Thursday, April 08, 2010

So, Why was I Drinking Diet Coke?

I have been addicted to Diet Coke for years. If I was thirsty, the ONLY thing that would quench it was a nice tall Diet Coke with lots of ice. Yum! Though I prefer this beverage from a fast food restaurant (less carbonation), I also prefer drinking it out of a glass. I don't know why glass makes it feel colder and taste better, but it does.

The last couple of years I have given up Diet Coke for Lent. The first few days are always so hard for me! It makes me feel as if I almost have an idea of what it is like to give up smoking. (Almost.) Partway through the 40+ days I usually start to feel better without it. Regardless, within a few days of Lent being over I am right back to drinking Diet Coke.

This season, I not only gave up DC, I also tried to limit all beverages with artificial sweeteners. I eliminated all pink packages from my hot tea and ended up drinking just a couple diet Arizona Peach Teas each week. (Not even one a day!)

So, Lent ended on Sunday, but I had no desire to drink a Coke until today. I was excited thinking about the nice cold beverage, lots of ice, the bubbles going down my throat! I poured the Coke over ice, took a nice big gulp and thought, "Huh." I waited a couple of minutes to be sure the Coke was really cold and took a small sip. Still I thought, "Huh." Where was the great taste? Where were the bubbles? Why do I drink this?

I didn't even finish the entire glass. I tried, but I just couldn't drink it. After dumping it out, I poured myself a tall cold glass of -- water. It tasted great!

Two things I've been thinking:
1) If I have to get used to drinking it again, why am I bothering?
2) If water quenches my thirst, it will be a whole lot cheaper to drink water. I should save lots of money!

So, why have I been drinking Diet Coke?

3 comments:

Tammy said...

WOW! Way to go!!!!!

I stopped drinking Diet Coke a year or 2 after joining Weight Watchers when I realized that it was making me hungry. Yup, the caffeine was stimulating my appetite. Fresca & Diet 7up don't do that to me, so I occasionally have one - probably once a month, at a special occasion.

Speaking of weight, how is your weight loss going? Am I going to owe you socks???

Cindi said...

I hit a roadblock with the weight loss. I lost 5 pretty quickly, then I had a business trip and traveled to Tucson for the half marathon. I gained a couple pounds back. But I am back on track. I really should have no trouble losing all I want to lose by June 1.

Diet Coke never made my hungry. In fact, it helped me reduce the amount of sweets I eat. It is hard to eat chocolate with a DC.

I'm hoping I can avoid getting hooked on it again!

Melonie said...

Good for you! I stopped drinking soda (Dr Pepper, primarily) a few months ago and had one recently - had a very similar experience as yours. It did make it easier to go back to water, at least. LOL