Let’s face it: Soda is really good. I’ve never been able to understand why people would disagree. My favorite of them all? Diet Coke. Anyone close to me knew this. Nearly any meal, or at least once a day, I’d have an ice-cold Diet Coke to accompany me.
However, my reputation for consuming a daily Diet Coke came with warnings from my friends about how bad it was for me. After all, sugary beverages like soda are associated with obesity, blood sugar control, diabetes, high cholesterol, and heart diseases. Plus, I’m almost positive the fizz didn’t do my stomach any favors. Although I was familiar with how bad soda was, I was also very caught up in how good I thought it tasted. Plus, I wasn’t feeling any effects, so what was the true harm?
One day, I decided enough was enough. I’d reached a point where I was tired of feeling like I needed to have a bubbly drink every day. Instead of feeling like a fun, tasty drink, Diet Coke was starting to feel like a crutch. It was as if I needed one to get through each day.
Luckily for me, the day this idea brewed was Ash Wednesday, which marked the beginning of Lent. Lent is a period observed in the Christian religious tradition. Although its customs vary between different denominations, my general idea was that many gave up something for the time. While I’m not a super religious person and had never participated in Lent, it felt like the perfect opportunity to see if I could last without my beloved beverage.
I had initially decided to only opt out of drinking Diet Coke but quickly decided that I needed to give up all sodas and fizzy drinks for the experience to truly challenge me. In the beginning, it definitely did. After all, I had been drinking a Diet Coke daily, and the effects of going cold turkey like I did were felt immediately.
Not long into Lent, I could already feel how much better I was doing without soda. In addition to my flavored beverages, I found my water intake going way up. Soda always tended to make me feel full, so with it absent from my diet, I was constantly refilling my 40-ounce water bottle. Flavored beverages like Powerade, lemonade, and Vitamin Water acted as amazing substitutes for the flavor I craved from soda. I learned that part of the reason I liked soda so much was because of the flavor, so exchanging soda with these healthier options ended up working for me perfectly.
Of course, I did initially miss one major component of soda: the caffeine. I’m not a coffee drinker, so soda provided a lot of the energy I needed to get through the day — at least, I thought I needed it to get through the day.
Early on, I decided I would let myself have an energy drink if there came a day when I was so exhausted that I would need the caffeine to function properly. This ended up only happening twice. Some mornings, when I would grab an energy drink, thinking I’d desperately need it, it would go untouched. It was almost as if knowing it was there if I needed it gave me all the energy I needed. It turns out my body was able to adapt to my new lack of caffeine, making the rest of my no-soda journey a lot easier.
Eventually, Easter Sunday rolled around, and I could sit down and have an ice-cold Diet Coke. While it was nice to have my favorite drink again, it was also lovely for Diet Coke not to feel like a crutch anymore.
All in all, I’m proud of myself for having the discipline to give up soda. I’ve never been good at keeping any sort of resolution when it comes to bettering myself, so it was really rewarding to know and feel the difference it’s made in me. I know now that if I want to change bad habits, I have the power to. And hey, maybe you do too!
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