water w/ fresh lemon squeezed into it works wonders to wake me up in the morning!

"Just say NO!" LOL

 

[smallmovesal]

sassy, good idea with the juice.

from the link.. "CRYSTAL LIGHT® bottles do not contain any Aspartame sweeteners."

 

[Sassy69]

Small -- I stand corrected -- CL Bottles use sucralose (Splenda) instead of aspartame. Call me a cynic I guess.

After all the dieting I've done as a fat-paranoid female and also as bb'er, I still believe in minimal processing, as fresh as possible, and no magic substitutes.

 

[smallmovesal]

yeah i hear that..

 

[poohbear]

Is there really anything wrong with your diet/caffeine free coke? If it relaxes you, then keep it. You can always find a substitute later.

I'm a big juice drinker. I love the sweet taste. My little boy likes cool-aid and the like, but I didn't appreciate the sugar content. The other day I bought some unsweetened cool-aid mix and mixed with Sweet & Low. Taste just like the one you add 1 cup of sugar to. Keeps him from bouncing off the walls, and keeps my sugar level down. Just had mine tested last week and in was 170. Normal is 140 and below.

 

[IslandGirl]

Is there really anything wrong with your diet/caffeine free coke?

I don't know if 1 a day is harmful or not, but I have heard so many bad things about aspartame - such as it causes brain tumours and cellulite. Who knows?

 

[HappyScrappy]

I know jack about cellulite, but the brain tumor thing - last I read, was in mice where they were giving them 7 times their body volume in nutrasweet. that's a lot for us (7 times a mouse's body) - and 7 times our body volume is... well, a lot a lot.

my solution is that every time you feel like you really need a drink, have sex with your wonderful man of a boyfriend.

 

[Bikini Mod]

Giving up ANYTHING that we know is not the best for us...but that we like ohhhhh so much is PURELY mental. I just ask myself, "What do I want more? Diet soda (which does NOT quench my thirst and does NOTHING for my body) or water (which I NEED and DOES WONDERS FOR MY BODY NO MATTER HOW YOU SLICE IT)?"

I am not saying that I NEVER have a diet soda, just like I am not saying that I NEVER have tequila or ice cream. But I can tell you that the amount of diet sodas that I DO ingest pale in comparison to the number of shooters and cones! If I am going to blow it....IT IS GONNA BE GOOD!!!

 

[IslandGirl]

my solution is that every time you feel like you really need a drink, have sex with your wonderful man of a boyfriend.

hmmmm - I think I will not listen to you HS since I'm sensing you have a hidden agenda.

Giving up ANYTHING that we know is not the best for us...but that we like ohhhhh so much is PURELY mental.

Bikinimom - you're so right! Throughout the day and all evening I drink a tonne of water. It's not a question of quenching my thirst but mentally making my world in order and me relaxed.

 

[HappyScrappy]

hmmmm - I think I will not listen to you HS since I'm sensing you have a hidden agenda.

Bikinimom - you're so right! Throughout the day and all evening I drink a tonne of water. It's not a question of quenching my thirst but mentally making my world in order and me relaxed.

the sex will burn calories AND make you more relaxed... although the bed or wherever said sex occurred, might be less ordered

 

[IslandGirl]

the sex will burn calories AND make you more relaxed... although the bed or wherever said sex occurred, might be less ordered

....and therein lies the problem! You know me and order! I'm afraid sex is no subsitution for diet coke! (Don't worry, that doesn't mean no sex, it's just not a sufficient subsitution )

 

[Sassy69]

I agree w/ Bmom as far as what you are going to do --- I have also given up a lot of my old drinking habits -- not that I ever drank alot, but I used to really relish a Capn & Diet Coke w/ a splash of Parrot Bay to watch the sun set on a warm summer night. I had to stop all of that for the last year while pre-comp. Worse yet, now I look at a bottle of rum and all I can think about is the sugar content. I'm relaxing my views a little now -- I appreciate a good margarita maybe once / week on 2-fer night at the local taco barn. But since I've had the stuff out of my system for so long, its not that I get hangovers on only a few, but I get these nasty stomach aches the next day from putting "non-clean" stuff in my body. I *really* pay when I have ice cream as I've replaced most of my dairy intake w/ soy (per my nutritionist's advice).

As far as any of that stuff that I used to really like, it just isn't as important to give up any more - which I like. Makes it easier to focus on things that I can appreciate that don't involve food. But I have a much greater appreciation for the things that I do eat now --- LIKE STEAK!!!!! And an occassionaly soy ice cream thingy. I enjoy a Capt & diet Coke or an Absolut & Cranberry occassionally, but only in small amounts. Makes it cheaper to party too! Fewer trips to the bathroom at the club! No worries about DUIs on the way home!