I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

[2big4mysize]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

start fridsay mornoing and by monday morning you will befine and they will never know their teacher was an addict!

[sombersusie]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

i've been caffiene free since monday, now after the diet rite is gone i will drop the pop so to speak...i usually drink 3-4 cans a day at least, it's probably stalling my weight loss as well, so its time to say good bye.
for me the best pop ever is diet coke with splenda, boy i was mad when they stopped selling it in two liters around here!!

[2big4mysize]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

good for you. Boy will Kent be surprized when he gets the next pass.

It amazes me the amount of known pharmocalogical stuff in food still because it was grandfathered in after medical info about the bad effects of the stuff became known.

[Lestat]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

Just to let you know, I am a DC addict too, but it has NOT interferred in my weight loss ever. I am on Atkins the second time around and am losing weight so quickly, with about 3-4 DCs a day. I really think Aspartame affects you on an individual basis, and its reaction on people is quite varied. It doesnt seem to affect me at all..... anyone else with the same reactions?

[kibskix]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

I changed my restart date to match the day I decided to give up cokes. I wasn't having THAT many though, the first time I did atkins over a year ago I got into the habit of always ordering water or tea when I go out, and drinking just water at home. So I was having a diet coke w/ lime 2-3 times a week at most.
I can't do the "I need something sweet and since I cant have THIS i'll have THAT" mentality, because feeding my sweettooth is my ultimate downfall, i'm so bad at the "well I had this already, I might as well have some more" A craving is mental and chemical, and its a sign to me that its Working! Almost every time I have a BAD BAD craving and beat it, I wake up the next day and i've lost. Its like giving up cigarettes, but saying "i'll still have one whenever I REALLY need it" Its way better to let it go completely. You dont need it, and induction is to break the sweet habit!! And honestly, I don't want to take the chance that a diet coke -MIGHT- make my weight loss stall, because i'll be thinking WHAT IF I hadn't had that, would I be less now? Do it clean the first time, it will be easier.

[summertime]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

So glad to find I am not alone. I am committing to giving it up. I am going to detox by going through three today. tomorrow two and then one. Hopefully I'll make it to none.
Thank you all

[alaska1204]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

for my first week of induction i went diet coke free and felt great! then i had my wisdom teeth pulled and drank like 12 a day!! and guess what...no weight loss!!! i felt so much better and actually craved water when i didn't drink it so i don't know why i started drinking it again...i just wanted to sooo bad! but i am vowing..starting from right now..no more diet cokes, no more asparatame (i have been making this great ice cream using sugar free water mixture stuff w/ no carbs or cals but it has asparatame)...that should limit my heavy whipping cream intake daily too..i have kinda been over doing it on that too..anyways, tommorow new day..no pop!!!

[summertime]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

Wow, what a great post. Keep me updated on your progress. I have severely reduced my caffeine since my last post. The lack of energy and headaches made me unable to function, so the reduction method worked. I have been scouring the stores for non aspartame drinks. My new quest is to buy all kinds of cool decaffeinated teas. This morning to reduce my cravings for caffeine and the dreaded dc, I warmed a diet Arizona green tea (with splenda and ginseng). For some reason, it worked.

I have also numbered the diet cokes in the house and if I do cave, I leave it on the counter for everyone to see. So far this has been successful. Although I would like to get it (DC) out of the house, I seem to have gotten my partner addicted also. (Hopefully my example will work.)

Any suggestions you have to beat the cravings would be appreciated. In the past week, I have also given up adding salt to my food and hope that this will reduce the thirst. I have a feeling all go together somehow.


I am nervous today because I driving with my chairperson for a whole day in the car, etc. So, I have packed my meals and tons of water. I am committed to finishing this addiction and so glad to hear someone else is struggling with it. I start teaching again in another month, and I want to be really free before a new semester starts. I think my class breaks (and some student behavior)can pose real triggers.

Have a dc free day! One step at a time.

165/149/GW-140

[DebOnAtkins]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

Hi my name is Deb and I am a diet cokeaholic. I can drink 5 or 6 cans a day and sometimes I will pop one open in the morning! I would like to quit but I know it is going to be hard for me because I am using Diet Coke as a replacement for the carbs and sugar I am not eating. Someone said they were using it like a treat. That is what I am doing.

Tomorrow I am going to start to try and taper off.

[FatTony]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

Where I live there are no caffeine free cola or sodas .. or low cal/carb tonic water.
I drink water daily, but it gets a bit tedious .. and I have a sweet tooth.
I drink Pepsi Max for a sweet hit .. anyone have any other suggestions?

BTW how does drinking low cal cola stall Atkins .. as someone wrote?

[Lulubell]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

hi all-

you know, i realize that the study is "inconclusive" but there's good stuff here to think about. i bolded a couple of sentences that i thought were particularly good. i have effectively cut out ALL soda from my diet. report form last week:

************************************************** *****
Diet Soda Linked to Heart Disease

BOSTON (AP) - People who drank one or more diet sodas each day developed the same risks for heart disease as those who downed sugary regular soda, a large but inconclusive study found.

The results surprised the researchers who expected to see a difference between regular and diet soda drinkers. It could be, they suggest, that even no-calorie sweet drinks increase the craving for more sweets, and that people who indulge in sodas probably have less healthy diets overall.

The study's senior author, Dr. Vasan Ramachandran, emphasized the findings don't show diet sodas are a cause of increased heart disease risks. But he said they show a surprising link that must be studied.

"It's intriguing and it begs an explanation by people who are qualified to do studies to understand this better," said Vasan, of Boston University School of Medicine.

However, a nutrition expert dismissed the study's findings on diet soda drinkers.

"There's too much contradictory evidence that shows that diet beverages are healthier for you in terms of losing weight that I would not put any credence to the result on the diet (drinks)," said Barry Popkin, of the University of North Carolina in Chapel Hill, who has called for cigarette-style surgeon general warnings about the negative health effects of soda.

Susan Neely, president of the American Beverage Association, said the notion that diet drinks are associated with bulging waistlines defies common sense.

"How can something with zero calories that's 99 percent water with a little flavoring in it ... cause weight gain?" she said.

The research comes from a massive, multi-generational heart study following residents of Framingham, Mass., a town about 25 miles west of Boston. The new study of 9,000 observations of middle-aged men and women was published Monday online in the journal Circulation.

The researchers found those who drank one or more sodas a day - diet or regular - had an increased risk of metabolic syndrome, compared to those who drank sodas infrequently. Metabolic syndrome is a cluster of symptoms that increase the risk for heart disease including large waistlines and higher levels of blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and blood fats called triglycerides.

At the start of the study, those who reported drinking one or more soft drinks a day had a 48 percent increased prevalence of metabolic syndrome compared to those who drank less soda.

Of participants who initially showed no signs of metabolic syndrome, those who drank one or more sodas a day were at 44 percent higher risk of developing it four years later, they reported.

Researchers expected the results to differ when regular soda and diet soda drinkers were compared, and were surprised when they did not, Vasan said.

But Popkin said that result isn't that surprising. He said much of the market for diet sodas are people who have unhealthy lifestyles and know they need to lose weight - with the other portion being thin people who want to stay that way. That means many people drinking diet sodas have unhealthy habits that could lead to increased heart disease risks, whether they drink diet soda or not.

In studies in which some users were randomly given diet sodas and others were given regular soda, diet soda drinkers lost weight and regular soda drinkers gained weight, Popkin said.

In a statement, the American Heart Association said it supports dietary patterns that include low-calorie beverages.

"Diet soda can be a good option to replace caloric beverages that do not contain important vitamins and minerals," the association said, adding further study is needed before any association between diet soda and heart risk factors would lead to public recommendations.

Vasan also said poor overall health habits may be one reason diet soda drinkers did not show lower heart disease risks in the Framingham study, but there hasn't been enough research to say for sure.

Another possible reason is a controversial theory called "dietary compensation," which holds that if someone drinks a large amount of liquids at a meal, they aren't satisfied and will tend to eat more at the next meal, Vasan said.

Other theories, Vasan said, are that people who drink a large amount of sweetened drinks are prone to develop a taste for sweeter foods, or that the substance that gives soda its caramel color promotes resistance to insulin, which is needed to process calories.

Without a more definitive explanation, Vasan offers only this advice to diet soda drinkers: "Consume in moderation and stayed tuned for more research."



(Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)

[sillygirl]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

Thanks lulubell! I just now saw this information!

[kiobe]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

I am the type of person that is not comfortable with only 1 12 pack of diet coke in the fredge at a time. Now that I am starting atkins I really want to try to overcome this additction. The diet coke has never noticibly hendered my weightloss before but I just dont want to keep drinking it(what in this stuff anyways?) I have cut down to drinking ONLY caffine fee but i still feel bad so I was thinking about having 1 12oz can a day as a treat of some sort. What do you guys think?

Wow, I had to read this twice to see if this was my wife. She drinks about a sixer of caffine free, diet coke a day. It's a rare day when I see her drink water. She panics when there's only a few cans left and runs to the store to get more. If you find any info about the problems that drinking so much coke, pass it along. Thanks and good luck.

[IrishIrish]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

When I began Atkins, I was dependent on Diet Coke ... a 32 ounce mug replaced my former coffee addiction. And then for the rest of the day, I had a glass of Diet Coke or a bottle or a can. Between my husband and I we figured we drank up to 4 two liter bottles a day. I cut back and kept struggling. But I finally just stopped cold turkey replacing it with water with lots of ice. Over time, my reliance on Diet Coke diminished.

[kiobe]

Re: I am a SEVERE diet coke addict

When I began Atkins, I was dependent on Diet Coke ... a 32 ounce mug replaced my former coffee addiction. And then for the rest of the day, I had a glass of Diet Coke or a bottle or a can. Between my husband and I we figured we drank up to 4 two liter bottles a day. I cut back and kept struggling. But I finally just stopped cold turkey replacing it with water with lots of ice. Over time, my reliance on Diet Coke diminished.

Good for You!!!! Herb tea is a good replacement too.