I need help to cut fizzy drinks from my diet

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

This isn't an easy thread to write but my addiction to fizzy drinks has now spiralled out of control. For years, I used to drink lots of drinks like Coke, Fanta etc but always managed to keep my weight going up through exercise etc but the past two years im almost 2 stone heavier and its due mostly to drinking at least 3 cans of Coke every day and sometimes at weekends up to 6 cans a day!

I know its crazy, I know it bad for me, I know im the only one to blame and the only one who can help me is me but im reaching out to see is there anyone who has overcome an addiction to fizzy drinks because I fear im just too far gone. My doctor told me my blood sugar has gone up, I sometimes get heart flutters that may be due to caffeine overload and I feel like absolute crap if I haven't had a coke but none of that stops me. I sometimes feel so good drinking a coke that my eyes fizz up and I clench my fists, its a pure rush and im extremely irritable if I don't drink it.

How do I start to help myself? Im a male mid 30s by the way.

Are there particular times you have a can during the week and at the weekend? You might need to look at how you might address it if there are...in the same way a smoker might when there are certain times/activities that they smoke at.

This doesn't work for everyone but it's worth considering as you tackle this: keep a diary of your intake of fizzy drinks...when you buy them, record it and honestly record how you feel about it why you bought them etc. When you start to reduce your intake, keep recording how you feel and try to describe why you feel it.

It makes you a bit more mindful and gives you a bit more control because you're documenting why you buy them and why you drink them and it makes it clear that they don't buy themselves and pour themselves into your mouth.

I'm not being facetious...its just its easy to give yourself a pass as if you have no control. That you're a powerless victim. Acknowledging that you do have the control, that you're not powerless can be empowering because you knoe that if you really want to turn it around, you can do it by making the right decisions at the right times.

Is it going to be easy? Probably not. There will be times when you crave a fizzy drink and when you're a narky f**k because you want one...but that passes and you feel great when it passes and you acknowledge that you've made a positive decision and not capitulated.

Best of luck.

ive no direct experience but a simple thing to do would be to switch out the coke for something like a coffee or a fizzy spring water (you could add some lemon), that way your body plays out the routine for want of a better term. You hear about people drinking more than 2 ltrs a day so dont see changing as insurmountable. i ll guess you will get some headaches or be low energy for a few days but plough through it.
Next step would look at the rest of your diet and look to cut out food that would spike your insulin and if you have stopped exercising start something simple again like walking and build it up from there.
you can pick up a glucometer from some chemists for free though you will have to pay for the strips after and you could see what the stuff is doing to you in real time

per aspera ad astra wrote: »

You just need a few days off it!!

This point bears repeating. I am no scientition, but those sugar cravings and that sugar rush you get immediately after drinking a can of coke are actually physiological responses, and so is that irritability you feel when you haven't topped up that sugar level for a while. It will only take a few days, but once you let your body process all that ****e out of you then the cravings will pass.

But that won't happen when you keep resetting the process with another can. Stop doing that, find something that works as a replacement and give your body time to get back to normal.

I use 7up free and water mixed, half and half, find it as sweet as if there is no water in it, try it, maybe it can help to start with, and reduce the mineral to water ratio after a while

I cut down on fizzy drinks by replacing with sparkling water and cordial. Don’t like sparkling water on its own but mixed with some cordials it’s quite nice esp if it’s from the fridge and really fizzy. Now you can get those tiny bottles of concentrate cordial in lots of flavors so it’s easy to even bring around with you. Might be worth a try!

This is something I've struggled with, and still do actually - it's crept back in over the summer a bit as I don't drink coffee and begrudge paying €2 plus for a tea when I make better myself and a can of coke zero is half the price! But not to the same degree of 2+ litres a day it used to be.

I swapped for more tea, but if it's going with a weightloss stratefy, be mindful of the added milk calories. Not saying don't do it, or go without, just remember to count them in whatever method you're using.

I have to admit though, I honestly don't feel better or healthier. I'd upped my water consumption a long time before, so by the time it came to the fizzies I was kinda getting to the last few things I wanted to address (there's a couple of things I won't address, like beer! )

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Im not getting on too good as im only down to 2 bottles a day from 2 and a half so very slow

Wanderer2010 wrote: »

Just an update for anyone who is interested. I started cutting from 3 bottles a day to 2 and now im down a bottle and a half per day.

What size of bottle are you talking about? The 500ml bottles or the big 2L bottles?

Stellasmurf wrote: »

I don’t drink the stuff that much but would have the odd Coke Zero or 7up free when I get a sweet craving. Could you substitute for these? Or do people consider these just as bad? I’ve never been able to find much evidence to say either way.

Artificial sweeteners have no health benefits as of themselves but if they're being used short term for weight loss or sugar curbing then that's surely a plus.

They've been proven to be toxic to gut bacteria which can negatively affect overall health. They've also been proven to confuse the body and trigger insulin which promotes fat storage. Diet and regular coke also contain phosphoric acid which provides sharpness in the flavour but too much causes calcium deficiency along with other minerals. Osteoporosis has been linked with diet coke due to calcium leeching from bones.

Most of these with diet coke are based on relatively long term consumption so diet coke ever now and again wouldn't be too bad I suppose but drinking several cans every day wouldn't be a good idea. I love an aul coke zero myself.

Apparently Trump drink 8 cans of diet coke a day!

lee_baby_simms wrote: »

They've been proven to be toxic to gut bacteria which can negatively affect overall health. They've also been proven to confuse the body and trigger insulin which promotes fat storage.

You are playing a bit loose with the words "proven" there.



It's been claimed that they trigger an insulin response. I haven't seen any concrete evidence that they do, to any significant effect.

If they didn't, wouldn't they play havoc with diabetics?

Hum, have you got a ling to the actual study and not the Sun?
I'd be interested to see how they pin point it on 5-10g sugar from fizzy drinks and not the other 99% of people diet