Pop (soda for you non-midwesterners)

[mamatoady]

OK...My BIGGEST nutrition problem is CAFFEINE FREE DIET PEPSI. I went without when I was pregnant, and initially while breastfeeding, but have since fell off the bandwagon (what can I say, Target has 12packs on sale for $2.00). And even though I'm drinking caffeine free, I honestly think I'm still addicted...I crave it and will go to the drugstore and write a check for a 12 pack if I have no cash on me. Its a sick sick problem

Please, does anyone have any ideas on how to get off the pop? Maybe give me every horrible detail of what it is doing to my body. I need some serious motivation.I feel like if I can get off the pop, I'll be homefree!

Sarah

[Spicey Momma]

I know that aspertaime (sp?) was never intended for human consumsion from it's INVENTOR! If I could spell it, I would do a search on it for you : But I can tell you when I stopped drinking diet drinks my back stopped hurting, and my migrains went away.

[Nathan1097]

Well if you want a horrible story- lol- first of all its mostly all high fructose corn syrup, which raises your bad cholesterol. But probably worse than that- have you ever seen Pepsi spilled? Spill some and leave it dry. Its not pretty. Or, have you seen the syrup that they use for fountain pop? Same idea as letting the regular stuff dry. Besides that, its just empty calories. I will drink pop but rarely and when I do its never the whole can/glass/cup.

[Quirky]

Here's a good one for you - the phosphoric acid in cola leaches calcium from your bones. You are setting yourself up for osteoporosis in later life by drinking all this soda now. Think broken wrists, broken hips, dowager's hump...

Stop sucking the calcium out of your bones, mama, so you can be strong and play with your grandkids!

[Geofizz]

Soda pop is acidic. It eats away at your teeth.

[anotherKatrina]

How 'bout this one...

Every can of pop you drink is 12oz of water that you're NOT drinking. Keep this up and eventually your kidneys will start to hate you. Not pretty. Oh, and those horrid sweeteners can cause MS-like symptoms.

An image...You don't want to be a hunchback with a broken hip, achy joints and nasty teeth on dialysis, do you???!!

Could you try to replace your habit with maybe iced herbal tea sweetened with stevia? Just a thought.

Good luck! We're rootin' for ya!

~Katrina

[Nathan1097]

Originally posted by Geofizz
Soda pop is acidic. It eats away at your teeth.

Oh yes! That too! Here's a little story you may not enjoy... :LOL

When I was pregnant with my third, I was having a pregnant moment eating popcorn and drinking Pepsi. Well, you can guess what happened.... And let me tell you, that combination coming back UP.... NOT fun! Not only was the popcorn not very.... smooth.... but the Pepsi was VERY acidic! Hurt my throat terribly and yes my teeth "felt" it too.

[mamatoady]

wow, thank you all!

I never would have thought that my back problems could have been related. I've been going to a chiropractor for a while now because of it.

What exactly is stevia? if it's anything like equal, i'm not having any part of it...personally I think SUGAR is better than equal, at least it's natural (not like I OBVIOUSLY care if I'm polluting my body with pop, right?)

I need to make a mid-year resolution to never drink another sip of pop. Even one sip makes me crave it, but if I can go a good few days, I'm on a roll (till that first sip.)

thanks everyone, I'll be printing all of these off onto a little slip of paper to keep with me when I want some POISON!

Sarah

[Geofizz]

Give yourself a replacement. Find something that you like to sip just as much as the soda pop.

Water with a lemon wedge.
Water with ice
Fizzy water
Iced tea
Plain old water

About a year after I kicked my soda pop habit, Ifound that it's just too sweet for me. I can't drink it anymore.

[pamamidwife]

Geofizz has some great ideas! I still have a pop once or twice a week (the high fructose corn syrup is my friend!), but NutraSweet is evil. Yuck. Bad news. Bad stuff!

[Quirky]

Stevia is a natural sweetener that comes from a plant. You can find it at the health food store - a little goes a looooooong way!

I would try sparkling water with lemon (make your own for $$ reasons). It is so refreshing! Also, you may find that you get your tastebuds back and don't crave pop anymore if you give it up cold turkey. I can't drink soda now; it makes my teeth hurt!

[chocomoto]

I honestly thing that that stuff IS addictive. I am not a pop drinker, and generally don't like the taste of artificial sweetners. I few years ago I drank a few cans and found that I was craving more all of a sudden!

Try to stop for a week and I'll bet your cravings will go away. Get some good sparkling mineral water, such as San Pellegrino, which has lots of magnesium.

[Geofizz]

How about another approach?

Assuming you drink 2 a day and always buying it on sale at Target, your habit costs $120 a year.

With $120/year you could:

Donate it to your favorite charity
Buy ~10-12 new diapers for your child
Convert much of your diet to organic
Have a couple of dinner-and-a-movie dates leaving your children with a babysitter
Pay a months+ tuition for preschool, music classes, etc
Buy a summer pass for the whole family to the pool
Put it in the bank for a rainy day
Put in in your child's college fund.