giving up Diet Coke – Diabetes Diet

There’s no point in making grandiose announcements on a blogging account and then failing to follow them up so here is an update on my attempts to give up diet coke…

A success. I no longer drink diet Coke in the quantities that I used to (a litre and a half a day, ahem!). I have saved myself considerable money as, like many others addicted to the fizzy stuff, I insisted on the real thing and I liked to drink individual servings rather than buying it in big bottles. It’s “fresher” that way, if you can ever use words such as “fresh” to describe Diet Coke.

[EDITOR’S NOTE – “ER… NO???!!]

I lasted almost four weeks without any diet coke. I stopped having chewing gum at the same time so that I could limit my exposure to any kind of artificial sweetener entirely. After week four, I had one (a 500ml bottle). One a week. That lasted roughly four weeks and then it crept up to two, then three and then one a day.

Which is where I am now – a one-a-day girl. When I used to drink three of these 500ml bottles a day, it used to take a lot of willpower not to drink any more. That same willpower comes into effect with drinking just one a day. So it’s willpower that has had a lot of practice. Continue reading “Giving Up Diet Coke – an Update” →

Get thee behind me Satan... — *Get thee behind me Satan…*

It’s now… ooh, it’s now 10 days since D-Day, otherwise known as the day I kicked the Diet Coke.

As a type 1 diabetic who follows a low-carb diet most of the time (not all of the time, as I’m not perfect and I find the occasional pull of the chocolate/bread temptation too hard to resist), in theory Diet Coke shouldn’t pose a problem. It’s sugar-free and carb-free after all.

But drinking Diet Coke in the quantities that I did (one-and-a-half litres a day) definitely suggests addiction and who wants to be an addict?

Google “giving up diet coke” and you’ll find lots of forums and discussion threads where people discuss their addictions. Other diet drinks are mentioned, but it’s Diet Coke that seems to form the commonality – suggesting that there is indeed something addictive in Diet Coke, even if that is just its psychological pull.

Continue reading “Bye-Bye Diet Coke” →