Kicking addictions to the curb

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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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Coffee sensation

Image via Wikipedia

I’ve been trying different types of coffee, various flavors of coffee, numerous methods of coffee preparation…all in the effort to find the perfect (for me) cup of coffee. Now, I must say, I am definitely not a strong, black cup of coffee kind of girl.  I don’t know how so many of you drink it like that.  I’ve tried it, believe me, I’ve tried it…I try it with every new type of coffee that I buy…and I still can’t stomach it.  I wish I could.  It would be the perfect low-calorie drink, a drink that would deliver that much-needed jolt of caffeine.  But, I just don’t like it unless it’s sweet and flavored.  I’m sorry, that’s just the way I am.  I think I’m just going to have to accept that about myself.  And really, is that such a terrible thing?  I mean, I’m not saying I want a hit of cocaine in my coffee, just a little sweetness and flavor.

I bought another type of coffee to try yesterday…chocolate raspberry…before you say, “That’s not real coffee.”, just hear me out.  I opened the package this morning and the scent that wafted out was heavenly, a chocolatey raspberry coffee kind of thing going on.  So I prepared a small pot using a little less coffee than the directions called for.  Once it was finished brewing, I poured it into my favorite mug, added one packet of Truvia and a slug of this dark chocolate creamer I found. 

Holy moly, this was amazing…not an overpowering coffee flavor, but a mild coffee flavored with chocolate and raspberries.  Wow!!  If I’d had the time, I would have also tried this iced.  I guess I can look forward to doing that another day.

So, do you like your coffee strong or mild?  Black or some other way? 

Related articles

• Why Do You Drink Coffee? (fitsugar.com)
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