I made it! I made it!

Whew! I cannot believe I made it to the end of my 30 day challenge!! I have been an everyday diet soda drinker for the last 16 yearss and I never thought I would be able to stop. I never even realized that my need for it every day was because it was a habit. I had become so used to drinking diet soda daily that it did, in fact, become habit. Of course, acknowledging that it was a habit also caused me to look at possible reasons it became a habit. Was it because of the caffeine? Or since it was only diet soda I would drink, was it because of the artificial sweeteners?

Now that I am at the end of my 30 day challenge, and having succeeded, I can't help but continue to wonder. I was able to stop cold turkey and not give in, yet it was very, very hard to do. However, I also did experience some withdrawal symptoms. Was it because of the caffeine? I did find myself going from one cup of coffee a day to two cups. Or was it because of the artificial sweeteners? I don't know if I am entirely sure. One of the ways I thought I would be able to tell would be my weight at the beginning and at the end. I thought about this as a way to measure because I know that artificial sweeteners can cause our body to end up thinking it needs more calories so we eat more. I learned this, thanks to our English class essay assignment. So, I weighed myself at the beginning and at the end and while I won't give the exact weight, I can tell you that I did lose 4 pounds. Of course, who knows if it is because I stayed away from artificial sweeteners and limited my sugar intake, or not. I do know that I do feel different, and it is in a good way.

So that brings me to the final question, and that is whether or not I am going to continue to drink diet soda so religiously. I have proved to myself that I can, in fact, survive without it. I am also 30 days "clean" from diet soda. Thanks to my English class, I have found an alternative to my diet soda. I have discovered that I can drink sparkling water and I my favorite is the mid-priced one, which is cheaper than diet soda. Which is all just enough convincing evidence for me to come to the conclusion that while I can't say I will never have a diet soda again, I can say that I will continue to keep my habit "broken" and stay away from it as much as possible. Which I never thought would happen!

I can see the finish line

I am less than a week away from the end of my 30 day challenge. I can't believe that I am almost there and I definitely can't believe that I have not broke the challenge. There have been many times that I have wanted to, but I knew this was something I really had to see if I could finish. My urge for a diet soda everyday was most certainly a habit and habits are definitely hard to break

I also finished my review paper of sparkling waters. I am happy to say that I preferred the mid-priced sparkling water, and I preferred it with lemon. I didn't think I would actually like sparkling water but this water is both refreshing and I get the carbonated feel. The high-priced sparkling mineral water had too much carbonation for plain water and the store brand water just didn't have enough carbonation for the price. However, the store brand sparkling water was cheaper for a 1 liter than buying a 20 ounce bottle of regular bottled water. Anyway, I have switched to the mid-priced sparkling water with lemon because I was just getting way too tired of plain water and unsweetened ice tea! The only question is, will this be my new alternative? Or will I go back to my diet soda? Stay tuned for my final blog next week!

Nearing the end

I am currently nearing the end of my 30 day challenge. It has definitely been a challenge! Next week the time will be up and while I am doing it, it has definitely been hard. I still have cravings for a cold diet soda. I miss my Diet Pepsi. I am tired of just drinking water. I am even tired of unsweetened ice tea. I had to do a product review for an English paper and for mine, I was going to review three different sparkling water brands. I was also going to try each with lemon and see which way was better. I have completed that review and let's just say, it was surprising. I am not going to tell the results because I am still trying to get the results written for my paper. However, I did find a sparkling water brand that i liked above others and that I do prefer it with lemon. It makes it more tolerable, and better than just drinking plain water.

However, I still haven't fully decided if I am going to stick to the no diet soda after this 30 day challenge. I checked my weight at the beginning and I am not going to check my weight until the end, just to see if there is a difference. If it is a remarkable difference, than I will not continue to drink diet soda. If there is not much of a difference, than I will really have to decide if I am going to go back to the habit. Haven't figured it out yet.

Week Three

So far so good. i have not given in to my temptation to drink a diet soda. I still know I am used to the habit of having that soda, because its always at work or dinner that the urge for one is strongest. I still haven't decided if it because of my withdrawal from the caffeine, or from the artificial sweetener. I wonder if I will ever know I wonder if I will have to go beyond the 30 days to really figure out what benefits there have been. I can definitely say getting to sleep was easier, until I added in the extra cup of coffee. That makes me wonder if it is the caffeine? However, I know it could also be from the artificial sweetener, because I hate to admit it, but I don't believe I snack as much. I read in my research that artificial sweeteners can cause our bodies to crave other high-fat, high-sugar foods. It is believed that artificial sweeteners can "trick" our bodies in this way. I don't know if it is all in my head because of the articles I read, or really an effect of my artificial sweetener intake. I guess only time (and my weight gain/loss) will tell.

Over the hump

I am at the halfway point in my 30 day challenge! I knew this was going to be tough, but not this tough. I definitely had a habit and this challeng has shown me that habits of long duration are definitely hard to break! I am doing it, but I look at all those ice cold sodas at the store and they look so refreshing to me. I can just imagine that first drink, where the carbonation almost burns. I remember the taste of my diet pepsi, or diet mt. dew, and water just does not compare. I know water is good for you and I know when I was relying on my diet soda, I wasn't drinking as much water as I should've been, but I don't like water as my only option. There is sugar or artificial sweetener in just about everything. 

In terms of how I feel, I am still feeling a little sluggish by mid-day. I do drink a second cup of coffee on work days for sure. At dinner I have been drinking juice, unsweetened ice tea, or plain water. I have tried some lemon juice in my water a few times, just to spice it up. I tried the one sparkling water, Perrier, but didn't like it. One of my comments said to try some lemon in it, so that is something I am going to try for my reviews.

By the way, we have a review assignment that we are supposed to do in relation to our 30 day challenge. We are supposed to review 3 different products, apps or something related to our challenge and write about them. I am going to try three different sparkling waters, and each one with and without lemon. I want to see which one tastes the best and whether the lemon makes a difference. Should be fun!

Sucralose

I have discovered, during this challenge, that the majority of zero calorie drinks nowadays contain sucralose. I am trying so hard to find something to drink besides juice and it seems like anything that has an artificial sweetener in it, is sucralose. Sucralose, whose brand name is Splenda, is apparently the new norm. When I was first thinking about what my 30 day challenge was going to entail, that's the first time I really thought about what is actually in the zero calorie sodas. I always assumed it was aspartame. Of course, during my research, I did find out that aspartame was replaced because it was supposedly linked to cancer. However, most of the studies were done on mice and not humans.

Anyway, I still haven't given in to the temptation to crack open a cold bottle of diet soda. I think about it all the time, but I am really trying to stick to this challenge. I want to see what the end results will be. Although I am still having trouble finding something, besides water or unsweetened ice tea, to drink. I have tried quite a few different herbal teas during this challenge but can't drink tea without sugar and I am also trying to limit my sugar intake. I feel like the sugar I do put in my tea is cheating, especially because I am still up to two cups of coffee a day!

30 Day Diet Soda Free Challenge Day 11

So, I took the advice of one of my comments and tried sparkling water. I figured maybe the carbonation would trick me into thinking it was like soda. Unfortunately, the sparkling water did not go over very well. It was actually kind of gross. I would rather stick with plain water or unsweetened ice tea rather than sparkling water. I really wanted the flavored sparkling water but felt like that was cheating. I never really thought about how hard it would be to find something to drink that does not have artificial sweetener in it!
I have also started drinking two cups of coffee a day. I just could not go the whole day without extra caffeine so I have been drinking a second cup of coffee. With the extra cup of coffee, I don't feel so sluggish in the afternoon or at work. I don't know if this is going to make it harder to figure out if my habit is a result of the artificial sweeteners or caffeine but at this point I feel like it is the caffeine, because the second cup of coffee just doesn't excite me like drinking a diet soda did. I really do miss those cold diet sodas!