Life Does Jed

62 notes

My name is Jed and I have a problem.

I have known for a while that I drink A LOT of diet drinks. Before I started Doing Life I rarely drank soda. Diet or regular, the only time I bought them was when I went out to eat. I NEVER bought them for home. I only drank milk, water, tea, and occasionally kool-aid. As I started counting my calories I started drinking diet drinks regularly. One or two a day. Then I started drinking them when I got hungry. It was a way to keep me from eating too much. Over the course of the last two years it has morphed into me drinking between 2 and 3 liters a day. You would think that it would be hard to drink that much soda, but it’s not. One or two 12 oz cans on my way to work, one or two cans during my morning teaching, two or three cans at lunch, one or two in the afternoon, and then three or four while at home in the evening. Some of those 12 oz cans are sometimes 20 oz bottles, it adds up quick.

I have half-heartedly tried a few times to stop drinking as many. A couple of months ago there were a bunch of people on tumblr that were giving up soda for a month so I thought I would do it as well. I knew there would be headaches, but I was unprepared for the next day. By noon my head was KILLING me. I was popping aspirin like candy, but by 8 pm I couldn’t take it. I was nauseous and my head was about to explode so I told Sarah I was going to McDonald’s to grab a large diet coke. McDonald’s is about two miles from my house and I only made it half way before I had to pull over and throw up. I have never used drugs, but I felt like a drug addict at this point. Needless to say, I didn’t give up my beloved diet coke or diet mountain dew.

I feel like most of my eating is healthy and I know that the diet drinks aren’t adding pounds to me, but I feel like my body would be healthier if I went back to only drinking them when I go out to eat. To not have a repeat performance of my earlier attempt I am going to take the next few weeks to ween myself off my dependence. I have stocked up on bottles of water so that I have something handy to drink. Let’s do this.

  1. philosophette said: Oh wow, I’ve never had that type of reaction before, but hopefully you can get through it and believe in water again. ;) It takes time to get through wanting soda and I promise you’ll feel awesome after you give it up for some time.
  2. takingbackeelaine said: you can definitely give it up! weening off of the caffeine (which is totally shown to be addictive) is your best way. good luck!
  3. lifetoat said: Good luck, Jed! Have some unsweetened iced tea or green tea to help with the caffeine part of the withdrawals (unless you are trying to quit that as well). I used to drink diet coke constantly, now just occasionally at a bar or party. U can do it!
  4. falllingforward said: Good luck! Don’t go cold turkey. Reach for water first, have a coke with a meal. You have to do this, that much aspartame is not safe! YOU CAN DO IT
  5. strixish said: Maybe make friends with coffee/tea so you can ween off caffeine without getting the “fix” that the other chemicals in diet soda give you?
  6. myfatchance said: You do have a problem and well done for tackling it! I think we do things this because we *do life* in the first place. Things like diet drinks (or crisps for me) are like little rewards we give ourselves for doing well. But we can go overboard too!
  7. runsforredvelvet said: I’m an addict myself! lol
  8. dodorunrun said: Withdrawal headaches are the worst. Take your time and wean off slowly, it’s not something you want to rush. Good luck!
  9. lostweightgainedlove said: Best thing I did.was getting off soda! U got this
  10. lifewithkim said: Jed, we are cheering you on! It is really tough to give up a habit like sodas. Just know that we believe in you:)
  11. peejaymc said: Just think about how all those chemicals made you react when you tried to quit. Bro, you don’t to be putting that shit in your body. You’re an athlete dude. You got this. Hang in there.
  12. theskinnyongettingthinny said: Cheering you on as you ween yourself slowly from it. Soda (diet or not) prohibits the absorption of calcium leading to osteoporosis. You can do this! For your health and kids:)
  13. averagejoeproductions said: I’m totally addicted to soda. I know it’s going to be my BIGGEST battle when I try to get healthy. It almost sounds like the diet sodas are even more addicting then regular soda. I wish you luck, bro, it’s tough to get off these things we love!
  14. trimamatri said: Just think of how free you will feel when soda doesn’t own you! And I have read research on artificial sweeteners that concluded it DID cause weight gain especially in the belly… more motivation! KICK IT!!
  15. amiegoesactive said: You got this!
  16. heygetsome said: yep. sometimes i think i should quit and other times i tell myself it’s not the end of the world that i drink diet soda. but then there are days where i have 4 cans at work and a 42oz from mcds. it doesn’t help that my work provides them for free.
  17. stephintolife said: I was drinking similar amounts… it took many months of cutting back very slowly to get off it completely. Try that! You can’t go from 2-3 liters a day to 0 in 1 day, take it slow.
  18. shrinkingwolf said: Try weening yourself by replacing some with caffeine free and just keep bumping up how many of those you drink. I had no problem cutting my soda addiction because I hadn’t been drinking anything with caffeine.
  19. fat-to-fast said: I use diet sodas as a tool to keep me from eating when I’m not hungry too. Completely understand-they’re SO addictive.
  20. emilydoesscience said: maybe don’t go cold turkey? wean yourself down?? best of luck!!!
  21. joshbuildshealth said: It’s tough but you can do it! Good luck!!
  22. mjdoeslife said: Good luck! I kicked the soda habit 18 months ago. Luckily though I didn’t have the withdrawal headaches and such. It’s hard, but you can do it and you’ll feel better :)
  23. mr-smit said: Same boat, dude. I’m fairly certain Diet Mt. Dew runs through my veins. I’m going to try tapering it down in 2012. Good luck to you!