Three weeks ago, I made a small change that has enormously impacted my health.
I’ve dropped seven pounds, reduced the severity and frequency of my headaches, put an end to junk food-related cravings, and increased my energy.
I kicked a habit that’s haunted me since my teens. It was a hard to let go, but I knew it would make me feel healthier.
And, I’m determined to feel better.
If you missed last week’s post, I wrote about the sickness that’s taken over my body and how I’m determined to do everything in my power to get better.
I’m a researcher and reader, so whenever I make a big decision, I start by learning as much as I can.
I ordered a bunch of books on topics from balancing my pH to the benefits of meditation to autoimmune diseases.
Right away, I opened and devoured The Ultimate pH Solution by Michelle Schoffro Cook. It’s about balancing your pH to prevent disease and lose weight.
I got to page 78 and shuddered as I read that my diet soda habit was completely messing my body up. Did you know that it takes 32 glasses of water to balance out 1 soda? That’s not possible even if you’re only drinking one diet soda a day.
The first thought was, “Well, crap.”
I’m vegan and gluten-free. I don’t drink often. I indulge in diet soda. Can’t I have my one bad thing?! Apparently not. It had to go.
I did some more digging to find out how bad it really is, and I found some startling stuff:
- According to an 11-year Harvard study, diet soda increases your risk for kidney decline.
- It can mess up your metabolism, making you more likely to pack on the belly fat.
- Diet soda tricks your body into thinking you’re consuming calories from sweets, but once your body asks, “Hey, where are those calories?” you start craving sweets to make up for it.
- Diet sodas contain mold inhibitors that can cause damage to your DNA.
- They’re so acidic that they rot your teeth. {I know this is true from experience. I take really good care of my teeth, but I always have cavities because diet soda erodes the enamel.}
- The inside of the cans are coated with BPA which has been linked to heart disease, obesity and reproductive problems.
I knew some of this stuff but buried my head in the sand, not wanting to give up that bubbly deliciousness.
What’s occurred since I eliminated diet coke:
1. I lost seven pounds in three weeks without trying to lose weight. So, if you want to get rid of unwanted weight, drop the diet soda. You’ll thank me.
2. I stopped craving potato chips, french fries, and sweets {Skittles are my weakness}. I used to crave them daily. I didn’t eat them daily, but I sure wanted to. In the past three weeks, I haven’t eaten one chip or any processed sweets. We did have some homemade sweet potato fries, but they are so much healthier than the alternative. The best part was I didn’t feel like I was missing out. My body wasn’t begging me for junk food anymore.
3. My headaches have lessened both in frequency and severity. I thought my headaches would get worse due to caffeine cravings. Didn’t happen, because I took some precautionary steps {see below}.
4. My daily energy level increased. Being sick, I already suffer from fatigue, but I didn’t realize that I was making it worse with diet soda. I wasn’t drinking enough water, because I was drinking too much diet soda which led to dehydration and sluggishness.
I do have one warning. My face broke out worse than it ever has. I think my pH was finally balancing and I was releasing a bunch of toxins. Now, my skin is almost back to normal.
If you want to kick your soda habit, I’ve got some tips that really helped me:
1. Decrease gradually. I didn’t give it up cold turkey. I reduced consumption to two diet sodas per day for four days. Then, I went down to one small glass of it for three days. Then, I stopped.
2. The worst were the morning cravings. I dealt with these by starting a new morning routine that Kris Carr recommends: a glass of room temperature or warmer water with the juice of half a lemon when you first wake up, followed by a cup of tea, followed by green juice. By drinking those three things, I filled up quickly and stopped the morning cravings completely.
3. I also made drinking water a little more fun by adding lemon and lime slices.
4. If I crave diet soda for the sweetness, I make a cup of herbal tea and add a squeeze of agave. It does the trick. I also keep a pitcher of homemade tea in the fridge if I want something cold.
I hope this helps you if you’re hooked like I was. I promise you that you will notice some major health improvements if you make the leap and throw out the soda. Plus, you’ll drop some weight before swimsuit season!
Excellent! Yay!!
I hope your well-written article will convince more people to do the same! I’ve been eating “healthy” for a long time, but diet sodas were the last and hardest thing to kick. No more! Now the thought of putting those chemicals makes me shudder too. Ugh!
Tip: I bought a soda stream and made my own cream soda with vanilla and stevia to help get through those bubbly cravings. I rarely use it anymore though–once you’re off soda, the bubbles aren’t as addictive either!
Winning!
Thanks Kristi! I hope so, too. That’s a great tip. I have some sparkling water in case I have the craving for bubbles, but it hasn’t plagued me like I thought it would. 🙂
Wow, I’m impressed. I’ve tried to give up pop so many times, but when stress hits I crave it so badly. Flavored carbonated water has helped with the cravings for something cold and bubbly, but I’m not always good about having it around.
Are you drinking coffee or tea or anything else with caffiene during the day?
Not much. I drink some herbal tea which is natural decaffeinated. But, I do have a cup of green tea maybe twice a week when I want something cold and that has some caffeine.
I’ve tried giving it up in the past, too. But, once I really looked at what it was doing to my body, it became something I felt I needed to do for my health.
Thanks April 🙂 I haven’t been following your blog for very long but I’m wishing you well and I’m very glad for you and your improved health!
Thanks!!! 🙂
P.S. When I get stressed, stepping outside for just a few minutes can really help. Or, taking a walk. I know it can be hard to make time, but stepping outside or taking a walk has been shown to increase all the good neurotransmitters that you want and help you put a stop to the fight or flight nonsense going on inside you when you experience stress. 🙂
Thanks for the advice!
Wow! Thanks for sharing your story. And, I’m so happy the change you made has helped so much!!
I gave up soda many moons ago. Now, if I do crave it (which is usually triggered by hunger), I can only stand one or two sips!
My drinks of choice are wine, water, and beer. And, more recently, coffee!
I’m inspired by your motivation to take your health into your own hands and figure out what’s best for you!! Keep it up!
Thanks Jennifer! 🙂
I start to have the itch for soda when I get dehydrated, so I’ve nipped that in the bud by constantly sipping water throughout the day. I think that has also given me more energy!
Soda was never allowed at my house with my dad being a juice-poster child + all. So I crave it when I go out to restaurants or birthday parties. Actually I only crave the “strawberry” + “grape” kind hehehehe, specially when I’m having pizza :). Their called fruit names but who are we kidding right? Their clearly just pink + purple hehehe. It’s more of a social “cue” I need to eradicate as Charles Duhigg would say in The Power of Habit.
Of course! Papa Carles can’t allow that! 🙂
Oh, yes….I remember the grape soda pizza night we had! I’m with you–I crave diet soda when I see others drinking it. I have to remind myself that it’ll take 32 glasses of water to combat the acidity at those times and then it’s easier to say no.
Congratulations! That is a really great thing to do for your health. I will give up diet coke too. Thanks for sharing!
Thanks Rosa! Yay!!! I hope you feel better for it.
Good for you! Those stats are so scary, and they’re the reasons I’m trying to get my husband to stop drinking diet soda. Thankfully, I’ve never been a soda drinker. I can’t swallow the bubbles!
I adore Kris Carr too, but I need to be more consistent about drinking my green juice. What’s your favorite recipe?
I love it that you’re a vegan and you said we shouldn’t quit soda “cold turkey.” Hee hee! 🙂
Oh…I wish I’d never started!
My favorite is right here: https://www.blacksburgbelle.com/2012/03/stay-energized-all-day/
Hahahahaha…I didn’t even think about it! 🙂
Congrats! I try to stay away from regular sodas as much as possible, but I absolutely hate the chemical soup that is diet soda. It always worries me when friends are addicted to diet soda, and I’m so glad you were able to quit the habit!
(P.S. I linked back to this post on a page I wrote with healthy living tips. Your post has some really great tips!!)
Thanks for sharing the post Mallory!
I know…when you think about it, diet coke is really gross.
Good for you, April!! And I’m so sorry to hear that you’ve been having pain and other health issues, that could be SO frustrating, especially when you try everything to fix it…I’m sure cutting out the diet drinks will DEFINITELY help on your way to healing. Heart disease/Stroke runs in my family, and I have finally come out of denial of that, within the last few years. Junk/processed food is terrible for our bodies, and the fat created in our bodies is made to protect our organs from the toxins…CRAZY. So I, too, am on a mission to cut out junk and processed foods completely from my diet. It’s def a challenge, because there are chemicals put into those foods that cause addiction! Anyway, thanks for sharing your story, it will motivate me to keep on the right track, too:)
It’s so true…we get hooked on this stuff, making it so much harder to give it up. That’s so great that you’re taking steps to prevent disease! I wish you all the best with it!
I didn’t know most of the things you mentioned about diet soda, but I’ve never been a fan of the stuff. I just don’t like fake “phood”…which is what I consider diet soda to be.
Yah for you in kicking the habit, and getting so many positive benefits!
Oh, it’s definitely fake food! 🙂
Good for you April! I was totally addicted to regular Coke until I kicked the habit more than a year and a half ago. I was drinking over 1,000 calories a day! And I NEVER drank water…just Coke morning, noon and night. I felt so much better after! I replaced those calories with healthy food and with exercise I lost over 20 pounds. I felt better AND my tennis game improved! LOL!
Yay!!!!! Congrats on sticking with it for so long! 🙂
So excited so see this post April. My husband has just been through something similar. He has been terribly sick and the doctors had no real explanation or suggestions. We’ve been through elimination diets, gluten free, irritable bowel syndrome, leaky gut syndrome all with no real success. We came across a brochure from our health food shop about an alkaline deficiency. Hubby did a ph test and discovered his ranger was the same as people with cancer! He lived on diet soft drink and nearly fell of his chair when he read about how many glasses of water you needed to balance just one can. No more soft drink at our house and he began adding alkaline supplements to his water. He is finally back into the healthy range and feeling so much better for it. And I finally have my husband back.
I have heard of people also having severe aspartame poisoning from diet soft drink which can mimic the symptoms of lupus. Some people are almost crippled by the symptoms, from something so simple. Soft drink is now a very rare thing in our lives. I have it maybe once or twice a year if that.
Oh my gosh! I bet so many people suffer from their pH being off and they don’t know it. I’ll talk to friends who say, “I have headaches almost daily” or “I always feel sick to my stomach” and then after asking some questions about what they consume, it’s obvious that their bodies are rebelling from seven cups of coffee each day or from not drinking any water. Our diets are out of whack!
Yay for your husband! That’s so awesome and inspiring.