Quitting - For the Second Time

A few years ago, I decided that I would quit drinking sodas just because I wanted to see if I was able to do it. At the time, I was an avid soda drinker - meaning I would drink at least 3 cans a day. I decided that I would quit cold turkey and see if I had enough willpower to get over my soda addiction. I was successful in my endeavor with no slip ups at all. It helped me lose some weight, too.

Fast forward about one year and I was in Honduras,with some sort of weird sickness that seemed to literally tearing the insides of my stomach into a thousand pieces. I was heavily nauseous and could barely sustain sitting up in bed, and I didn't even want to think about walking. I chalked this up to my body getting used to totally different types of bacteria, eating types of foods, and just a new environment in a different country. Javier persuaded me to take some alka-seltzer, which is, by far, the worst tasting medication in this entire world, hands down. After taking some, I was feeling a little bit better but I still wasn't completely healed, so he attempted to persuade me to take some more. I absolutely 100% refused, deciding that it was better to writhe in pain than take that horrid salty-water medication that made me want to gag.

But then he told me that if I took the alka-seltzer with some Coke, I wouldn't be able to even taste the medicine. After over one entire year of not touching any soda, I drank one glass with alka-seltzer and I got hooked again. Down in Honduras, the Coke is so much sweeter than the Coke we have in the USA. It is probably because they use pure sugar cane, but it's really, really sweet and delicious. I started drinking Coke on a regular basis and it again become part of my lifestyle. Everyone in Honduras drinks Coke. Everyone. Seriously, everyone. I think it's the country's national beverage.

After coming back to the USA, I decided that I was going to stop drinking soda because I wanted to lose weight and I knew that drinking less or no soda would help me in that goal. So on October 29, 2012, I stopped drinking soda again - cold turkey. There were times when I really craved it, but I did not give in. Only once Javier was drinking some Coke for dinner and took a tiny sip - but told him that it was just too sweet for me.

It has been helpful to quit drinking soda. There are times when I really want to drink some, but I tell myself no, that I've gone this long without it and instead I drink a Vitamin Water (0 calorie ones), water, or natural juices. It's also nice that it has helped me lose some weight. I'm down 25 pounds (going to the gym regularly as well), and although I have to lose a lot more, I know that by changing some of my dietary habits, it will be easier.