No cravings!

I think the cravings are mostly gone. I’m sure they’ll come back, but as of right now, I am not struggling. I’m back to drinking my normal amount of water, haven’t really used replacements, and am very happy with it. My body still isn’t quite adjusted, and I definitely get tired earlier than I ever used to, but at least now I know when I’m truly tired and not just crashing.

I couldn’t be happier that I decided to do this.

My first real pain

This morning I started to feel the first real pain of withdrawal, but now it’s gotten absolutely terrible. I don’t know if it’s truly from my body trying to get used to not having soda and caffeine, but I know I haven’t had an IBS attack in several months. I’m having the worst one I’ve had in years. I’m doing the best I can working, but it’s hard to focus when my stomach feels like it’s imploding.

Strangely, it’s keeping me from wanting to drink soda even more because soda always used to irritate my flare ups worse!

Day 5!

I made it through day 4 without losing my mind. It’s day 5 now, and I’m holding up well. I’m definitely feeling very lethargic and out of it. I actually have my body helping me out with not drinking soda right now because when I think about drinking it, I get a stomach ache. It’s contributing to a bad case of IBS, but that could be a symptom of the caffeine withdrawal. I’m not sure yet.

I’ve still been getting messages from people being very supportive of what I’m doing. More and more people have told me they’ve decided to quit drinking soda as well. A few people told me they’d go as far as quitting high fructose corn syrup. That’s an entirely different subject. I actually plan on doing the same thing in the future, but I’m taking it one step at a time. For right now, I’m staying away from the syrupy goodness of soda and energy drinks.

Strong cravings on day 4

I’m having pretty strong post-lunch soda cravings right now. I’m fighting my way through them, and doing everything I can to not pick up a replacement like the Lipton iced tea (which has almost as much sugar as soda!) or anything like it. I’m downing water, but it’s that sweet fizz that is making me want it. I know I’m not even thirsty.

Just wanted to document my cravings.

Day 2 and 3 down!

I didn’t get a chance to update this weekend because I spent a few days in New York City with my best friend. It was a fantastic time. There was a five hour drive from Syracuse to New York, and that was basically where my biggest cravings came from. I’m used to popping open a Red Bull, Dew, or Monster right before a long drive to keep my focus and get a little hyper so the drive goes by more quickly. We stopped at a gas station for drinks, and it took basically everything in me to not grab one. However I went with a 100% fruit juice and it was super tasty.

In the city, there wasn’t much temptation because of all of the amazing options available – smoothies, chai tea, etc. I had been doing a lot of research in the previous week on ways to help break the addiction, and one of the ways was to actually get sleep when your body seems tired. So, I went to bed nice and early and it seemed to work wonders. I didn’t have a craving as large as they usually are in the morning. Very nice.

Today I am doing fine. Still drinking lots of water. I got the pleasure of a few friends bringing some water bottles to the Honor Bright show on Friday, which was really nice to see their support.

Day one: Holding strong!

Today was day one of quitting soda. Last night I was worried that today would be extremely difficult, but I’m finding out that it’s much easier than I thought on the first day. I’ve read many places that the second and third days are the hardest, so today may be a fluke. The morning was really easy. I’ve been drinking a ton of water (it’s only 1:30 and I’m almost done with my second bottle), and other than that haven’t replaced the soda with anything. The hardest part of the day is usually post-lunchtime. Almost every time I finish lunch it feels like it’s time for a nap, and today was no exception. Generally I would combat that feeling with a Dew or a Red Bull, but not today. I went for a short walk outside, came back in, swigged some water, and went back to work. Surprisingly I’m alright. I feel slightly more lethargic than normal and have definitely had cravings. It was my boss’s birthday celebration today so a few of my coworkers threw her a party. At this party they had a few two liters of Pepsi, Sierra Mist, and something else. I definitely am used to social soda drinking, and that’s where the strongest craving came from. I resisted though.

Plenty of day left to go, but my resolve is holding extremely strong. After writing the first entry, I got a lot of amazing feedback from people – a few of which considering the quit as well. That really helps me go on, because if me quitting motivates other people to quit, then I’m not giving in for ANYTHING.

My addiction to soda, and why I want to kick it

Today, after over a year of toying with the idea, I’ve decided that it’s time to quit soda and energy drinks cold turkey. I’ve been an avid soda drinker since I was really young, and since energy drinks have been out, they’ve been a staple of my daily diet. Around this time last year I started trying different things to rid myself of the soda (I’ll include energy drinks in the soda category) such as cutting myself down to one a day, one every other day, one a week, taking a week off and going back to normal, only allowing myself to drink them on special occasions, things like that. None of them ever worked. During the brief periods I wasn’t drinking sodas, I spent the majority of my time wishing I was drinking them, and when they were over, I was back to my old ways. I’ve spent some time today on the internet researching other people with soda addictions, and it seems to be the unanimous best way to kick the addiction is cold turkey. This seemed to work for me with vegetarianism and veganism – both of which I have never faltered on in over 2 ½ years.

I feel like documenting all of this is the best way for me to stay on track. I’ve read some of the awful effects of quitting cold turkey, and it’s definitely frightening, but for the many many reasons to quit, it’s worth it. Here are some of the main reasons I’ve decided are going to drive me through this:

A: Phosphorus in soda inhibits the absorption of calcium. Hello bone loss.

B: Sugar sugar and more sugar. Hello diabetes.

C: The high acidity of drinks is linked to acid reflux and esophageal cancer.

D: Teeth. My family has a history of weak teeth already. No reason for me to contribute to that with the sugar and crap included in soda.

E: I never EVER want to feel like a substance is in control of my mind. I’m straight edge for a reason, and this included.

That’s a little bit of the background on what’s going on. Now for the journaling.

I’m feeling extremely excited about this. I know it’s going to be really hard to kick a habit I’ve had my whole life. I took the steps to let everyone know what I’m going for to avoid any “How many Dews today?” questions and anything like that. I’ve been met with a lot of supportive feedback. I think mostly everyone’s heard me say it before, but this time I’m extremely committed to it. I’m DONE drinking soda and energy drinks. Part of it that will be hard is that we are supplied with free Red Bull through the band. However, I’m not going to consume something harmful just because I don’t have to pay for it.

Right now I’m drinking my last Mountain Dew. It tastes awesome, but it’s not worth the damage it does. Tomorrow is day one of no sodas, and I’m curious to see how I do. I’ve gone a few random days, and I’ve gone a few weeks, but I know my psyche. Since I know it’s the beginning of “I can’t!”, then I’m going to want it more. It’s normal. But I’m going to fight it as hard as I can. I know I can do this.