So.......
In my attempts to get into better shape I decided about two weeks ago to give up sodas. I quit cold turkey on a Wednesday and have to date had only three Diet Cokes since...
I had a slight nagging headache the first few days but since then its gone really really good.
I have been drinking alot of juices mainly cranberry juice. I recently read that its a good idea to mix water with the juices since many juices have their own natual sugars.
I have also been drinking more water of course.
I have kept a container of Crystal Light in the fridge and while I know this stuff is also not the best for you its better than a Coke.
Soda and other sugar-sweetened beverages add unneeded calories to our diet without providing any beneficial nutrients. One 12-ounce can of soda has 41 grams of sugar, which is equivalent to about 10 teaspoons! The daily guidelines for sugar call for limiting sugar to no more than 12 teaspoons per day for a 2,000 calorie diet. Yet the average American drinks 576 cans of soda per year – that’s almost two a day!
Its nuts when you really think about it....
Dont get me wrong ...I love a cold cold Coke. It is great on a summer day or at a cook out and I am not saying that I will NEVER again have one but it was time to cut them out of my daily diet.
But ...this is a positive step for me
5 comments:
You might be surprised that after you've been off soda for a while, you might not even like the taste of the "real stuff" anymore. I grew up in a house with no soda & unsweet tea not in a "you can't have it" way but it's just what my parents liked and what was around. So, even though I grew up in the southeast my entire life, I can't stand sweet tea. I hate it. Also, the taste of regular coke makes me want to gag. To me it tastes like syrup. I can't stand it. I'll drink a diet coke sometimes but I just don't like soda and I think its just because I'm not use to it. So you never know...maybe after 6 months you won't even want it anymore.
The thing I have the most weakness for that is awful for my physical fitness is quality beer. I can't really do the light stuff and I'm not even sure that its that much better for you anyway. I run 5 miles a day and I swear I'd get that runners body I've always wanted if I could just cut out specialty beer!! Haha.
I do drink crap tons of water though. I swear my sigg bottle is permanently attached to my face during the school week.
ALSO - what's bad about crystal light?? It's another thing I love probably because I grew up with it in the house. It's got no carbs/no calories and I dont' even think it has sodium. It's just like flavored water right??
The baddest thing it has is Aspertame in it and some studies have shown that aspertame can cause short term memory loss....Damn I had something else to add but I forgot!!
that's so awesome. so many people don't realize what a benefit to your health just doing the small things every day will make... like cutting out sugary sodas. Pat on the back.
Awesome, very glad to hear it. And yes Aspertame (Sp?) is awful for you. It is considered a neurotoxin if I am not mistaken.
Keep up the good work!
None of this will come as any galloping shock to you because we have talked about it before but I will post it in your comments for the input and insight of our community of friends (or peeps as the kids are fond of saying).
This is my achilles heel. Sugary, soda'ery, NON diet drinks! I love, Love, LOVE them!! I really do enjoy coffee (contrary to the theories of my beloved wife) but, and I know this is weird, but I don't typically want something hot to drink in the morning time when I am first waking up, its pretty much the same feeling I have about eating breakfast. I need to have been up for a while before I am ready for that. Thus my enjoyment of a cold Mt. Dew on the way to work in the morning.
It is TERRIBLE for me I KNOW! The times I have made a concerted effort to chill out with the sugars and just focus on drinking water I have lost weight (ducks at the lady folks start chucking things at my head) without any effort at all. I don't drink enough water. I need to. I want to.
And like Maughry I want my liquid calories to come from the things I enjoy the most which is quality beer and whiskey.
This is what I have to concentrate my will power on in the battle for fitness and well-being. The healthy eating comes naturally living with Mrs. M and the exercising is going surprisingly well thanks to the buddy system.
Help me Obi-Wan Kenobi, you're my only hope!
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