The First Few Steps of My Journey To Kick This Diet Soda Habit Are Proving Tough
This is Day 2 of my giving up a certain addiction. I am experiencing headaches, shaking hands and feet, and that certain unease you can almost feel in the roots of your nerves. After almost 24 hours without it, I woke up with cravings echoing in the back of my mind and an image of just one unit of this item twirling behind my closed eyes. I almost broke down and gave in after five hours at the job, clutching one mini-unit of the item so close and even holding it close enough to smell. But as I end my second day of abstaining from this scandalous, potent vice. Having so much of my physical self yelling for this drug is hard, but I keep telling myself “I do not need it.”
“What is this vice?” You may be wondering. It is not recreational drugs, nor cigarettes, nor tobacco in any form. Goodness, no, I’ve been so fortunate to never pick up any of those. I’ve never so much as tried a cigarette or some recreational drug on the cusps of being legal(no judgment intended to anyone who uses these). But perhaps my vice is just as bad in numerous areas, and just as treacherous in some ways for my long-term health. My particular drug of choice happens to be numerous brands of top-selling diet soda beverages.
I’ve Been Needing To Do This For Years
I have been hooked on diet soda for much of my adult life. Having started a full-time 3rd shift job in my early 20s, I turned to diet soda for its quick caffeine fix and promises of low sugar and calories. After a few years, I was drinking 2 or often even three diet sodas per day(and somehow I balanced this out with three or so bottles of water). How could such a drink be so addicting? I attributed it to crazy sleep patterns and working all night to offset my body’s natural balance. But then when I left 3rd-shift work several years ago, I still could not kick the diet soda habit. And another crazy thing started happening — I quickly added on extra pounds. My new desk job left meant less time on my feet, and somehow I was always craving a little snack from sweets to chips to crackers or something else. There would be a few times where I was able to kick the pop habit for awhile — at one point even a week or so. But then I turned around and started again.
I’ve learned over the years there is a reason for this cycle. Although claiming no calories or sugar, so many studies have verified diet soda to be highly addictive. The carbon fizz effect, the caffeine, and large amounts of artificial sweetners like sucralose have proven to be for many an irresistable concoction. Our brains and bodys’ cells actually perceive artificial sweetners as sugar, and when the sugar-empty substitutes are consumed and processed this leaves our brains and cells demanding the energy and essence of the promised sugar. So no wonder I kept going back for snacks from extra pangs of hunger and again and again for more diet soda.
Scary Negative Health Effects
Soda, like most other things, is health in moderation. But the potential negative effects of diet soda in particular are frightening. As I had learned the hard way, many studies have found a correlation between excessive amounts of diet soda and weight gain(others have showed contrary or mixed results). Also, the trickery of the brain and cells can lead to imbalances in metabolism plus increased risk for type 2 diabetes(as the body produces more insulin when not needed). Add to this increased risks for other serious heart conditions. In addition, the ingredients in soda drinks in general have been known to eat away at tooth enamel and decrease bone mineral density. Now, all of these findings need not mean you should cut out soda altogether. Indeed, diet soda may be a good drink if you are out for Friday night pizza or maybe special dinner celebrations. But these potential negative health effects from diet soda(and soda in general) are certainly frightening and should lead one to think before consuming.
My Work Is Cut Out For Me
So it seems I have finally embarked on a journey to kick this excessive habit. I did not expect it to be this hard, but now that I have started I really should just hang in there. At the end of the day, cutting out many unmoderated vices is so much about mental control and discipline. “I really don’t need it,” was the phrase I kept repeating as I eyed the can of Diet Sunkist that just happened to be the last. I set it on the back of my work desk’s top shelf — far enough from reach. This is one of my goals for Lent, to kick this diet soda addiction for 40 days which I hope can help me kick it for good. (For this Christian spiritual time, doctrines often prescribe you give up certain things and do more of others). Keeping up with this the first two days has required me to reinforce my efforts with other things. I’ve indulged on ice cream and gone through three mugs of green tea. I’ve pulled my hair and experienced plenty of jitters. But I’ll keep pulling through.
More to come on this, as I feel by writing about this positive step in improving my overall health will help me to keep up with it.
