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I need help to cut fizzy drinks from my diet

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    #32
    Cyclical Apocalypse
    Banned (with Prison Access) Posts: 58 ✭✭Cyclical Apocalypse


    Sorry, a bit of a pet peeve of mine is when people throw out statistics like this raises your risk of disease by 20% without stating what the risk is in percentage terms beforehand. For example, that study a few years ago that came out that processed meats would raise your risk of getting a specific type of cancer by 20% which seems enormous at first glance, but it turns out your chance of getting that particular type of cancer was only something like 1% beforehand.


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    #33
    Mellor
    Registered Users Posts: 39,024 ✭✭✭✭Mellor


    gctest50 wrote: »
    https://www.bmj.com/content/366/bmj.l2408

    .
    Thank you.
    So they didn't distinguish. Makes sense.
    Both fruit juice and Cola are considered sugary drinks. Sugar is your tea coffee also just as bad I suppose.

    So the culprit is sugar not fizz. Yet people will still blame with corporations.


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    #34
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,381 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Cyclical Apocalypse wrote: »
    Sorry, a bit of a pet peeve of mine is when people throw out statistics like this raises your risk of disease by 20% without stating what the risk is in percentage terms beforehand. For example, that study a few years ago that came out that processed meats would raise your risk of getting a specific type of cancer by 20% which seems enormous at first glance, but it turns out your chance of getting that particular type of cancer was only something like 1% beforehand.

    Was about to say the same thing.. Too many people think a 20% increase means you now have at least a 1 in 5 chance of getting that disease.

    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. I didn't realise it would be so hard, 2 and a half weeks later. The cravings are very strong, plus I got a multitude of other side effects from the shakes and aches all over to tiredness and crankiness plus an unpleasant feeling that nothing in the whole world will make me happy except a bottle of coke and feeling weepy. I know that's just the crap leaving my system but its still tough.

    Im drinking lots of water and am trying to stay away from chocolate (first thing that happened when I cut back was a craving for more chocolate to top up my sugar levels!) and am determined to see this through. The health benefits will be worth it. I cant imagine doing this cold turkey.

    How you getting on OP? Sounds horrendous compared to when I switched to schweppes soda water and stronger coffee, and 90% chocolate as my only "sweet" treat. Blood sugar has gone from low pre-diabetes two years ago to low in general and that's all the motivation I need.


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    #35
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    https://twitter.com/I_NvesNme/status/1149322673245347840

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #36
    tinpib
    Registered Users Posts: 4,473 ✭✭✭tinpib


    Curious to hear how you are doing OP.


    I was in a similar situation to yourself but maybe not to that extreme. I gave up alcohol over 3.5 years ago (prob the best decision I've ever made in my life). But there was no way I could go from red wine with dinner most nights/almost every night, to water.


    So I switched to Coke and used to enjoy the "ahhhhhh" hit of the first mouthful. I drank Coke everyday for about 2.5 years. I knew I should give it up but I also knew it was far better than drinking booze so I put it on the long finger.


    Then one day about a year ago I drank a load of coke with a pasta bolognese dinner and I just felt extremely sh!tty after it. So I said fupp this, by coincidence this was around the time I was moving into a place of my own so it was the perfect time to cut out this bad habit. But how would I do this exactly?


    To my complete and continued surprise I discovered that Tesco flavoured fizzy Spring Water at €0.35c a litre is absolutely fupping delicious. Way, way nicer than Coke, Sprite etc.


    There is summer fruits, raspberry and apple, lemon and lime, strawberry, white grape and black berry, peach and passion fruit and one or two others so lots of variety.


    There is still no way I could go to just drinking tap water with every meal, I can't believe how good these drinks taste, it's win win win really when you take in the price and lack of sugar.


    As far as I know Aldi, Lidl and Dunnes have a tiny or non existent range of flavoured fizzy water, in Aldi last time I checked they had 2 flavours and it came in 2l bottles which is a pain to drink from, I just drink straight from the bottle so the 1l is handier. :D


    e0OmpWR.jpg


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    #37
    SortingYouOut
    Registered Users Posts: 1,374 ✭✭✭SortingYouOut


    You need to go cold turkey and then note the times you really crave the it, what triggered the cravings and can those triggers be addressed.

    If you're replacing it with anything, don't replace it with the diet alternative. The caffeine alone is effecting your sleep cycle and leaving you in a worse state the next day.

    Go cold turkey and see for yourself what a difference one week will even make. Two weeks in and the elation itself will make you realise why you won't want to go back.

    Beverly Hills, California



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    #38
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users Posts: 6,663 ✭✭✭Wanderer2010


    SortingYouOut wrote: »
    You need to go cold turkey and then note the times you really crave the it, what triggered the cravings and can those triggers be addressed.

    If you're replacing it with anything, don't replace it with the diet alternative. The caffeine alone is effecting your sleep cycle and leaving you in a worse state the next day.

    Go cold turkey and see for yourself what a difference one week will even make. Two weeks in and the elation itself will make you realise why you won't want to go back.

    UPDATE:

    I know your science is sound but those 3 words Go Cold Turkey sound so easy in theory but sadly I haven't been able to manage to cut back gradually and keep that momentum. Im back to 3 bottles a day, sometimes up to 5 at weekends. Its an actual addiction, and im not using that as an excuse, my body craves it so bad. The best I could do was 1.5 bottles a day for a week or so and then I woke up one morning and absolutely nothing in the world would do only a cold bottle. So that was the start of it.

    Its an addiction just like drink and drugs. Sugar is horrendous. I have looked into hypnotherapy but really, I cant do it is the basic update. Good luck to anyone who has kicked it. :(


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    #39
    jaykhunter
    Moderators, Entertainment Moderators Posts: 12,013 Mod ✭✭✭✭jaykhunter


    So sorry to hear that. It sounds like mentally you're addicted too, and it's part of your routine, and bucking the routine sends you spiralling. Head to a GP and see if u can get referred to CBT/counselling. Rooting for you!


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    #40
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,381 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    UPDATE:

    I know your science is sound but those 3 words Go Cold Turkey sound so easy in theory but sadly I haven't been able to manage to cut back gradually and keep that momentum. Im back to 3 bottles a day, sometimes up to 5 at weekends. Its an actual addiction, and im not using that as an excuse, my body craves it so bad. The best I could do was 1.5 bottles a day for a week or so and then I woke up one morning and absolutely nothing in the world would do only a cold bottle. So that was the start of it.

    Its an addiction just like drink and drugs. Sugar is horrendous. I have looked into hypnotherapy but really, I cant do it is the basic update. Good luck to anyone who has kicked it. :(

    Have you checked for diabetes etc.? This sounds really extreme.


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    #41
    Wanderer2010
    Registered Users Posts: 6,663 ✭✭✭Wanderer2010


    Deleted User wrote: »
    Have you checked for diabetes etc.? This sounds really extreme.

    No I haven't actually, I might say that to my doctor. Most of the advice in relation to cutting back on fizzy drinks seems to be either to go completely cold turkey, with the usual encouragement of "It will only be week of hell, it gets better after that" or that you wean yourself off it slowly.

    I cant do the first option as im so dependent on it now, and I know people might say that's just weakness or lack of willpower, but that doesn't affect me as I still have the problem. The second tactic I tried but failed after a few weeks. I have kind of accepted it now, I gave it a shot at least..


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    #42
    GreeBo
    Registered Users Posts: 27,033 ✭✭✭✭GreeBo


    OP are you drinking straight from the bottle?

    One tip, if you are still stuck on drinking manufactured fizzy is to keep the bottle in the fridge and make the effort to have to go and get a glass.
    This alone should reduce your intake, especially if you use a small glass and only allow yourself to drink the glass when you get to your desk/etc.

    Its too easy to stand at the fridge and chug a half a litre.

    I'd highly second trying out some home made fizzy drinks, Orange Barley and a touch of salt with store bought fizzy water is my current tipple.


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    #43
    wonski
    Registered Users Posts: 13,687 ✭✭✭✭wonski


    Just don't drink it. Stick to water.

    There is no scientific way to help you.

    Just stop doing what you don't want to do.

    Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, this should be easy to cut down on in day 1. Sparkling water if you really want the fizzy part ;)


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    #44
    atilladehun
    Registered Users Posts: 1,564 ✭✭✭atilladehun


    You could try something like every time you want to open a soft drink you must drink the same volume of water first.

    You could try lock yourself away in some remote holiday rental with enough food and no soft drink for a week.

    They're just tricks to occupy your thoughts. Will power is the only thing that'll work. You don't need soft drinks.


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    #45
    mathie
    Registered Users Posts: 5,093 ✭✭✭mathie


    wonski wrote: »
    Just don't drink it. Stick to water.

    There is no scientific way to help you.

    Just stop doing what you don't want to do.

    Unlike alcohol and cigarettes, this should be easy to cut down on in day 1. Sparkling water if you really want the fizzy part ;)

    "Just don't drink it" and "Just stop doing what you don't want to do".
    Easier said than done.
    Our findings clearly demonstrate that intense sweetness can surpass cocaine reward, even in drug-sensitized and -addicted individuals. We speculate that the addictive potential of intense sweetness results from an inborn hypersensitivity to sweet tastants. In most mammals, including rats and humans, sweet receptors evolved in ancestral environments poor in sugars and are thus not adapted to high concentrations of sweet tastants. The supranormal stimulation of these receptors by sugar-rich diets, such as those now widely available in modern societies, would generate a supranormal reward signal in the brain, with the potential to override self-control mechanisms and thus to lead to addiction.

    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC1931610/


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    #46
    Mangofrozo
    Site Banned Posts: 43 ✭Mangofrozo


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    UPDATE:

    I know your science is sound but those 3 words Go Cold Turkey sound so easy in theory but sadly I haven't been able to manage to cut back gradually and keep that momentum. Im back to 3 bottles a day, sometimes up to 5 at weekends. Its an actual addiction, and im not using that as an excuse, my body craves it so bad. The best I could do was 1.5 bottles a day for a week or so and then I woke up one morning and absolutely nothing in the world would do only a cold bottle. So that was the start of it.

    Its an addiction just like drink and drugs. Sugar is horrendous. I have looked into hypnotherapy but really, I cant do it is the basic update. Good luck to anyone who has kicked it. :(

    There is a programme called transformation mastery I would suggest. People often use stimuli such as sugar, food, gym, alcohol, drugs, tv, self help, reading to distract from the fact that they don't think they're good enough.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxN4iJ8Rhdc


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    #47
    Zillah
    Registered Users Posts: 17,371 ✭✭✭✭Zillah


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    but sadly I haven't been able to manage to cut back gradually

    Cutting down an addiction is much harder than going cold turkey. For a number of reasons. The three most important being:
    1 - The substance is still in your life so it remains an option and occupies your thoughts.
    2 - You simply drag out the withdrawal period, so instead of having a few days of intense misery, you subject yourself to weeks or months of it.
    3 - Most importantly: you are still buying the thing you are addicted to! It's still in your fridge, always mere seconds away. Sending out a siren call you can't ignore.

    Go pour every trace of sugary drinks you have down the sink. Never buy them again. There are lots of things you can do to help get through it, but you just need to accept that you will feel horrible for a few days and after that it will get easier.

    Imagine if someone was trying to quit heroin and they kept a stash of heroin in their house. How would you rate their chances of quitting?

    Speaking from personal experience, when I quit smoking, if cigarettes were completely out of the scope of my attention - say, if I was up a mountain - then it wouldn't bother me at all. But the moment they entered my awareness as an option - say, spending time with a friend who smokes, or being in a pub with a smoking area - suddenly the cravings kick in to the max.

    If you keep fizzy drinks in your house are you planning to fail; you are preemptively giving up before you had a chance. You are addicted to them, keeping them around means you will definitely drink them. The path of least resistance for yourself is to remove them from easy reach.

    You will feel terrible. Expect it, plan for it, accept it. The feeling will go away. You need to mentally come to terms with the idea of a life without sugary drinks, and give up on this fantasy that you can wean yourself off, which really is just a way to convince yourself you can do two mutually exclusive things at once: you want to both keep drinking something you're addicted to while simultaneously giving it up.

    You cannot keep consuming the thing you are addicted to while quitting, it doesn't work.


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    #48
    silverharp
    Registered Users Posts: 17,840 ✭✭✭✭silverharp


    Might it be an idea to cut out all sugar for a while?, giving up "cigarettes" while keeping the pipe and cigars wouldn't seem to be a good plan.

    A belief in gender identity involves a level of faith as there is nothing tangible to prove its existence which, as something divorced from the physical body, is similar to the idea of a soul. - Colette Colfer



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    #49
    is_that_so
    Registered Users Posts: 32,136 ✭✭✭✭is_that_so


    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.
    This sounds like a smoking type addiction. My suggestion is a slower weaning off approach. You could start by eliminating some of the times you feel the urge and get yourself down to 2 a day. As others have suggested sub in a sparkling water mix instead. After a little while you can then go down to 1 and repeat. Then on to zero. I personally don't think there's too much wrong with the occasional fizzy drink but based on what you want and not on what you need! Good luck.


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    #50
    patmahe
    Registered Users Posts: 224 ✭✭patmahe


    Quandary wrote: »
    Sparkling water with a dash of miwadi is a decent alternative

    I took this approach, I now don't like fizzy drinks, coke tastes like watered down syrup to me. I have lost a lot of weight in the meantime but there were a number of measures I implemented at the same time so hard to say how bug an effect cutting out the fizzy drinks alone would have had.

    Edited to add: assuming you don't want to go cold turkey, phase the coke out by tapering the dosage and replacing it with sparkling water, you won't get the withdrawals as bad. Sugar and caffeine are both highly addictive so best to take a phased approach to reducing them.


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    #51
    Mike9832
    Closed Accounts Posts: 1,912 ✭✭✭Mike9832


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    No I haven't actually, I might say that to my doctor. Most of the advice in relation to cutting back on fizzy drinks seems to be either to go completely cold turkey, with the usual encouragement of "It will only be week of hell, it gets better after that" or that you wean yourself off it slowly.

    I cant do the first option as im so dependent on it now, and I know people might say that's just weakness or lack of willpower, but that doesn't affect me as I still have the problem. The second tactic I tried but failed after a few weeks. I have kind of accepted it now, I gave it a shot at least..

    Why don't you just drink Coke Zero, Fanta Zero etc if you can't give up?

    Taste great these days and no calories, I'm always drinking them, never drink full calorie Coke now


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    #52
    thenightman
    Registered Users Posts: 561 ✭✭✭thenightman


    I stopped instantly about 3 years ago when my dentist read me the riot act before I undertook some very expensive treatment. Don't miss it at all, and my skin, teeth and weight is all the better for it.

    It's just a habit, first week is tough to get through, but every time you're craving a can just drink some ice cold water. I keep a pitcher of water in the fridge at all times and it's fierce refreshing, can't believe I pumped my body full of that manky syrupy ****e for so long!


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    #53
    c.p.w.g.w
    Registered Users Posts: 4,994 ✭✭✭c.p.w.g.w


    Quandary wrote: »
    Sparkling water with a dash of miwadi is a decent alternative

    Mi wadi will have the artificial sweeteners too, which seem to have an affect on blood sugar


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    #54
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,381 ✭ [Deleted User]


    gdS7OH4.png

    Some motivation for anyone with weight problems.


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    #55
    Agent Coulson
    Registered Users Posts: 60,286 ✭✭✭✭Agent Coulson


    Honestly that graph would do the opposite with me.


    If I drank 2 cans of coke a day I'd have to walk for an hour to work them off I'd probably drink 2 more trying to figure out where I could find an hour to go for a walk between work family and other things every day that would mean I needed to then find 2 hours to go walking.


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    #56
    Thoie
    Registered Users Posts: 6,344 ✭✭✭Thoie


    Wanderer2010 wrote: »
    UPDATE:

    I know your science is sound but those 3 words Go Cold Turkey sound so easy in theory but sadly I haven't been able to manage to cut back gradually and keep that momentum. Im back to 3 bottles a day, sometimes up to 5 at weekends.
    atilladehun wrote: »
    You could try something like every time you want to open a soft drink you must drink the same volume of water first.

    Some of getting over an addiction is finding out what your "triggers" are. Are you craving the sugar? Craving caffeine? Do you drink it at specific times, or when certain things happen? Start keeping a notebook noting the times when you're drinking it, and what was happening immediately before, and how you felt after. See if you can see any trends after a few days.

    As atilladehun said, maybe you're just thirsty? Every time you go to have a fizzy drink, have a glass of water first, wait 2 minutes, then see if you still want the fizz. You're not denying yourself the fizz, just delaying it by 2 minutes. If, after the water, you still want it, go ahead. Added benefit is that if you've already had some water you may drink less of the sweet stuff.

    Fizzy water is another option there if it's the "mouth feel" you want. Sometimes I want a sweet fizzy drink, but it turns out sometimes I just want the feel of fizz, which sodawater gives me (even though I don't particularly like plain sodawater). A mouthful of sodawater satisfies the fizz feeling.


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    #57
    [Deleted User]
    Posts: 17,381 ✭ [Deleted User]


    Agent Coulson wrote: »
    Honestly that graph would do the opposite with me.


    If I drank 2 cans of coke a day I'd have to walk for an hour to work them off I'd probably drink 2 more trying to figure out where I could find an hour to go for a walk between work family and other things every day that would mean I needed to then find 2 hours to go walking.

    Unconventional but if it works, it works.


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