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I’ve been pretty fortunate in my life as far as addictions are concerned. I’ve never been addicted to alcohol or drugs (legal or illegal). I’ve never smoked cigarettes (unless you count the one puff I took when I was a little kid…just about made me sick). I have, however, been addicted to caffeine, particularly in the form of diet Pepsi. See, I don’t really consider a moderate intake of caffeine to necessarily be a bad thing. What is problematic is ingesting large amounts of diet Pepsi, which has no nutritive value at all and contains chemicals that can actually be detrimental to your health. I have given up diet Pepsi twice in probably the past two years and eventually went back to it just like so many of us women keep returning to the bad boys…we know they’re not good for us, but the attraction is there and hard to resist.
The last time I was at the grocery store, I made a conscious decision not to buy diet Pepsi. Today I drank the last one in the house. I figure this is as good a time as any to give it up for good. I made tea to take to work tomorrow in place of the diet Pepsi. Yes, tea has caffeine, but it also has antioxidants so is somewhat better for you than a beverage that is nothing but chemicals mixed with water.
I think I realized many years ago that I had an addiction to diet Pepsi. I drank a lot of it every day, couldn’t wait to get home from work and feel myself relax as soon as I pulled that tab and heard that beautiful fizzy sound. Kind of sounds like an alcoholic, doesn’t it? I knew there was an addiction, but I didn’t make the choice to do something about it until much later. Reading about the chemicals in diet soft drinks (and in soft drinks in general) opened my eyes to what I was putting into my body every day. It doesn’t do a lot of good to try to eat clean if I continue to drink diet soft drinks.
So, this is the next step in my quest for a healthy lifestyle. It may not seem like a big step to a lot of people, but it’s huge to me. Like they say, third time’s a charm…I’m going to succeed!
Do you have (or have you had) any addictions? How do you deal with them?
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Filed under: beverages, fitness, health, life, weight loss | Tagged: addictions, Caffeine, Diet Pepsi, Drink, Grocery store, Soft drink, Tea |
Run4joy59's Blog 
I’ve been blessed in not liking carbonated drinks. They make me feel awful. I do love my tea, and like it sweet; but I don’t drink nearly as much of it as I used to. If I order it with a meal, I get unsweet first, then have sweet or a mix of the two “for the road.” I’m glad to see more places offering tea sweetened with fruit, or unsweet flavored teas. Never had any addictions otherwise, either. Alcohol has not been kind to my family, so I stay away. I feel badly for those who do fight addiction.
Not liking carbonated beverages would definitely be a blessing. I have the same family history with alcohol…I think that scared me enough to pretty much keep me away from it.
Ugh, I love diet beverages. I only drink them about once or twice a week, but it would be great to stop… I also fear putting regular sugar in my coffee and use splenda frequently…
Oh, I know..I love diet Pepsi…people told me that I’d lose the taste for it once I stopped drinking it for a while…but even after six months without one (a little over a year ago), when I broke down and drank one, it still tasted divine…Like you, I don’t want to use regular sugar in my beverages, I’ve totally given up Splenda just because of all the dangers associated with it, lately I’ve been using stevia…who knows what they’ll find wrong with it in the future? If only I could get used to drinking unsweetened tea and coffee…or just plain water…
Speaking of just plain water, we used to buy bottled all the time (hubby still drinks it). But my daughter gave me a Mr. Coffee iced tea maker, with the charcoal filter, and it made such a difference in the tap water! We now have a PUR filter attached to the kitchen faucet. It filters out minerals and chemicals and that’s the water I drink all day long, and especially with meals. Water is our body’s best friend.
I keep thinking about getting one of those for the kitchen faucet…how often do you have to replace the filters? Where I live, the tap water is actually pretty good. Funny, when I was a kid, we lived way out in the middle of nowhere and had spring water. I couldn’t believe how terrible city water tasted when I moved away. Then I went back to the farm and couldn’t believe how the water tasted like dirt…I guess we adapt to all kinds of things, don’t we? As far as buying bottled water, I just can’t get myself to do that…the whole going green thing…I hate the thought of throwing away a plastic bottle every time I have a drink of water. I take a reusable bottle to work and fill it from the water fountain, then put ice in it…pretty good.
I too, used to be the diet pepsi addict, can’t do the carbination with pop, then it was coffee….. Now Ocean Spray is my fine wine, Papa bought me wine glasses so I can enjoy my ‘healthy’ juice with dinner in style. {I never was a wine drinker} I must say I’m feeling much better
I appreciate you letting me know that it is possible to break that addiction and enjoy a healthier alternative.