How I Kicked My Coke Habit
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I try to eat what I consider to be a reasonably healthful diet. I eat raw and steamed vegetables, whole grain breads and cereals, skim milk, fresh fruit and never buy things like Twinkies, Lay's Potato Chips, candy or ice cream. I can't remember when I last tasted a donut. It has to be years.
But I did have one vice - Coca-Cola Classic soft drinks. To me, nothing was better than an ice-cold can of Coca-Cola after a long day. Sometimes, in the afternoon, when the after-lunch doldrums start to kick in, I would look out the window, wishing I was out there instead of in here, and this ennui would start to creep in, taking up residence in my very bones. Only a cold can of Coca-Cola from the vending machine down the hall would shake off the doldrums.
I have never liked diet sodas; In fact I think they not only taste bad but they have bad things in them. At least, I told myself, if I was drinking a can of the real stuff, I was drinking natural ingredients instead of artificial sweeteners, which I heard cause cancer in lab mice. Of course they probably give those poor mice 20 times the recommended daily allowance, but I avoided them mostly because of their funny aftertaste. (Diet sodas, not lab mice.)
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Then I started reading articles in the newspaper describing Coca-Cola and other soft drinks as 'poison'. 'Deadly'. 'As bad for you as red meat'. Those kinds of things. So I started thinking about just how much soda I consumed in a day.
For the first time in my life I actually read the nutrition label on the can. I guess I never bothered because to me, Coca-Cola wasn't a food - It was a beverage and my body would just *ahem* eliminate it immediately so it couldn't do much damage, right?
Here is what is in a 12-ounce can of Coca-Cola Classic:
Ingredients: Carbonated water, High fructose corn syrup, Caramel color, Phosphoric acid, Natural flavors, Caffeine.
Nutrition facts:
- Calories: 140
- Sugar 39 grams (13% RDA)
- Sodium 50 mg (2% RDA)
Source: peertrainer.com
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Then I started thinking about how much soda I drank in a typical day, which was usually two cans a day, which equaled 280 calories a day, 78 grams of sugar, and 100 milligrams of sodium - All extra, empty calories and useless fuel for my body (aside from the quick lift from the caffeine).
Giving up Coca-Cola would be hard. We could never afford soft drinks when I was a kid, so when I got my first job at 16, the first thing I did was go out and buy a six-pack of Coca-Cola Classic and chill them in the fridge. That night, when I got home, they were all gone except for one, which I grabbed and essentially chugged.
Bliss. I felt all tingly all over. After that I started regularly buying Coca-Cola, and ordering it in restaurants with my meals, and visiting the soda machine at work in the afternoon for a quick pick-me-up, and before I knew it, Coca-Cola became a part of my life. It got so that I always kept a secret stash in the fridge for medicinal purposes. Nothing makes you feel better faster if you wake up queasy in the middle of the night like an ice-cold can of Coca-Cola Classic.
Or so I thought.
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I began a short-lived affair with alternative soft drinks to wean myself from Coca-Cola. I tried Diet Coke, Diet Cherry Coke, and Diet Dr. Pepper, but none of them tasted as good, so I found myself drinking Coca-Cola again, but having only one can a day and leaving 1/4 of it in the can. But the craving refused to go away.
Until I discovered Perrier mineral water in those little glass bottles. Sometimes I can't find it in the glass bottles and have to buy it in the plastic ones, but I do because I need the effervescence and the bubbles and the bitey tingle of carbonation.
Perrier is not sweet, but it really is refreshing. I always keep plenty of it around, and put it in the fridge closest to the vent where the cold air comes into the fridge, so it is ICE COLD. I actually view Perrier as my "soda" and when I need a lift, it is there waiitng for me. Now I don't crave Coca-Cola anymore and actually enjoy a healtful alternative! If you are trying to get the Coke Monkey off your back, I highly recommend you give this a try.
◊This article was written by cosette and published at hubpages.com. If you are not reading this article at hubpages.com, it is a stolen article.◊
- WATERBLOGGED
Click the link to read more about Perrier and other sparkling mineral waters.
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Comments
i actually enjoy Perrier more, if that's possible. thank you for your comment!
I could never completely give up my soda. Well, not with the alternatives available here. There are some great alternatives in Japan, like Aquarius, Calpis Water (which isn't water at all... it's a non-carbonated milk-based drink), and Royal Milk Tea (milk + tea + royal jelly... mmmmmm....), but even when I was in Japan for 6 weeks, I had to have an occasional Mountain Dew (usually 2 bottles a week, but I couldn't always find them that often).
Congratulations and kicking the habit, since that's what you wanted. I'm more looking for ways to eat healthy overall but still enjoy an occasional soda. I do wish they would use real sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup, though... it tastes better and it's not quite as bad for you.
hey, thanks! you know what? you CAN get Coca-Cola made with real cane sugar instead of HFCS. sometimes Costco sells it, and i have seen it at Wal-Mart also, especially ones where they sell a lot of things from Mexico (that's where that kind of Coca-Cola comes from). that Royal Milk Tea sounds interesting...
The unfortunate thing is that I'm not really a fan of Coca-Cola. I largely prefer Mountain Dew (which recently had a brief real-sugar run with Mountain Dew Throwback, but it's already been discontinued ;_; ). Furthermore, Mexican Coke (or MexiCoke as some of my friends call it) is considerably more expensive than standard Coke due to importing costs and other factors, and I'm currently having to survive on a budget, so that's not really an option for me, unfortunately.
Thanks for pointing it out, though!
*Sighs* The whole time before coming over to read yet another one of your fabulous hubs, I thought that you had quit cocaine (I'm sure the title was creative enough on your part, heh heh!) I'm a Pepsi guy myself (Boo!) and shudder to think of even giving up Pepsi, as I love it too much. I don't drink it on a daily basis, but will get an urge for it from time to time, so will treat myself :) It's great that you quit the habit, "M." Good for you for being able to kick the can (of Coke).
yeah, that MexiCoke is more expensive than AmeriCoke...i guess 'cause it's imported. omgsh--you use the ;_; sad face too...that is cool!
thanks, dohn...yeah it was hard but i found a substitute ;)
p.s. "PEPSI"?! :)
Great idea! I wish that I could quit drinking sodas....i just love them too much! I guess quitting smoking is my focus now...one vice at a time....great hub!
I USE TO LOVE COKE COLA, BUT I STRAY AWAY FROM ALL KINDS OF SODAS, ITS BAD FOR MY BODY, GIVES ME TERRIBLE ACNE, AND I GET THE JITTERS, ESPECIALLY FROM COKE COLA.
i hear ya, alyssa. good luck with that. me too fierce. one time i tried one after a long time going without one and it knocked my socks off, heh...
When I was a kid growing up in the mill village, the company store stocked those short bottles of coke and I think they cost a nickel. We din't have very many nickels so we didn't drink them very often. We did however, go around the village and salvage the bottles, back in the day we could pick up a couple of cents per bottle, they were recycycled. Anote of interest, many in our area called all brands of carbonated soft drinks, "dopes" One old store owner once asked me, You wanna a dope and some crackers, he might be arrested today.
Thanks this is a useful hub.
Robert Elias Ballard
thanks very much!
Glad you were able to kick the habit. I seem to need cola with certain foods -- anything Italian or salty. I don't like wine, and sometimes I need the caffeine, since I don't drink coffee. Now I'm trying to substitute unsweetened grape juice when I have it, but it' also more expensive than cola. i can substitute ice water with most other foods, but anything with tomatoes and cheese seems to require either cola or grape juice. I am, however, trying to cut down.
Hey, I share the same sentiments as Dohn, the title sorta got me curious but all the same, a great hub. I have a soft spot for Coke zero with lots of ice and a slice of lemon!
I did the same. 6 cokes a day 10 years ago gave me an ulcer. I quit drinking soda for a diet recently and I can't go back and drink them anymore - they hurt my stomach. I found out because it's acidic. Water is a ph of 7, battery acid is a ph of 1 and coke is a 2.5!
really? wow. thanks for your comment.
The same thing happened to me. One day, suddenly, I got bad stomach pains, and they came on whenver I drank Coca Cola. Once I associated the feeling of my gut being eaten up with drinking a Coke, it was easy to stop. No pain when I leave the cola alone! And I, too, was also hooked on the stuff for a long time. Nice hub!
I only drink soda when I go out SOMETIMES...but I understand how tough it is to kick. I feel so much better after it, though I somehow managed to stop cold turkey.
This is great, and I love the title and double meaning. I always wanted to try that fancy looking Perrier water, hmm. Good article!
gotta grab the reader's attention, heh. ;)
that's cool that you quit cold turkey, and you're right, it is a nice lift. you'll like that Perrier and can get it anywhere. thanks for your comment.
I'm also trying to kick the Coke habit. I'm down to one can a day from two, but not sure I'll ever give it up completely because it's the only caffeinated drink I like.
Hi, my name is Shadesbreath and I'm a Pepsiholic. I am going to quit drinking Pepsi as soon as I quit drinking so much beer and tequila. Well, and probably after I quit eating red meat too. Well, actually, I need to quit eating fast food as a whole, which includes red meat, but other bad stuff. I'm going to start exercising first though, before I quit, because I'll need the elevated metabolism to compensate for the lack of caffeine. So, once I do that (and maybe wait till I've dropped about twenty or so pounds with exercise first), then I'm seriously quitting Pepsi. I can't wait.
(fun article, nice work)
WannaB Writer: i'm sorry i missed your comment...i must have gotten distracted. you know what it really good with Italian food? S. Pellegrino sparkling water. it is not as brisk as Perrier...you might like it.
awsydney: my brother loves Coke Zero with lemon!
FortDoberdale: i know a few people whose stomachs can't tolerate Coca-Cola for some reason. i'm like that with apple juice. thanks for your comment. (love your username, by the way :)
lisa42: that's pretty good, actually! good luck.
Shadesbreath: hee hee great comment. thank you.
(Diet sodas, not lab mice.)
best line ever
:) thank yoOo...
Your hubs are so much fun to read and you have such a good class of comments and commentators, all in all your hubs are very entertaining and funny. ps very clever title a real attention grabber lol
wow, i am honored. thanks so much.
Lmao, awesome hub. I agree about the coke though, back when I was younger I was addicted to drinking that soda on a regular basis. I eventually became too calorie conscious though to continue being an addict.
hehe thanks! that stuff is indeed worse than i thought :|
I'm so glad you stopped drinking coke. When I was in middle school I did an experiment with coke and a piece of meat. It was quite interesting what the coke did to the meat. You might try it sometime. I still drink pop now and then. I use to practically live on it. But then I had to stop drinking it for my health and now I love water. But I still ocassionally have a cherry pepsi or cherry dr.pepper. Good hub God bless.
that sounds really interesting. have you thought about writing a hub about it? bless you too, and thank you.
I'll be left field.
If you are healthy, you exercise and your weight is where it should be, Coke is a wonderful product. If you participate in endurance sports, it can actually help digesting the carbs needed by your muscles to re-energise. If you are a couch potato, yep, I agree coke amongst many ohter things is something you should stay away from.
The only poison in Coke is an unhealthy person taking in too much sugar. An apple juice, actually has more sugar, than a coke and your body will not notice the difference in sugars.
Sparkling, with lots of ice, in a glass. mmmmm!!
hmm. well i'm pretty active but after reading all those newspaper articles about it i started shying away from it. thanks for your viewpoint though. (oOo, you made it sound so good just then... ;)
I have a Pepsi problem that I openly admit. It is usually two cans a day but there are those three caners when the day is tough. Otherwise I am very healthy.
I have wanted to kick my habit for some time but I have discovered a large part of it is he behavior of opening the can. I should try your idea and see if I can substitute Perrier for my Pepsi.
that's the operative word: habit. it got to be a habit, and one i didn't like after reading all the newspaper articles about it. i still enjoy a coke around the holidays or when i am with friends - just not two a day. thanks for your comment. good luck!
cosette - Thank you for this article. Very timely as I, like you, love Classic Coke but need to kick the habit now.
I have tried several times but could not find a way to stay away. The Perrier suggestion is outstanding - I am going to give it a try.
thanks, Vaughn. make sure they are nice and frosty :)
It is nice to read an article about this subject, I'm very much like you once were but tend to consume a lot more, As I have got older i'm more concerned about my health and am try to cut back, congratulations to your success story.
thanks very much!
I used to gulp coke in high school like everyday..Often times mix it with other sodas like royal or sprite.But my uncle had a seminar about soda's bad effects, he told me the facts..And an exclusive school banned such drinks from bad incident. Since then I switch to iced tea LOL well, it's really a healthy way
thanks for sharing this good hub cosette! ;p
IslandVoice says:
3 months ago
I'm glad you kicked your coca cola habit. Perrier is a good substitute. Health is wealth. I have a lot of friends who gulp coke like it's their staple 'water'. You can't convince them to do otherwise.