Diet Coke and Other Evil Habits

I'm quitting Diet Coke...specifically Diet Cherry Zero. If you're a diet Coke drinker, you have to try this. Or maybe not, since it's a tough habit to break.


I've tried to quit carbonated beverages before with little success, buying flavors I don't like, substituting diet green tea or Crystal Lite, but that never lasted long.


I read on a writer's loop that carbonation leached calcium from bones. That was scary, so I researched it, finding that the only legit study showed some loss of calcium only with cola drinks. So I tried again, but cola has the kick that goes with the fuzz I love with soda, dammit. No one's taking that away from me! Soon my consumption doubled, as if to make up for lost time, and it was ALL the hard stuff, baby.

Little things happened over time. A dear friend told me she seemed to have reversed some bone loss by quitting her Coke habit. I noticed how much my stomach burned after the third can of the day, and how much hungrier I seemed when I snacked with a Coke. One of my exercise teachers declared she'd quit diet Coke and was feeling better.

Then my husband ended up in the emergency room with a kidney stone. Yikes. His doctor suggested carbonated soda contributes to the problem, though the ER doc claimed that was a myth.


Suddenly, I found myself cutting back and it was easy. It wasn't the kidney stone, really, at least not consciously, but like magic, I'm drinking more water, supplementing with Crystal Lite and those new Tropicana diet orange and lemonade drinks in cans and doing fine.

I don't really miss the Coke. I drank other sodas, too--Dr. Pepper Diet Vanilla Cherry, the new flavored Frescas, Mountain Dew Code Red, etc., but I'm down from a four-can-a-day habit to one, looking to go cold turkey in a week or two.


For the life of me I can't figure out why THIS time I'm succeeding. I suspect it's something my friend--and brilliant writing coach--Laurie Schnebly Campbell calls "sizzling," which is the period of time when you want to break a habit and flip-flop back and forth, doing, not-doing, like bacon on the stove.

Over time, the urges built, the false starts strengthen your willpower until you reach the tipping point and you're IN.

They say it takes 21 days to break or begin a habit. Somehow, you've got to last that long, right? That means sizzling your way to the peak and over.

So, how do YOU do it? Got any habits you're taking a swing at? What's working? Please share. We're all in this struggle to improve ourselves. Let's cheer each other on. Your tip might be someone's tipping point!

What's next on my habit hit list? Paradise Bakery cookies. That'll take a while. I'm cutting back...maybe... Sure. Just not this week. It's Saturday, after all, and what goes better with a Netflix movie than a few freshly baked cookies and the place is right up the street...
My best wishes on your habit zone,
Dawn
http://www.dawnatkins.com/