Drinking too much diet coke

Stevepage

For years I've drank far too much diet coke. Around 5 cans a day on average.

I would say I have an addiction to it and stupidly struggle with keeping up the momentum of gradually reducing how much I drink. I got down to just 1 can every other day and it's now gotten back to nearly the same levels as before. It's as if I forgot to control myself.

Any one else had this problem and how did you stop? 

Luckily I'm not fat, I've got an active job and go to the gym regularly but it's obviously concerning me as to what it's doing to my teeth and organs.

m_c

Just 5 a day?

I used to quite easily go through a dozen, but I've not touched any kind of soft drink for over 2 years now. I tried the whole cutting back thing, but I always found once I had one tin, it would just lead to more, or I'd end up substituting it with something else.

I eventually just decided to stop drinking it. I originally aimed for one day with no soft drinks, then only drinking it at weekends, before finally realising/deciding I usually felt far better by the end of the week, and stopped all together.

Now if only I could do the same for chocolate...

stickyfiddle

Just stop. It'll take proper willpower, and you'll have caffeine withdrawal for a few days but then you'll be fine. 

BigMonka

I had a mate who was very similar, he managed to ween himself off it by drinking other things. He ended up basically just replacing his coke (the drink!) addition with a ribena one though!

Snap

^ this. I did the same about 15 years ago. Upto then I had no cavities, but in the space of a year or so, I got quite a few. After I packed the fizz in, not had a filling since.

FIzzy drinks are crap. Replaced with tea or water in my case.

57Deluxe

Massive Dental decay, stomach cancer and diabetes... even from Diet

TIP: Start your youngsters off on iced Fizzy water with lemon in. This way they get that excited effervescent buzz/treat and the lemon gives the added zest and hint at it being a specail occasion. Then sugary drinks will be unpleasant and sickly to their pallets later...

guitarfishbay

Cut it dead, drink water or herbal teas instead and prepare for days of headaches especially if it's your only source of caffeine. I now only have caffeine very rarely and feel way better for it. 

ESBlonde

We all have a natural desire for sugary drinks, the real trick is to change your taste buds for something completely different and avoid sugar in tea/coffee, other manufactured drinks like cola/lemonade/fanta etc.
It is hard for a couple of weeks but after that your taste buds develope to appreciate simple natural food and drink.
I find that fizzy/carbonated water goes some way to help the urges and is refreshing and healthy. We all subject our bodies to way too much crap and chemicals so any and all reductions are good. Just remember moderation in all things including moderation.

Jalapeno

The substitutes in diet drinks are equally harmful, promoting the bodies' ability to absorb sugar from other sources.

EricTheWeary

Definitely seen stuff on TV shows about how diet drinks make you crave food and overall diet coke drinkers consume more calories per day than ordinary coke drinkers. Might have less terrible teeth though. Coke is an environmental mare as it takes 2.5 litres of water to make 1 litre of coke IIRC. 
I'm a caffeine junky so hard for me to help though but I generally avoid cold drinks so it's gallons of tea and coffee for me. The only time I gave up was having the flu and staying in bed for most of a week, in retrospect some of my flu symptoms could have been caffeine withdrawal. Still got sucked back in though.

quarky

5 cans a day. Holy shit. I was on a can (or small bottle) every week day and thought that was bad. I gave it up at the beginning of the year, I just don't buy it, and grab some tap water (or a coffee) instead.

Sambostar

That shit and other fizzy drinks will rot your liver faster than having a mild alcoholic habit.  The damage that they do is incredibly underrated.

Heartfeltdawn

Sparkling water is the way forward. Damn sight cheaper too. That with lemon or Berocca for me. Pepsi Max is a reward if I've had a really shitty chef shift instead of cigarettes. 

Bidley

I've never been able to drink carbonated water. I go to Germany quite often, and it's all they drink over there. Although if you put a shot of Ribena in there I'm all over it like a tramp on chips.

DrJazzTap

I found myself getting slightly addicted to dr pepper. I really do need to drink more water again. 

TheBlueWolf

I went through a similar thing with energy drinks so I cut them out completely and went back to drinking plain water.

octatonic

There are a lot of conspiracy theories about diet drinks- which can muddy the waters.
There is evidence that it doesn't help with weight loss and there is some limited evidence that it can created a sugar like response but nothing is conclusive, yet anyway.

I have one can of diet coke every few days- it hasn't harmed me thus far.
Five a day is probably too much- all things in moderation, eh?

CHRISB50

I used to be like it with full fat coke. More like a 3 cans a day habit. I just did it with will power over time. If you want to do it, and are serious about it, you will. If you're not into the idea of it, you'll never succeed anyway. 

I now allow myself one can a week on a Friday. I enjoy it much more. 

quarky

octatonic said:

There are a lot of conspiracy theories about diet drinks- which can muddy the waters.

Yep, I would still go for diet rather than normal coke, every single time. Ultimately, I just don't think that even diet coke is that great if for no other reason that it is quite acidic. I have no real issues with the sweeteners as such.

skunkwerx

Im in the same boat mate. 

Actually just got 2 weeks off so my chanes begun today. 

Usually i would have between 4-6 cans of regular coke a day, and I've 'quit' a few times before but enough is enough now, its bloody expensive n all. 

Worse when I'm at work because I'll buy a 4 pack on the way in and get through them in my 5 hour shift. Changing to diet or zero didnt help, as I just didnt like it.. 

So for the next 2 weeks Im gonna make the effort to have none at all. Instead I'm a big tea drinker, so my caffiene and sugar come from there. 

I've also cut down from 3 sugars to 2 in my tea. I'll have maybe 6 teas a day... 

A few things I've found thats really helped, as I've learnt from a lot of therapy: 

Set realistic, achievable goals. 
Cut down/wean off. 

The body becomes used to things, and making big drastic changes is proven not to work as effectively as gradual and consistant ones. We're habitual creatures, so breaking habits instantly is remarkably hard for most of us. 
Granted there are people who can go cold turkey, but its not a good idea. 
If you do then relapse its much harder on you. 
Also you'll get headaches and cravings which are just bullshit annoying. 

Always keep the end game in your mind. If youre impatient like me this is hard.. Cutting down in stages can feel slow and like you're not achieving your vision of 'not drinking coke'. 

So form a plan. Keep looking at it. Understand that this week you're down by a can.. next week you'll be down by 2. In a month you'll be almost clean, and without the withdrawal or hard desires to go buy a bunch! 

If you find yourself having a can or two over your limit for the day, then call it a bad day and forget about it. Dont fret it and think 'ahh its a wasted effort'. Just recognise it as a bad day and reform your plan that night in your mind, and crack on when you wake up to a new day. 

Persevere with it over time man. It could take a few months for example to cut down completely or stop. 

Draw up a chart, and keep tabs everyday. You'll look at it and see your progress. 

For me, Coke in moderation is fine. I'm a coeliac and fructose intolerant so when i'm out im very limited to what I can eat and drink. So my aim is, I'll have one day a week where I can drink coke. I'll know when I'm going to be out for a meal or drinks, and I'll say once a week a couple glasses is fine. Its not hard drugs after all! 

But, if you know that will lead to temptation to drink it the next day then don't do that so soon. But if you do find yourself drinking it again daily then recognise it quick, take a step back and nip it in the bud before the habit takes hold! 

Maybe a bit deep, but I've found all that helps.

WezV

EricTheWeary said:

Coke is an environmental mare as it takes 2.5 litres of water to make 1 litre of coke IIRC. 

unfortunately most drinks industries are the same.  You get a hell of a lot of waste just from cleaning the equipment.   A litre of water takes 1.5l tomake