Monday, November 15, 2010

Diet Coke and Artificial Sweetners

So.... for those of you who don't know me, I am in love with Diet Coke. I am not just saying that's the soda I prefer, it's just about the only soda I will drink. I'll occasionally dabble around, but I always come back. I am the person who immediately judges a restaurant that carries Pepsi products. I am also not satisfied with Coke Zero. If I wanted a soda that tasted like real Coke, I'd drink real Coke. Just ask my ex about my melt down at Break n Bread when there was only Coke Zero... you would have thought the world was ending by the way I was talking. Hmmm, I wonder if my relationship with Diet Coke had anything to do... um, let's not go there!

But then as all bad relationships go, I became addicted to the evil love that is Diet Coke. I mean really... why should I like - no love - this weird fake sweet brown chemical liquid? There is absolutely nothing natural about it. Wouldn't evolution teach us that murky brown water probably isn't a good idea to drink? And let's not even consider the environmental impact that my addiction has had on the planet (though... one saving grace, I am mostly a canned soda kind of girl).

This blog is all about eating in a more natural way, and most of the time I am washing this delicious food down with this horrible unnatural drink. I've even tried the Crystal Lite road, and there is just something about those drinks that turn me off.

I have tried many times to give up Diet Coke, and usually I can only agree to some severe moderation. However, this has got to stop. It's not just Diet Coke, but it's also all the other artificial sweeteners in my life - it's the diet foods I sometimes eat and all the fake sweeteners I put in drinks and food.

It's just not good! So... I am going to try to give it up for good. Maybe not cold turkey, but a slow phasing out if you will. I am hoping that just in the way that I can no longer enjoy snack cakes (they taste like plastic), that I'll eventually take a swig of Diet Coke and my taste buds will scream to spit out the sweet toxic bliss.

Have any of you fought the artificial sweetener battle? Did you come out on top or have you slipped back into it's sweet seduction?

4 comments:

  1. I gave it up, and so can you! I used to drink a 2 liter a day and now I don't drink it at all. The bubbles made me feel crazy bloated, but I think it's good to have all that artificial sweetener out of my system too. I actually drank one this weekend for the first time in about a year and I found it wasn't the a-maz-ing drink I used to love so much!

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  2. I used to drink diet coke, or all soda (diet, anyway), ALL. THE. TIME. I found when I told myself I couldn't have it, I struggled a little. But then I started drinking more water, and it naturally lifted out of my diet. I still drink it from time to time, but rarely with food---I feel like it takes too much away from the taste. And I'm with Jen; I used to feel so bloated and unhappy all the time :( It's still my go-to hangover drink, though!

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  3. The weird thing is, I really do love water. I have just managed to get out of the habit of drinking it. I think it has something to do with not having an automatic ice maker... I like ice water.

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  4. I thought I would comment on this one too since I am in the blog mood today. It has been a constant struggle for me to give up diet coke with splenda and diet mountain dew. I drink water constantly but prefer ice water which is easier for me to drink but hard to come by sometimes. I don't think it is the actual soda that I like but the taste of something different than water with my meals or when I take my vitamins. I swapped to sparkling flavored water and so far, its worked out pretty well.

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