Tuesday, March 3, 2009

Soda: The Great Debate





Remember when the great debate was Pepsi or Coke?





Well, now that debate is a little different. Ugh, soda, how I used to (and sometimes still do) love you! Soda, is it truly Liquid Satan as the Skinny Bitches say? Or is it a Heavenly Sent gift from above? I often feel both ways simultaneously. I have an extreme love/hate relationship with soda, specifically diet soda.

As a previous 2-6 can a day soda guzzler, I went nearly 3 full months cold turkey. I truly was an addict going through withdrawls, which was very frightening and concerning to me. When I read the ingredients in soda (diet or regular) I know it can't be good for me since I cannot naturally find those ingredients in a grocery store or even pronounce some of them. I also know that since I was highly addicted and felt anxious if I went too long without one, that it cannot be good for me.

However, on the flip side, I know when I taste that bubbly carbonated mess of ingredients, something in me calms down. I am like an alcoholic, just with straight soda instead of the alcohol. I cannot just have one once and awhile. I slip up and get back into a daily routine. I'm still currently fighting my desire to have one at this very moment as I sit down to type this.

At this present time, I've created a set of rules that surround soda. Am I an addict justifying a weakness of desire? Here are my rules:

  1. Absolutely no more than one soda a week, including mixed drinks if I go out.
  2. I may have a soda if I am going to be driving in the car longer than 2 hours.
  3. I only have diet soda (which has never been a problem for me, I hate regular soda).
  4. If I find myself binging and losing control, I must go on a minimum of a month detox from it.
  5. Drink it through a straw whenever possible so as not to stain my teeth.
Am I alone in this? Is there anyone else out there struggling with this very same battle? Am I weak and just attempting to sugar coat a serious addiction? Who knows? The only thing that I do know for sure is that this is a process. A long, slow, wonderful and terrible process. Just in case you want to do a little research of your own on soda, here are some links to the new great debate. There aren't a whole lot of articles out there that tell you to go ahead and guzzle diet soda down as much as you want... There's probably good reason for that.

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1 comment:

  1. TimMarch 3, 2009 at 8:40 PM

    Hey Veg Vixen,

    You are not alone. I will easily drink 6 or 8 large bottles of Mt. Dew and Diet Coke if nobody is looking.

    I quit once and lost almost 30 lbs. I gained it all back as soon as I fell off the wagon. I liked being skinny, but the power of the bubbly goodness is much too strong.

    I say quit if you can!

    ReplyDelete

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