Any suggestions on how to get this soda monkey off my back?

I think that sometimes it’s not so much to soda or taste, but the carbonation. Try flavored sparkling waters. Though that won’t give you your caffeine fix.

I need to follow this thread. I am so addicted that when I was at my MIL’s house and didn’t have any diet soda for the day I got a caffeine headache so bad that it actually made me barf. I had to go through her cupboards in the middle of the night and find some instant coffee just to get enough caffeine to stop barfing.
I have given it up for months at time before. It was after surgery and there must have been something in the anesthesia that gave me an aversion to caffeine. I don’t know why I went back!!

It depends on what you’re trying to break yourself of? The caffeine or the fake sugar? Find something that would be a suitable substitute for a while to break the habit. I’ve done it before and so has my husband. I’ll see if I can get permission from him to show a picture of his cube at work during a large project he was working on. I think an IV was next. :^>

It can be really easy if you let it be. But it matters what exactly you’re trying to break yourself of and why.

I was able to give up all sugary drinks (including iced teas, fancy bottled kinds, etc) by simply just phasing into drinking only water, slowly. I did this about 10 years ago and I still stick with it. I started by always ordering only water with lunch or dinner, San Pellegrino, etc. and not having the diet soda in the house. I just found after awhile that it cut out my need for something sweet and felt really gross when I drank it.

Also, I’m not sure if it was Drastic Dreamer or Dynamic Duo who made a great point that still sticks with me if I crave it – remember that your body is thirsty and craves water, not chemicals.

I would love to know myself. I can’t stop!

If you get caffeine withdrawl, it’s probably best to lower your caffeine intake gradually rather than just going cold turkey all at once.

Yea, start to smoke.

Part of my secret to giving up soda depended on the fact that I’m a bit… frugal. So much nicer than saying cheap. I decided that I needed to stop with the 3 Pepsis a day and quit buying it. I brought one to work instead of two, along with two bottles of water. I drank my Pepsi with lunch and if I wanted another one, the price at the machine would stop me. I ran out of Pepsi in about 3 weeks and didn’t buy any more. By then, I was hooked on water and was okay not having soda.

Then they came out with Pepsi throwback! I thought I was doomed. There it was, the Pepsi of my childhood. I bought five 12 packs and allow myself one a week. I’ve had these 5 packs since the beginning of May and have had only 3 cans. YOU CAN DO IT!

But don’t try taking my coffee or I will bite your arm off.

I think dropping diet soda is much like dropping any other habit. The only way to really stop craving diet soda, or anything for that matter, is willpower. Find something to deter you from drinking a diet soda when the craving arises and it is available to you. Maybe have a visual reminder ready like a small rubber band on your wrist that in your mind says “no!”. In your home, the easiest way to alleviate the cravings is to not have the substance available to you. Do NOT buy diet soda. Have alternatives ready, like milk, water, juice, whatever you want. If it is strictly the aspartame/carbonation you crave, drink some orange juice with soda water in it. Or any juice with soda water in it. If it is the caffeine you are trying to rid yourself of, that is trickier, but I hear and have experienced myself that apples are an effective energy booster. Don’t expect to change overnight, but cut down until you are mentally prepared to let it go. Caffeine will cause discomfort if you cut it cold turkey and are truly addicted to it, so take it steps at a time.

Right now my wife hides it. If I want any soda I have to ask her. But the minute I leave the house I get some. I am sooooo very weak.

Second only to nacho cheese.

I have been trying to give up soda too. After too many visits to the dentist and too many added pounds, I finally decided it was time to get real serious about this.
I quit, cold turkey, on Sunday. By Tuesday I had headaches and sick enough to dry heave constantly. That is usually when I give in and have a soda but this time I stuck it out and am still stating away from the stuff.
This is a hard habbit to kick!

Make some sun tea without sugar. Fill your ice cube trays often. Have iced tea without sugar. Make different varieties of tea including caffeine free stuff if that’s what you’re after.

Vodka.

@basp: Add fresh mint and freshly squeezed lemon to iced tea. Lots of ice cubes also added make you feel like you’re filling your stomach.

Hang tough; day four is almost over.

@basp, It has been harder for me to give up soda than alcohol or coffee! It definitely makes me feel better to know I am not the only one who is struggling with this. I think I am going to try cold turkey (again), and always try to have a filled water bottle on hand.

There are good things to add to cold water; a T of concentrated fresh cherry juice, some organic Concord grape juice, a little organic apple cider vinegar and mint. Oops. Thunder here. Gotta go.

That is quite a lot to give up all in one year. You won’t have any vices left!

@chyna, I wil always have chocolate – and Fluther of course!

@SuperMouse Oh thank goodness, I thought you were vice free. Chocolate is my best friend.

I broke my diet coke habit with Perrier water…

Thanks for all the tips and encouragement.
I have found that spearment gum helps the stomach and keeps me distracted for a while.
I have never smoked or drank so this has been my only real vice and I am determined to free myself from it.

By the way, supermouse, if you need some moral support, I’m here for ya.

my name is basp and I’ve been clean for four days….

@basp I am very impressed that you have made it four days! I have made it exactly four hours. Baby steps, baby steps, baby steps…

You can do it, supermouse….

I went from Coke to Sprite to get off the caffeine first. Then kicked the Sprite habit by reading the Food Tree” by Dr. Ranveig Elvebakk. Course she says diet soda is okay but I am off all sugar and trying to eat only natural. It was hell for the first couple of days but now I don’t even crave it anymore. I am eating more protein and fruit but no real or artificial sugar. I have lost 2 kilos in about 4 weeks.

This might provide some motivation.

I stopped drinking soda by replacing it with fruit juices. Not store bought pasteurized crap, but real juice made from real fruits and veggies. Figure out how much money you are spending on soda, and when you get to $150, head up to the local Target store and buy a Jack LaLanne Power Juicer Pro. The only store bought juice I drink is Ocean Spray cranberry, but only because cranberries are not in season, and because it has no high fructose corn syrup.

I also weaned myself off of Starbucks bottled Frappacino when I realized I was spending almost a $100 a month on the stuff. Now I simply drink real coffee, made with good quality freshly ground beans, and I add some sweetener and some French Vanilla creamer.

I could never give up caffeine, and I refuse to believe those people that say it is bad for you. Those are the same people that want me to stop enjoying all the foods I like. I’d rather eat and drink what I like than to go without because some guilt trip food guru says so.

Everything you eat is going to kill you sooner or later. Why be miserable?

Give into temptation, it might not come your way again – RAH

@evelyns_pet_zebra: Here’s Roger Cohen’s funny take on this in the NYT. He agrees with you, and he is discussing monkeys, which are related to zebras.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/16/opinion/16iht-edcohen.html?em

@evelyns_pet_zebra ; If I drank as much fruit juice as I drink diet soda I would weigh 550 lbs!!

I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to give in. I’m not going to give in. pant pant I’m not going to give in.

my name is basp and I have been clean for five days

@basp here is a five day chip for you. Congratulations, I know you won’t give in!

Thanks, supermouse!
And how’s it going for you?

When giving up sugar, sodas and juices were the first items to go. I experimented and chose the worst tasting diet soda I could find and then weaned from there. Two months of sugar withdrawal was a killer but well worth it. Another thing I do is drink a glass of water when I first wake up each day to try and kill the urge for something cold, bubbly and tasty.

One whole day without soda! I have been using many of the suggestions made here, and so far so good. It is just one day – and I had to fight the urge – a lot, but I did it.

Yippee, supermouse!

You are doing good!

Great job!

One day at a time Supa!

I fell off the wagon yesterday and landed on the ground with an incredibly hard thud!! Was it Mark Twain who said ”“Quitting smoking is easy. I’ve done it a thousand times” ? Argh!!!

When I saw that this question popped up, I took a swig off my soda before iI even opened it.

Supermouse
Today is another day…. Be strong….you can do it!

@SuperMouse – as basp says, today is a new day. And if you can’t go day by day, go hour by hour! You can do this! (You, too basp!)

Takes a chug of Caffine free diet root beer. (at least it has no caffeine!)

@SuperMouse : Still think of how many times you didn’t fall off the wagon. Think of how many times you did the right thing for yourself. You can do this and it will get easier. Cheers!

water. When I make myself drink water for three days straight, to give up the diet soda, i don’t crave it as much. But then I can only have water or coffee, because the minute I drink juice, I want soda. And there are trigger foods that i want to have soda with, like fried chicken. It’s hard, but water will get me to crave more water.

Ingesting any kind of sugar, even artificial sugar is going to make you want more and more! Until you have broken the cycle.

It seems that now, I can drink a real coke every now and then and it doesn’t get me hooked again. I think I have reached the point where the cravings are more mental than physical.

I have gone off sugar almost completely though, so there are very few things in my diet to act as a “trigger.”