Friday, May 14, 2010

Last Coke

Okay, I have a ton of draft posts that are really old now but I still wanted to share. Just keep in mind this is about a month oldnow.

One of my major addictions since childhood has been Coke. No, not "the hard stuff", a coke-a-cola. I have a feeling that as time wears on we will find out that soda is just as damaging as drugs in the long run.

I gave soda up as a New Year's Resolution in 2007 and went just about a year without a soda. I slowly started treatig myself to one every now and then and then in the past couple of months since the end of UKC, I have been drinking it fairly regularly.

A familiar feeling returned, the absolutely worst cravings ever. Bad food and soda go hand in hand with me, so why not go for the burger. Who doesn't have coke with pizza? What's worse though is the soda cravings. I remember sitting in class in college thinking that I needed a coke as soon as class was out. I sat there thinking my body language must make it look like I am a smoker.

When I gave up soda I started drinking a lot of water which is good, but I also started substituting it with juice which is also bad. Old habits die hard, I accidentally poured myself one the other day at lunch. I felt bad and bought it since it was already in the cup, but I threw it away before I even got into the office.

Here are some coping strategies I have found:
  1. Drink tea. I personally love Tazo Green Tea from Starbucks, I had 2 venti cups of iced tea on Saturday and Sunday and it helped take the edge off
  2. Read up on soda and what it does to your body!
  3. Suck on ice cubes
  4. Eat something sweet like fruit or sorbet or put fruit in your water
  5. Get moving! It always makes me crave water
  6. Occupy yourself with something. Preferably you should keep yourself active, but putting in a movie or playing a game should suffice in a pinch
  7. Journal about it! It will keep you on track as well as help you work out your dependency on soda. I fully believe a lot of people transfer addictions so even if you are only a casual soda drinker it may help you develop positive behavior as a substitute for other self destructive alternatives

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