Seriously I don't want to post this and just be a total soda
hater, I know a ton of friends and family who love their Diet Coke or their
Pepsi and have no desire to quit. I had always been a heavy soda drinker. In
fact growing up our drink of choice for breakfast, lunch and dinner was Coke,
Squirt or Sprite. A few years back I was drinking like 3 or 4 18 oz. diet sodas
per day. I tried to quit but I always kept going back to it for energy, for
comfort, and for...I'm not sure why other than I got really bad headaches when
I tried to quit so it was just better to go back to it. About 3 years ago I had
already heard some of the reports on the news about how bad diet sodas are, etc., etc. I thought well I'll just limit myself to one non-diet soda per day, I did
that for a while and gained like 10 pounds. About 1 1/2 yrs. ago I was sitting
at church listening to our Bishop speak about addiction and some of the control
that we give up to any kind of addiction and I just had one of those “aha!”
moments. I knew I was addicted to soda. I had tried to quit and I didn't seem
to be able to. So that day I decided to get home and really research soda, find
out everything that's in it and why I needed to quit. What I found was that
half of the research shows no links to any healthy issues just dental health
issues. The other half of the studies show that soda diet and non-diet is super
unhealthy and can cause stroke, obesity, etc. I felt like I needed to just make
the right decision for me. What did my gut feeling, coupled with all the
studies that I read, tell me to do? So since that day I stopped drinking it and
I stopped buying it. I mostly drink water at home and when we go out to eat.
Listen I totally understand it is a personal choice but if you're on the fence
about why you need to quit these articles may be helpful. One thing I will say
when I decided to quit I did have a MASSIVE headache for almost a month!!!
Stick it out, it will pass. I think I always thought "well there's other
crap we eat that worse" or "drinking soda is such a small change in
my life". But for me it was like quitting soda put me on the right track
to getting healthier and kind of knowing that I can do anything that I just set
my mind to. It has been like a small stepping stone to really look at what I
eat and what I'm making for my family, and just have more of a conscious
effort. There are much healthier things you can drink to replace soda. Maybe my
family or I would never have gotten cancer even if we had never stopped
drinking soda, or maybe we will get cancer even with having quit soda but you
know what? It’s like driving a car. I may be in an accident even when I’m
dutifully abiding by all the traffic laws but if I am ever in an accident I can
have a clear conscious knowing I was obeying the laws of driving. Sorry for the
long post but as you can see I'm pretty passionate on this subject, LOL!
These are some really good articles about the health risks and reasons to avoid drinking sodas.
Coca-Cola Funds Scientists Who Shift Blame for Obesity Away From Bad Diets
Sodas and Your Health: Risks Debated
Ten Reasons to Avoid Drinking Soda
I also wanted to post this one article because I have seen quite a bit of articles that support that there are no studies that show that soda is bad for you. Again you need to make your own decision but for me I really felt that the risks outweigh the advantages of soda consumption.
Is diet soda bad for you?
