Stop Drinking Soda in 3 (almost) Easy Steps

Posted on January 10, 2008
Filed Under Health |

I found an article on TipNut.com about how to stop drinking soda. The article focused on how to make a replacement for soda that didn’t have the things you didn’t want to be drinking so much of. The major points were to keep the water cold, add flavor with lemon or lime, serve with crushed ice for texture and keep soda out of the house while keeping water handy.

I stopped drinking soda all together (with very few exceptions) last year. Before that I would often drink upwards of two litters of soda a day. I would go to the grocery store and buy four six packs of half litter Dr. Pepper bottles and two twelve packs of Black Cherry Vanilla coke. That would last me almost a week. I drank the bottles while in the car or carried them in my back pack. The cans were for places where I didn’t need a resealable container (they were cheaper per ounce than the bottles). I tried to stop drinking soda cold turkey a couple of times before and always ended up back in the habit. The first time I tried to stop, I allowed myself to have soda on Sunday. Well by Saturday morning I was seriously craving a Dr. Pepper and by lunch time I had told myself that I could have one with lunch. By evening I had convinced myself that Sunday started sometime around 5 in the afternoon on Saturday. The second time I tried to stop drinking soda, I ended up drinking a lot of very sweet fruit juice drinks, my goal of cutting back on the High Fructose Corn Syrup was not a success.

I was addicted to soda, but I didn’t need a twelve step program. I needed a three step program and it went like this”

1) Replace all regular soda with diet soda. Part of the difficulty of giving up soda is that you crave the sweetness, the caffeine and the taste. By replacing regular soda with diet soda’s you are removing the sweet. With any luck you fool your brain into thinking it is getting all the sweet while your body detoxes from the HFCS. Drinks like Diet Dr. Pepper and the Coke Zero are very good at this because they do taste so much like the regular sodas. During this step I kept just as much soda around - I was dropping the sweet and it took some time. I probably was a diet soda drinker for almost six months before moving to the second step.


2) Replace diet soda with flavored drinks. If you want to stop drinking soda and start drinking your eight eight ounce glasses of water a day it is going to be tough because frankly water just doesn’t taste as strong as soda. One of my favorite drinks when I completely stopped drinking soda was homemade lemonade. I would take a large bottle or glass, preferable at least sixteen ounces, add lemon juice, artificial sweetener, ice and water. You want this to be very cold. My preferred artificial sweetener is Splenda (Wal-Mart has their brand much cheaper) but Sweet and Low works almost as well. I would also drink the sugar free water additives (tubes as I call them because you add a tube to a bottle of water), flavored seltzer water and hot tea. My favorite hot tea is Twinning’s brand English Breakfast (you can also add splenda to this if you like it a little sweet). Summer is a good time for this step because it is hot and you get thirsty. Endulge yourself, the more water based drinks without HFCS you drink the better. You can teach your mind to stop wanting a soda to satisfy thirst and start wanting something cold with a lot of water in it. I know this sounds easy, but it really is the hardest step because you will most likely be giving up caffeine and carbonation at the same time, but it is completly worth it.

3) Replace flavored drinks with good cold water. I almost stopped at step two but I am glad I didn’t. By now your body is probably loving the usable water it is getting. Now give it more of what it wants. I have a one litter water bottle that I carry with me almost all the time and I refill it two to four times a day. When I leave the house in the mornings I feel it with about a third ice and the rest water. I am lucky because I consider the water at my house to be very tasty. If you don’t have good water where you live I suggest you buy a nice water filter. The ice and good water is a very satisfying combination. Have it with you almost all the time and you won’t have to stop in the convenience store and buy a soda. If you have a meal on the go or at your desk you already have a tasty drink for it.

This process can take some time, but in the long run it is worth it. You are giving your body more water that it can use and removing things that can be bad for you like the HFCS and large quantities of caffeine. If you still need the caffeine during the day and don’t like coffee I do suggest the hot teas. To recap, replace the soda with something else tasty like sugar free lemonade and flavored waters. Then when you are ready replace the flavored waters and lemonade with more good old fashioned ice water.

If you have any suggestions on how to cut the soda, please leave a comment and don’t forget to read the tipnut article on cutting out the soda at: http://tipnut.com/how-to-beat-the-soda-pop-addiction/

Comments

7 Responses to “Stop Drinking Soda in 3 (almost) Easy Steps”

  1. Katy on January 10th, 2008 12:44 pm

    what helps me is the lemon or lime flavored perrier - it kind of tastes like soda but is water

  2. Strumpet on January 10th, 2008 6:23 pm

    Yeah, I cut out soda around ‘03 or so.

    I still have it from time to time, but when I do it is usually a Root Beer or a Ginger Ale and it is RARE, RARE, RARE.

    I really don’t even like the bubbles feeling any longer.

    I am a BIG HUGE FAN of Vitminwater and moreso Fruitwater. And I love those little tube additives for bottled waters that you speak of. Especially the green tea-flavoured ones.

    I really do need a water filter for my apartment.

    I just keep a gallon of water in my fridge.

    Actually, Chicago has some of the best water ever, but my apartment building has crudy pipeage because I hate it and don’t use it for ANYTHING.

    So, if I got a filter, I’m sure it would taste a lot better and not make my flowers die.

    But, you know….I’m poor…so the filter’s gonna have to wait.

    Great post, Sir It.

    I love water.

    Water is good.

    I love tea.

    Tea is good.

    I wrote ‘goo’

    Tea is ‘goo’

    Had to fix that.

  3. jaredrbyer on January 10th, 2008 10:38 pm

    Katy, I drank a lot of Lemon flavored seltzer. It helps a lot and also I occasionally added fruit juice to seltzer.

    Strumpet if the water kills your flowers I don’t think i would drink it. Walter filters and tea, what would life be with out them? I don’t think I would want to know.

  4. Strumpet on January 11th, 2008 11:35 am

    I agree.

    Do you have any suggestions on a good water filter for cheap?

    Or is Brita just the way to go?

    A pitcher with the filter, or one just right on the faucet?

    Is it going to take much technological know-how?

  5. jaredrbyer on January 11th, 2008 10:24 pm

    I don’t know about water filters. Like I said I am lucky have some serious tasty water where I live. If you like you water cold though I might suggest one that you could keep in your fridge.

  6. jaredrbyer on January 11th, 2008 10:34 pm

    Thanks for the comment Diane. I will have to look into that. I hope the other readers do also.

  7. Diane on January 11th, 2008 11:09 pm

    Hello! I am new to this great site. Been reading the comments about water. I like the seltzer water too with just a squeeze of fresh lime or lemon. There is also a natural product gaining popularity called STEVIA. It is all natural from a plant. Tiny calories if any. It is like 1000 times sweeter than sugar so you only use like 1/32 of a teaspoon. Not good on everything but mixes with water and can be used for baking they say. Comes in powder or I think liquid drops. Kinda expensive but you don’t use very much so it lasts for a long time. You can get it at the health stores and maybe even Walmart now. That is just my two cents for whatever that is worth but when you need an occasional taste of sweet this really works for me. Makes good limeade. Good night!

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