What would removing soda from your diet do for you?

[Integral]

These days ~$4.99 per 12 pack is the stock price. But they are always going on sale. So typically 4 12 packs for $10 to $14 depending on what sale is on that week. Anywhere from $3-5 per 12 pack.

At Publix right now $3.19 for a gallon of 2% and $2.89 for a 12 pack of pepsi. Plus, you can use milk for a lot more than drinking, though in some of those cases I like to use buttermilk.

Thanks! Where I am the relative prices are reversed. Interesting.

 

[Cutlass]

Personally, I never drank much soda but cutting it out will probably be good for your teeth & your bones. IIRC, the acidic nature of soda messes up the mineral balance in your body (probably describing it wrong).

If I even drink fruit juice now I feel, well, out of sorts. I don't drink anything sweet.


You ever tried switching to eating a piece of fruit instead or anything?

Could be the combo of sugar & caffine, you could try fruit juice & black tea maybe?

I've tried other things. Even other sodas. It has to be sugared cola. Drinking anything else that I've tried leaves me lethargic.

As for the bad teeth and cola issue, which my brother nagged me with for years, I haven't had a cavity in 30 years despite 3-4 colas a day.

 

[Narz]

I got hooked on sodas when my metabolism meant it really didn't make a difference. That is not the case now. If I could just cut sodas from my diet, I would probably lose weight.

Funny how difficult discipline with food is. As a lawyer you're probably pretty disciplined (or at least had to be while studying). Studies show even people with high amounts of self-control can struggle with food.

 

[Arwon]

I tend to just drink water. I eat a lot of pizza and hamburgers and if there's a value meal I get water with it, and haven't gained weight over the last few years, but this may not be the reason because aside from those two things the meals I cook at home are pretty healthy and lean. Also I, like, walk most places and do martial arts and stuff?

 

[Cutlass]

I didn't gain weight either. Until I was in my middle 30s

 

[Arwon]

Hey, I'm slowly reforming my diet!

 

[squall78]

I used to be a hardcore soda drinker (sometimes up to 2 liters a day). Went diet and am slowly dropping my intake. Those empty calories aren't worth it anymore, so I stick to no-calorie drinks.

It was pretty bad because nowadays if I have a regular soda I get tired, but back then since I kept drinking it I didn't feel anything.

 

[Narz]

If I was a soda drinker I'd try to make it myself. Soda is so overpriced, I don't see any reason it should cost more than 25cents a gallon.

 

[Hygro]

Patroklos, the analogy was not used to denegrate healthy choices, the analogy was used to show that such a solution may have a small impact but won't solve the problem, so let's focus on solving the problem. It was an imperfect analogy though so I can understand why you wanted to draw attention to it. The reason the analogy was imperfect was the specific nature of that economic policy, and how there would unintended consequences negating its purported value. Meanwhile cutting cans of soda wouldn't have those unintended consequences which is why I think you took issue.

Cutlass, if you're drinking 3 cans of coke a day and not drinking it makes you down, that's because you're going through caffeine withdrawal on top of the sugar. Perhaps start drinking lots of coffee and/or tea and then transfer off the soda? Caffeine is good for a lot of people, even fairly high dosages.

Mise, ditch the sweeteners in the coffee/tea! First off, tea never needs sweeteners. It's fine on its own. Might take a moment to get used to. Coffee's harshness is easily solved by some cream, half and half, or whole milk. If you are milk-intolerant I'm sure there are still better options that sweeteners which aren't good for you.

 

[Maniacal]

I almost only just drink orange and apple juice anyway (the pipes in my place don't make my tapwater taste bad, but it isn't great either and I have never been fond of the plain taste of water).

 

[Narz]

You should try getting a water filter, makes a big difference in taste quality.

 

[Zelig]

Mise, ditch the sweeteners in the coffee/tea! First off, tea never needs sweeteners. It's fine on its own. Might take a moment to get used to. Coffee's harshness is easily solved by some cream, half and half, or whole milk. If you are milk-intolerant I'm sure there are still better options that sweeteners which aren't good for you.

Or just don't drink sucky coffee, coffee shouldn't be "harsh".

 

[Ice_Tyrant]

Why would anybody want to live a long life if they could not enjoy Dr. Pepper? If you are able and do not Drink Dr. Pepper than you need to re-examine your life.

 

[GoodGame]

I don't drink soda since I've become unemployed, and I've actually cut back on caffeine consumption in general (contributes to my anxiety and sleep disorder). I'll admit I'm quite addicted to Coke if I have to work 10+ hour long shifts. "Mexican" Coke---the equivalent of Coke "throwbacks" (made with cane sugar, no fructose syrup) is my favorite Coca-cola formula; I stayed a Sam's Club member just for it.

If you eat big macs regularly, I think cutting back on the soda would just be the START of life-changing improvement.

 

[FriendlyFire]

For me, I generally drink three sodas a day. I had to do this when coffee started screwing with my stomach. I drink doctor peper, which is about 150 calories a can. This is at work (on the ship), as I said earlier at resturaunts I drink sweet tea with meals which isn't available at work. I probably do this at least once a day.

Thats a lot I drink one can a day whenever Iam stressed with work or occasionally when going out. I used to drink about a 1 liter before. Which is about 2 and 1/2 cans during the weekends. But now drinking iced water when eating out and tea with suger.

More of a caffine fix which isn't good at all. The problem I have is I kick the habit and then start up again

 

[say1988]

In Canada and the US 3 cans would be about 1 litre (1.065 to be exact).

 

[MagisterCultuum]

I don't think it would do much for me. These days I usually just drink filtered water, although I do like orange juice at breakfast. If you count all the refills separately I suppose I might average out to about one sprite a month, but most months I have no carbonated beverages. I don't think that even at the point when I drank the most soda I averaged more than two a week, although I used to drink more fruit juice and lemonade than water. I have never liked darker colas, only fruit flavored sodas that use citric rather than phosphoric acid (the stuff that is really bad for teeth and bones.)

 

[Narz]

Why would anybody want to live a long life if they could not enjoy Dr. Pepper? If you are able and do not Drink Dr. Pepper than you need to re-examine your life.

To each their own, I always thought Dr. Pepper was gross, my favorite was RC Cola.

 

[wilycoyote]

I used to drink a lot. In fact, when I was a kid, I would have given up every other food or drink, before soda. There was a brief period when I would drink 4 liters per day. Then I started really caring about being healthy and dropped soda completely. I really don't miss it. I have a soda every once in a while, maybe 4 liters per year, but I never crave one anymore. Now, pizza and hamburgers are tough not to crave.

Also, when I did drink a lot, I would constantly feel like crap and when I would give it up cold turkey, I would have withdrawals for a few days.

 

[Antilogic]

To each their own, I always thought Dr. Pepper was gross, my favorite was RC Cola.

Agreed. RC Cola is seriously underrated.

I had bad habits up to last year: caffeine abuse. Something like a 20 oz. (591 mL) soda with lunch, a 12 oz. (330 mL) with dinner at home or another 20 while I was out, coffee and tea while in the office, it was bad. I've cut myself down to 32 oz. at max, usually 12 or 24 oz. in a day.

I've never had cavities as the result of soda, though. I've only had one, and that was on a wisdom tooth when I was little because of poor brushing skillz.