I'm on my FOURTH DAY of no Diet Coke. I read a convincing article that talked about how the artificial sweetener in diet drinks (aspartame? saccharin? whatever it is nowadays) makes you used to the extra-sweet taste, so that you actually crave sweets more than normal. After reading this, and knowing how much I crave sweets on a daily (okay, okay...HOURLY) basis, I thought I'd try a week without Diet Coke.
This is no small endeavor. I drink DC all day long. I manage to not start until after lunch, but lunch is usually a QuickTrip 305-ouncer, which I suck down by 2:00pm and refill from the cans of DC I keep in the work fridge.
I started on Sunday. Even after much coffee, I quickly ran out of energy. Fortunately, Mr. Goofy needed a trip to the hardware store and took Junior with him, so a nap ensued. After that, I felt pretty good.
Monday was tricky. The bad news was: I keep a 12-pack of DC in the work fridge. The good new was: There was only one left! So even if I fell off the wagon, I would only fall 12 ounces. Monday was also very stressful, but I managed to persevere.
Tuesday morning a headache struck. Keep in mind...I'm still drinking just as much coffee, or more, so I doubt that this was a caffeine withdrawl headache. It was a Diet Coke withdrawl headache! How scary is that!? But I kept on keeping on...
Today went well. I realized today that I haven't had any cookies, cakes, donuts, pastries, cinnamon crunch bagels, or anything sweet other than fruit since I started my little "experiment". It just hasn't sounded good. I repeat: HOW SCARY IS THAT?!?!?
This realization is especially scary. I am the sweet tooth extraordinaire. My nickname after two months in my new department was "Donut Queen". Every roommate I've ever had has gained weight after living with me more than three months. It's something I've just grown used to.
I'm optimistic about the rest of the week. We have a picnic Thursday night, so I'll probably stick with water (or beer). Friday we are going to The Yard House with some friends, so it would be rude to not drink beer, right? Then Saturday we have our company picnic, so I'll try to stick with water, as much highly-competitive volleyball, badminton and horseshoes will certainly ensue. After that, we go to a three-year-old's birthday party, where there will hopefully be some adult bevs for the parent-types.
So, ding, dong...the Donut Queen is dead. Love live the Beer Queen. Oh wait...maybe this isn't such a clever idea...
4 comments:
Congrats on getting the Diet Coke monkey off your back! I did the same thing about five years ago and I'm very glad I did. (Of course, now I have a Red Bull habit - not the diet kind either - but I think I have it down to a few times per week.)
I went through a diet Dr. Pepper thing very, very briefly in grad school. It didn't last long because I started getting blinding headaches that were a result of whatever sweetener was used back then (nutrasweet, perhaps?). Anyway, I stay away from diet products - they are scary. I do love real coke, though, but try to keep it as a special treat because the corn syrup isn't much better.
Another plus if you can kick the diet coke habit? Diet sodas are HIGHER in phosphates than regular sodas. Phophates decrease your bone mass. Scary.
I tried telling you this about DC years ago. Anything that can dissolve the corrosion from battery cables should not be put in your body.....but congrats on getting DC out of your life. Now I can throw away the 2 cans Ive had in my fridge for over a year, in case you visited.
Thanks for this. I also quit diet anything (headaches), but it's tempting to go back. Just tonight I was reaching for a diet coke because I was thinking of all the calories in a regular one. But my hubby insists he'd rather have me fat than full of chemicals. Gotta love him for that.
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