Diet Soda

When I want soda, I either go for one made with real sugar (not HFCS) or seltzer with a splash of fruit juice in it.
Real sugar in moderation is not harmful. REAL food of any kind, in moderation is not harmful.

I don't drink pop often, but when I do I drink regular Coke. I prefer wine and beer. I also like ice water with lemon.

I stopped Diet soda recently too, for the 2nd time in the past 6 months or so.

Tea, I have found is the best alternative.
You still get a little caffeine, which is actually good for you, but not all the chemicals.

I call it my glass of chemicals, instead of calling it soda, which makes it a little less appealing.

Right now I am cleansing and I have been drinking a green smoothie for lunch that has spinach, apples, banana, and a bunch of other good stuff in it.
I have lost 4 pounds in 3 days, since I quit diet soda this time, and I am less bloated and swollen and gross feeling.

Keep it up! :)

Moderation is the key. Have diet soda once in a while. No big deal.

Before I got pregnant with my daughter, I eliminated all fake sugars from my diet and have never returned from them. Every dietician and nutrition expert I have ever spoken with has told me that fake sugar is just awful for you. A real soda with real sugar every once in a while is better for you than anything diet.

When I first stopped I still struggled with the habit so I started drinking natural sodas... particularly root beer made with real can sugar. It still had lots of sugar but I only drank them once or twice a week.

Then I started to try to lose weight and knew I should eliminate those as well because of the sugar. I switched to flavored sparkling water. There are lots of flavors but I prefer the lime. No sugar or artificial flavors. It took me a little while to get used to the flavor but when I did it really helped. I found that when I started craving a soda, the carbonation from the sparkling water helped "trick" my body into thinking it was getting what it wanted.

Good luck!

Diet soda is sooooooooo bad for you!!!!!Please read and inform yourself.

http://kimberlysnyder.net/blog/2011/12/01/8-dangers-of-di...

http://www.oneresult.com/articles/nutrition/dangers-diet-...

http://www.care2.com/greenliving/dangers-of-diet-soda.html

ON ASPARTAME:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pvFRLIjOLOU

I'm with you. Diet Coke is my only bad habit. And boy is it a habit. I might as well just mainline the stuff I drink so much of it. I don't drink coffee so I tend to drink it like other people would drink coffee. I've tried to quit cold turkey but I end up having headaches. I'm sure much of it is psychological. I hope to kick this habit this year. Try, try again.

Try substituting honey for the sugar..... the Digest Diet uses honey a lot for sweeteners, and says there are some real health benefits to doing that.

i have done the same thing....so now when i go out to eat is the only time i have a diet soda. i drink coffee and iced tea!!

Look up online 'cleaning uses for diet soda' -- it will eat away rust, battery acid, tarnish... Not ok in your body!

It is true that artificial sweeteners wreak havoc on your system and can cause weight gain.

That said, don't start putting sugar into your diet either. That will just make it harder to let go of sweet drinks in general. Also avoid fruit juice until you stop craving the sweetness.

Water, coffee, and sweet tea. I like Coke Classic with certain things- like popcorn, pizza, and peanuts- salty stuff. I usually only have a couple of cans in a week.
I wasn't much if a water drinker until I moved to a home with a well. The taste between that and city water is huge- so much better and always the perfect temperature.
I've been cutting back on the coffee. Wretched. So I feel your pain on giving up a drink you love!

Propel is vitamin enhanced. I drink two a day and my nails have never been nicer!

Good for you for getting off it! Diet Dew is horrible, so is diet anything. Chemicals, chemicals, chemicals. Refined sugar is no good either. You could try seltzer if you want something bubbly. It's expensive for bubbly water but there are no calories or sodium or sugar. A lot of people buy those devices to carbonate their own water, then add some lime or lemon. For sweetness, I use a high quality product made from rebiana (from the stevia plant). I also use the only healthy product out there for energy - from the same company as the stevia - because those commercially available "energy drinks" are not only full of caffeine and sugar, they are also so hazardous - heart problems from people taking too much. There's also a great hydrator available on line, superior to Gatorade and Vitamin Water which have a lot of garbage in them, including salt, sugar and dyes. I use one with just a small amount of fructose (NOT high fructose corn syrup!) and colored with beta carotene. It comes in lemon as well as orange, so maybe that would substitute for your Dew? Happy to give you more info but I don't know your tastes.

Keep off the diet sodas. That aspartame is so bad for you and it never should have been approved for consumption! Once you wean off this stuff, you won't go back. Stay strong!

Have you considered trying Stevia in your tea? Artificial sweeteners are bad for you for so many different reasons. For one thing, something in the chemical causes you to want more sweet things when you consume it. Plus your body don't really know how to process it.
Between real sugar and artificial, the real stuff is the lessor of the two evils. However, it isn't very good for you either, even in moderation.
Have you considered trying Stevia? It's a zero calorie, natural sweetener. It comes in both liquid and powder form. I typically have a vial of the liquid at the house that I use to sweeten my tea. It doesn't take much, MAYBE 5 drops. For dining out, I carry an empty Tic Tac container filled with some of the packets. I normally only use about 1/2 a packet per glass, and if I have a half left, I can just fold the top down, and place it back into my TicTac container for later :)

Best of luck on the weening!

La Croix rasberry is the sweetest no calorie or sweetner drink . I love the bubbles ! I love diet pop . It is so hard to stop . I went on the 17 day diet and you can't have sweetner . I lost 15 lbs and felt better only after a couple of days because I didn't drink diet pop . Good luck :0)

IMHO, diet soda = chemical s*** storm.

Good for you getting off it.

Water or plain tea.

I just got back from CVS to pick up some things including my ever favorite Diet Mointain Dew (best in the bottles). If this is one of the worst things I do, I can live with myself. I have also had a ton of water today but livin it up with my diet MD and Netflix tonight!

It is so bad for you. And i drink it. I get to listen to my husband tell me how bad it is. But I'm like you, I love it. I don't drink it every day, but it is still hard to stop. I like Coke Zero. And somehow I tried a Pepsi Next and I love that too, althought it's not really diet, just half. When I weaned myself off of it once, I drank tea also, but no real sugar. Try some Crystal Light they have a really good tea too, but of course I'm sure that is bad for you too.

I dont drink soda or use any artificial sugar.....so bad for you. I drink water....took awhile to be ok with it. I used to use a lot of lemon in my water-still like that. McD's sweet tea is awesome..i think it has crack in it haha. I try to not have caffeine so that's a rare treat. I drink a lot of tea and sweeten with honey. My other drink is a hot chai....i buy the decaf organic and equal chai (liquid) and milk (i use unsweetened vanilla almond milk).

I drink diet everything, and it hasn't killed me yet. Also, I'm not fat. :) Refined sugar really isn't great for you either; maybe you should discuss this with a nutritionist before deciding that diet soda will make you gain weight (which would be difficult, because it has no calories), and then switching to sweet tea, which will certainly make you gain weight, because it's chock full of refined sugar. The health hazards of refined sugar are very well-documented (hello, diabetes!). I'd think this one through a bit more... How about just drinking more water, and having an occasional diet soda, since you enjoy them? Everything in moderation, right? :)

i actually lost weight when i stopped drinking soda.. all i drank was water for quite a while, now its still mostly water but i drink vitamin water iced tea and juice too.. it wasnt easy.. every now and then ill drink a diet soda.. occasionally ill be eating something and just be like you know i could really go for a soda with this.. and ill have one.. its hasnt gone back to full blown soda all the time like i used to be.. it really isnt a big deal anymore to me... its been 2 years.. i used to drink at least 3 cans of diet soda everyday.. not a good habit
on another note.. iv found that since i stopped drinking so much of it, when i do have a soda i burp like a thousand times or get the hiccups.. guess im not used to the carbonation anymore

I have been trying to kick my coke zero habit with no luck. even substituting the caffeine with other sources like coffee (which I hate) and tea has not helped. I really think there is something in them that makes you want to drink them. It is really my only addiction. If you do manage to kick it, let me know. I also drink Sobe vitamin water with no calories and they are pretty good, but still not a substitute for my coke zero.

I love using MiO..the flavors are so intense. I particularly like the Sweet Tea flavor..and it has no calories, no fat, no sugar, no carbs, etc. It does have sucralose (Splenda) and acesulfame potassium, if you are against artificial sweeteners..so I guess if that's why you are ditching the diet soda, then the MiO may not be a good alternative.

I also like Jumex..comes in a pop can in the ethnic aisle at WalMart (and probably a lot of other places, but that's by far the cheapest place to buy it at 30 some cents a can)...my favorite flavor is the Strawberry Banana, but they are all good, and there's a lot of fiber in it. It's juice, not pop.

By using the Mio and about one can of Jumex a week, I have all but abandoned my pop habit (which, over the last 10 years, has gone from almost a 12 pack a day of Coke and Mt. Dew down to maybe ONE Coke a week.) I don't miss it, and I get less headaches.

I also drink a lot of decaf coffee, and some tea.

Hate diet soda I bought a pack of diet coke 2 months ago & all it gave me was a headache & dizzines then the taste yuck.I do drink several other varities of soda just not diet,all kinds of sweet teas that I make or buy,snapple,lemonade,cranberry juice,lemon water

http://www.naturalnews.com/035752_artificial_sweeteners_f...

And, I believe in "everything in moderation" but only with real foods! Not overly processed, chemically enhanced "foods!"

Love this site:
http://www.100daysofrealfood.com/