Addicted to Coca Cola, can't stop it

[Gamblerjoe]

Quit cold turkey. I know you probably don't like for other people to call you out and tell you about the tough things they have done, but I quit marijuana, alcohol, fast food, soda, and pizza all at the same time, while also changing my erratic sleep schedule to a normal one and starting to exercise.

Think about it this way, if you get through it, you will have a huge feather in your cap, as well as becoming a lot healthier. If you fail, it is only because you allowed yourself to fail. Most people fail without trying. They tell themselves things like "I'll never be in shape" or "I'll never be good at sports." They are correct because they have made up their minds. You've already passed that step and decided to quit. The next step is to have the self determination to pull it off.

If you have to, take Excedrin. It has aspirin, acetaminophen, and most importantly, caffeine. It will ween you off the caffeine while taking care of your headaches.

 

[Tommeh Brownleh]

Drink Tab. You'll never want to drink soda again.

 

[Zeckt]

It's cool, I'll take both the critical and constructive criticism. Its true that I am just asking advice and not complaining because I am concerned by the quantity I drink but I just want to say thanks to 95% of you for giving me the advice. I'm not blaming coca cola or the government or whatever for the addiction at all, I just want to stop it.

I'm going to try to stop cold turkey tomorrow, and look for some mint flavored tea. You've all been a great help, I think we can let this topic die now.

 

[Ellen of Kitten]

I haven't read the other comments in this post, because when I posted about the same (well, similar) topic, I got a lot of hate from it. People saying, "why don't you just STOP? How about that? It's just soda. Jeez."

I. love. sweet drinks. In fact, I think I love sweet drinks more than I like food- and I loves me some food. But I came to a realization that I needed to stop drinking them so often. My problem was they were to available to me to be able to stop. So I needed an alternative, rather than to go cold turkey. And if anyone answer cold turkey as an answer, they do not understand addition, or that you can be addicted to a soda.

I switched to drinking Vitamin water Zeros, Sobe Zeros (or whatever the diet version of Sobe is called), etc. I do not know if these are healthy, but their calorie count is sub twelve for the entire container. This is what I use as an alternative to sodas. I still have the occasional pepsi, or whatever. But it's not in my life quite often, and I enjoy them now as an occasional treat rather than as a beverage staple.

Also, and this was a recent discovery for myself, is the distinction between thirst and hydration, and wanting something tasty to drink. When I cracked open a bottle of vita water, and downed half of the thing out of thirst, only to find that I wasn't enjoying the beverage, I asked myself why I wasn't drinking water if I was thirsty. Water is boring, dull, and doesn't hold a candle to lovely sweet beverages- yeah. But if you're thirsty, you're not going to be enjoying your beverage. You're going to be occupying your taste buds with something as you try to slate a thirst.

So what I do is I have a clear idea of what I want from my drink; hydration, or flavor. If it's flavor, I will enjoy a vita water zero. If it's hydration, I will force myself to go water over the other. If I really want a treat, I will then buy a soda.

This is how I try to wrestle with my addition to sweet drinks. I hope it helps, and acts as a guide for you. The rest is all in your hands, will power, act active decision making.

 

[lacktheknack]

my god, what a truly American problem. you drink too much coke, are aware of that fact, and are now complaining on the internet....why? for validation? just don't buy anymore fucking coke, mouth breather.

-_-

1. We don't know where he's from.

2. He might be asking for genuine advice. I'm sure the concept of "lack of self control" isn't foreign to you, as...

3. There's absolutely no need to be insulting and you just antagonize people by insisting on being so. It doesn't make you cool.

1. i inferred that he was from his use of the word ''soda''. also the fact that he is complaining about a problem that is just oh so easy to fix, for attention.

2. if you really need anonymous people on the internet to tell you that drinking x liters of cola a day is bad for you, you dont need advice, you need a kick to your bloated capitalist testicles.

3. i feel there is a need to be insulting, as logic and reason obviously wont work. and i was voicing my own opinion on a subject, you know, using this site for its intended purpose.

so, Sir Lancelot, are you hoping the OP will blow you for so valiantly riding to his defense?
and for the record, being ''cool'' and having an escapist account are mutually exclusive.

The horror that I defend someone because I can without recompense.

And no, you're not using this site for its intended use. They've made it abundantly clear in a big page you typed "I AGREE" on that being insulting is not what this site's intended purpose was.

And for it "obviously not going to work", you'll notice that we've panicked him and now he is probably going to check with a doctor.

 

[Ellen of Kitten]

You know, I never actually thought of tea as an alternative. I'll give that a shot.

Seltzer water, ice, tea, (and honey optional). Mix to your preference. Enjoy!

 

[KefkaCultist]

I quit my pop addiction (mountain dew) by switching to Gatorade instead and now I'm addicted to green Gatorade >_< its probably not even much better than pop nutrition-wise.

 

[TheRussian]

Here is a fun fact:
Coca Cola is so corrosive jewelers use it to clean oxidation on silver.

 

[Ieyke]

Here is a fun fact:
Coca Cola is so corrosive jewelers use it to clean oxidation on silver.

Fun-er factolice officers sometimes carry bottles of coke to clean blood off the pavement at accidents and such...

It's so corrosive Coca-Cola syrup has to be transported in trucks marked as hazardous materials.

 

[Vault101]

if cold turkey is too mcuh..try replacing ti with somthing...like juice or tea

not that I can give advice..since Im an energy drink addict

 

[Vault101]

Here is a fun fact:
Coca Cola is so corrosive jewelers use it to clean oxidation on silver.

Fun-er factolice officers sometimes carry bottles of coke to clean blood off the pavement at accidents and such...

It's so corrosive Coca-Cola syrup has to be transported in trucks marked as hazardous materials.

thats not true...mythbusters even did it

 

[Singularly Datarific]

Simple. Hire someone to replace the contents with Pepsi and all addictions will vanish.
TADAAAAA!

Seriously, though, brush your dang teeth as much as you can til you do quit. That stuff is ungodly corrosive.

 

[Blobpie]

The way i got off my coca-cola addiction was i drank milk, and only milk.

What you should d is find another favorite beverage and drink that instead. Every time you crave a coke, drink the other beverage, when you eat a meal drink the other beverage.

The trick here is to get you off the habit of drinking coke.


Note: Don't replace cola with coffee or alcohol.

 

[Tsunimo]

I suppose try to work your way off the stuff slowly, go a few days without it, and reward yourself with one, expanding the time between each reward, after awhile, you probably won't crave it at all, or at least not as much.
I tried to slow it by just drinking carbonated water, but after awhile I had to stop cold turkey 'cause of a stomach ulcer.
It sucked for a while, but once you've gone without it for a while its hard to start again, anything carbonated ruins my stomach, and soda doesn't even taste good anymore.
Can't say I'm sad about the money it says either.

 

[Rabid Gamer]

Switch to the lighter stuff like RC cola, if you can find it you get to drink it.

But in all truth just thank god you are drinking that much Coffee, it's much worse for you.

 

[CODE-D]

Let me just say that I flipping love soft drinks. It's got to the point where I can't even quench my thirst by drinking anything else anymore. I drink 3 710 m bottles a day and know its disgusting but I just can't stop it as if I go even a day without it my mouth just feels so dry.

I eat very healthy, with a good mix of fruits and vegetables and cook all my meals and I despise how much I look forward to the next time I drink another coke. I've tried alternatives, I love tomato juice / milk but I can't even drink them anymore because I'd rather have a soft drink. I want to stop so badly, does ANYONE have any advice on how to stop a soft drink addiction?

Drink Coke zero like me.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Your body may have become adapted to a higher salt intake, as well, so you may find you have increased desire for salt while you're quitting the coke. A sudden decrease in your carbohydrate intake (which also happens when you quit something as high-carb as coke) can also cause a sudden lack of electrolytes. I went on a low carb diet fairly recently and the first week or so I was *exhausted*, then I read about the salt problem and some recommendations to drink salty beef broth or similar. It made a big difference.

Also, you're going to need to replace those calories with something, otherwise you'll be craving. I'd suggest butter.

The amount of sodium in Coke is negligible.

I'm sorry if I wasn't clear, but high carb intake seriously screws up how your body stores and eliminates salt. It doesn't have to be present IN the beverage for it to be a serious problem. If you suddenly reduce your carb intake, you will very often have all sorts of goofy problems with low salt levels and dehydration and other issues.

 

[JMeganSnow]

Note: Don't replace cola with coffee or alcohol.

Coffee is actually better for you in terms of blood glucose than milk, especially (ugh) lowfat milk. Not only does milk contain high levels of lactose (i.e. milk sugar) which has a heavy carb load just like the HFCS in soda, milk proteins act to increase your body's insulin production.

Me, I quit caffeine (I've been quitting all sorts of things recently--wheat, starch, sugar, most dairy) so I switched to herbal tea. It's usually not too hard to find interesting flavors out there.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Replace it with cocaine. The resemblance in name is probably comforting.