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(Mostly) Giving Up Soda
Mar. 26th, 2009 10:52 amAnybody who has known me for more than about a week knows that I'm utterly addicted to Coca-Cola. When I was really little it was an occasional treat, but as I got older I started drinking it more and more often, and by the time I was 18 I was drinking at least a liter a day. By the time I was 20 I was averaging 2 liters a day, and it's stayed at that level until very recently.
Several months ago I decided that the caffeine levels which kept me from sleeping, the ridiculous numbers of empty calories, and the 10-20 dollars a week weren't worth it. So, I started slowly dialing back the amount of soda I bought. I switched from buying a 1 liter on my way into work every morning to buying two 20 ounce bottles. Once I had reduced the amount I actually drank to less then half of the second one by the end of the day I stopped buying the second one (or still bought 2, but left the extra in the car or someplace equally inconvenient). It took over a month to get to that point.
Again, I slowed the rate at which I drank my daily bottle of soda. After a few weeks it was taking until late afternoon to finish so I decided it was time to step down again. The next smaller bottle available in stores is the half liter, which most grocery stores sell in 6 packs. This was where I really started to save money, because one 6 pack is about the same price as two day's worth of soda from the gas station. I took one bottle to work with me each day. If I finished it early I'd re-fill it with water and drink that. After a couple of weeks of half liters I was able to step down to 12oz bottles. At this point I'm bringing a refillable bottle of low caffeine iced tea (a roughly 50/50 blend of herbal and black tea). I plan on shifting the ratio of herb tea to black tea until I'm not consuming any caffeine at work at all.
Outside of work, my soda habit has also changed. I don't have Coke at restaurants most of the time, and I don't buy soda to keep in the house. I do occasionally have a glass of Tom's flavored diet Pepsi, but I don't like that stuff enough for it to be much of a temptation. I still buy a bottle of Coke for long drives, and drink it at parties/cons/assorted gatherings, but it's back to the place in my diet that it always should have held: an relatively rare treat, not my primary beverage.
Side note: I've lived in the northeast too long. I only just noticed that I consistently typed "soda" rather than "pop" all through this post.
Several months ago I decided that the caffeine levels which kept me from sleeping, the ridiculous numbers of empty calories, and the 10-20 dollars a week weren't worth it. So, I started slowly dialing back the amount of soda I bought. I switched from buying a 1 liter on my way into work every morning to buying two 20 ounce bottles. Once I had reduced the amount I actually drank to less then half of the second one by the end of the day I stopped buying the second one (or still bought 2, but left the extra in the car or someplace equally inconvenient). It took over a month to get to that point.
Again, I slowed the rate at which I drank my daily bottle of soda. After a few weeks it was taking until late afternoon to finish so I decided it was time to step down again. The next smaller bottle available in stores is the half liter, which most grocery stores sell in 6 packs. This was where I really started to save money, because one 6 pack is about the same price as two day's worth of soda from the gas station. I took one bottle to work with me each day. If I finished it early I'd re-fill it with water and drink that. After a couple of weeks of half liters I was able to step down to 12oz bottles. At this point I'm bringing a refillable bottle of low caffeine iced tea (a roughly 50/50 blend of herbal and black tea). I plan on shifting the ratio of herb tea to black tea until I'm not consuming any caffeine at work at all.
Outside of work, my soda habit has also changed. I don't have Coke at restaurants most of the time, and I don't buy soda to keep in the house. I do occasionally have a glass of Tom's flavored diet Pepsi, but I don't like that stuff enough for it to be much of a temptation. I still buy a bottle of Coke for long drives, and drink it at parties/cons/assorted gatherings, but it's back to the place in my diet that it always should have held: an relatively rare treat, not my primary beverage.
Side note: I've lived in the northeast too long. I only just noticed that I consistently typed "soda" rather than "pop" all through this post.
