I gave up soda, could you?

How many of you out there drink soda on a daily basis and could probably drink litres of the stuff without even realising it. Up to a year ago I was completely addicted to soda and my drink of choice like many of you would be Diet Coke.

As far back as I can remember I’ve always loved diet coke although I was partial to a bit of TK Red Lemonade when I was in my Nans house. I would guzzle at least a bottle or two of the 500ml bottles during the day and a pint or two in the evening at my dinner, sure it has no calories in it why not drink more. If I was staying home all day I would nearly have a full 2ltr bottle and looking back on that is just shocking to think about.

It wasn’t till October of last year when I did the Pure Green Juice Detox. I did the 5 day detox which involved drinking 4 juices each day and no coffee or soda. I basically went cold turkey from coffee and soda; I had given up coffee a few months back during lent so it wasn’t too hard to give up on caffeine.  

The result of going completely cold turkey though meant outrageously bad headaches, not only was I suffering from caffeine withdrawals from both coffee and coke but Aspartame withdrawals. If you don’t know already Aspartame is the sweetener that Coke use instead of sugar and this stuff is in everything that you eat or drink, if it says diet on the packet you’re most likely going to have this sweetener in your ingredients.

After the detox I felt pretty amazing I must say and I decided that I wasn’t going to drink any coke or coffee from then till Christmas. As most people had seen me get through lent without coffee they knew I’d be fine but many scoffed when I said I was going to give up on coke. I managed up to a week before Christmas without any coke. I was on a night out and someone bought me a jack and coke but apart from that one JD and coke I can happily say I am a year coke free. The coffee ban didn’t last too long though; I really can’t live without coffee.

Firstly there are so many side effects to drinking diet drinks, you might think it’s good to not be drinking full fat drinks but you’re not kidding your body. When you drink drinks like coke with sweeteners in them they make your body think it’s getting sugar – I don’t know the scientificy way of explaining it but basically it can mess up how the sugar in your body is processed and can actually increase your chances of getting Type 2 Diabetes.

It can increase your risk of gaining wait also. I’m a bit 50/50 on this on though as I gained 2 stone this year but I joined back to Weight Watchers in October and I do notice a difference from the last time I went. I don’t have that need to have sweet things or chocolate. The last time around I would have “diet” everything like yogurts and special K bars which are filled with aspartame but this time if I feel the need for something sweet I’m drawn more to fruit or 70% chocolate. I’ve cut back completely on products that contain aspartame and as a result I think my taste buds have gone there’s a box of Celebrations floating around the office this week of which I’ve had 1 Galaxy chocolate and it tasted disgusting and so processed.

My overall health has benefited from cutting out coke. Nearly on a weekly basis I was getting migraines and headaches, I know only get maybe 1 every few months. As a result of cutting back on the constant flow of caffeine in my body my anxiety levels have dropped. I’ve replaced my intake of coke with water I don’t even have too much juices either unless it’s pressed vegetable juices. Coke is a diuretic which means it just goes straight through your body; you get absolutely no nutritional or hydrating benefits from coke. My skin used to be so dehydrated because I wasn’t getting enough fluids into my body as a result my skins looks better; I rarely get a spot or have flaky skin anymore.

 What I drink now:

      Water, water, water!

  Coffee

     Vegetable juices

       On a night out beer and mixers are juices like pineapple or cranberry

    My only vice is Red Bull and I haven’t had any in months

So what do you think, could you give up soda? Are you as addicted as I was?

After a year without soda I really think there is no need for them, at least not on a daily basis. It sickens me to think what damage I could have done internally to my body by drinking so much. I really hope by stopping now that in years to come I see more benefits and that any effects of coke or aspartame don’t affect me.

Thanks for reading.

Love Sarah xoxo

P.S if I got any facts wrong don’t kill me I’m only writing this from what I’ve learnt over time and what I’ve picked up along the way.