Caffeine, you're fired
From today, I am going to reduce and/or cut out diet soda and all other daytime upper-related caffeine from my diet. I'm aiming for a 30-day diet soda break, and a general caffeine draw-down. It makes me feel jittery, cruddy, not more aware or awake. It makes my brain feel like it's moving inside my head faster than it should be. Yuck.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that aspartame is not good for me, either, particularly not in 16-oz. doses per 36 hours, which was my average in February, being honest. I read somewhere that it's better to just pony up and have a regular Coke than have a Diet Coke every day, for what the fake fake sugar (as opposed to that genuine corn syrup) will do for you.
But I love the fizzy drinks so much, it looks like I'm going to be buying some major seltzer as I sit in my office. I like the flavor, but I doubt that there's a way to make cherry soda good for people like me without it being made of dark matter or something. However! I've just discovered a juice-seltzer drink that is relatively low in calories, all natural, and looks to have some vitamin C in it. In our vending machines! Star Ruby Grapefruit Grown-Up Soda, you just might be my afternoon pick-me-up from now on.
It occurs to me that this is how people give things up for Lent. Except I don't want to go back...
posted by Wabes @ 3/09/2010 02:34:00 PM
8 Comments:
This recipe really helped me kick the diet soda habit. Mix with seltzer instead of ice-water. Very tangy, refreshing, and not terrible from a caloric perspective:
http://www.cooks.com/rec/view/0,1919,150161-242200,00.html
dude, mind meld. i gave up soda for lent, because the caffeine makes me jittery and unfocused and anxious and not at all more productive or alert.
plus i can never decide which is worse for me: the real sugar in regular soda or the fake sugar in diet soda.
it's just...that i love fizzy soda so much! especially fountain soda, over ice...doh. this isn't helping. go go gadget catholic guilt!
oh, god, "crispy" Dr. Pepper (Rachel's description from college) is just about the best thing. With pizza! Stop me!
But that's an entirely different beast - far more pleasurable - than a hastily-gulped Diet Coke. Which only tastes good sometimes, and feels good far less often. There's no way around a crappy lack of sleep, I'm finding.
Knowing someone else is off the soda will keep me honest. This is good!
@ anonymous: that sounds AMAZING. especially with fresh berries!
I'm not really a soda drinker, but I do like Jones black cherry (they have a diet variety made with Splenda, too). Hansen's is pretty good as well. I believe both are made with "natural" ingredients but mainstream enough not be excessively pricey.
Aspartame is bad news; remember those headaches I got in college? I can almost certainly attribute them to aspartame.
Incidentally, if you do have a caffeine habit, watch out for the wicked withdrawal headaches. Tapering is the safe way to go.
I didn't have enough of a habit to need to taper...although I guess I sort of started to ease off a week or so again. It was clearly the right thing to do - I had a moment of weakness (brought on by not wanting the taste of cold Korean food anymore at our institute lunch), and a few drinks of Diet Coke, and it immediately went zooming to my head. So, yeah, no thanks!
Is Splenda really better than aspartame? Better fake sugar?
i believe that splenda (sucralose) is better than aspartame; for one thing, i personally respond better to splenda in that i don't get headaches or nausea from it. plus it doesn't mutate into something awful when it's heated or aged (ever had a diet coke that didn't taste sweet anymore?). and i think it tastes better. but for the past 8 months or so i've avoided all artificial sweeteners, and i don't think i'll be going back.
Like you, I also consume a fair amount of caffeine, and also enjoy the fizzy. If you're up for an upfront investment, I'd really recommend the Soda Club Penguin Soda Maker. Voila - carbonated water whenever you want it! And while they have their own mixes (never tried them), Megan and I have found that mixing in a small amount of concentrated juice (cherry, pomegranate, etc.) makes for very tasty fizzy drink. So while I haven't cut down much on coffee, I have pretty much eliminated my diet soda consumption.
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