Lent

In the TCAF craziness I missed an anniversary–I gave up Diet Coke just over a year ago. In fact I’ve cut aspartame and “diet” products out of my life entirely. Just in time too, apparently.

I went to Japan in May 2010 for 10 days, and in Japan they don’t have Diet Coke. The ‘diet’ is like the parliament, or congress, so the closest equivalent is “Coke Plus”, which isn’t widely available, and doesn’t taste exactly like Diet Coke. Actually, that’s the thing about being addicted to Diet Coke–you’re addicted to Diet Coke, and all of the other products and half-steps just don’t taste right, and don’t scratch that itch. Coke Zero was always a possibility, but I figured if I was gonna leave all that behind, I’d leave it allll behind.

I was pretty seriously addicted to Diet Coke too. Although I hesitate to mention my connection Scott Pilgrim on the blog here, this little bit of Wallace…

…is exaggerated very little. I was probably drinking a 2l of Diet Coke every 2 days while I was living with Mal, and I’d been drinking it since I was like 6 or 7? Whenever it came out I think. While I’d cut waaaay back in recent years, it became kind of obvious that I’d need to cut it out entirely. And I did. Just willpower, I think I’ve had 2 or 3 mouthfuls since last year and luckily it doesn’t taste nearly as good in real life as my taste memory of it.

I haven’t exactly replaced it with anything, I’ll usually have a couple of energy drinks every workday but before you rush to point out how shitty that is for me, check out the ingredients on the only energy drink I imbibe: http://guruenergy.com/new/us/drinks/guru/guru.php. No refined caffeine, no taurine, no refined sugar, no corn syrup, all of the ingredients are certified organic. If you’ve gotta drink sugar water with weird shit in it, this is about the best sugar water you can hope for.

I also drink a lot more _actual_ water, usually 2l a day.

I don’t know if I feel any healthier, but I sure do have a hell of a lot better peace of mind when I see articles like this crop up.

– Chris

 

4 Replies to “Lent”

  1. Congratulations!
    It’s good you gave it up, apart from the diabetes scares and weight gain, caffeine poisoning is real and terrifying!

    “Caffeine-induced psychosis, whether it be delirium, manic depression, schizophrenia, or merely an anxiety syndrome, in most cases will be hard to differentiate from organic or non-organic psychoses…The treatment for caffeine-induced psychosis is to withhold further caffeine.”

    (an ex’s Mom had it for years, undiagnosed, they thought she was crazy, shock treatments, the whole cuckoos nest of nasty, magically all went away when she switched to caffeine free)

    http://caffeineweb.com

  2. Congrats on beating the addiction.

    I used to drink pop (usually Coke, but anything but Dr Pepper would do) 24/7. After I graduated from College I quit cold turkey. Thankfully I was unemployed at the time as it took me 2 weeks of irregular sleeping patterns to get back to normal.

    Occasionally when I do need some caffeine I drink Coke Zero.

  3. Oh man, i wish i could ditch the caffeine. these 14 hour work days suck my energy forcing me into a sweet sugary bliss.

    PS, you and deforge and guru should get a room.

  4. Well, on the one hand congratulations, on the other hand, if any consolation is needed, FWIW you’re probably screwed one way or another.

    I used to drink Mountain Dew regularly, and then gave that up because I didn’t want to keep giving money to Pepsico. I started drinking tea, which seemed good, being all-natural and full of antioxidants and all that.

    But, BAM, contributes to acid reflux, ha ha sucker.

    Not to say that it’s all the same or that I’m indifferent, but it does seem like one may as well abandon hope of ever really “winning” this fight. Even if you try living on water and green leafy vegetables, you’ll probably get E coli from the latter.

    Your energy drink is probably not so bad.

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