![]() Luckily I was able to convince my colleague to trade the soda for a few flights of stairs and a pit stop at the water fountain after. I found my daily walk to the soda machine was just as much an excuse to escape the office and chat with a co-worker as it was about getting a cold drink. For me, soda drinking, much like my morning cup of coffee, was a ritual. Break the routine…by substituting a new one. Try choosing one to start, and then adopt more as you feel ready.Ħ. ![]() Here are some other “No Soda” policy ideas: Seriously, if it’s not in your house you can’t drink it! This one change helped kickstart my journey to cut back. When I first decided I wanted to stop drinking soda, the first thing I did to start scaling back was adopt a “No Soda at Home” policy. Oh, and if you’re prone to caffeine headaches, have an an anti-inflammatory on hand, or a bag of green or black tea to help ease those withdrawal pains.ĥ. If you’re prepared, when thirst strikes you’ll have one less excuse to grab for a soda. Fill up a water bottle before heading out to run those afternoon errands. If you like flavored water, slice up a bunch of oranges, cucumbers or rinse off some berries at the beginning of the week and make a fresh pitcher every morning. If you just love the tingle of carbonation on your tongue, keep your cabinets stocked with club soda, or invest in a Soda Stream or one of these more classic soda carbonators and make it yourself at home. Once you find a few suitable soda alternatives, make sure they’re within reach when you get thirsty. Adding some cucumber slices, berries, citrus fruit or fresh mint to a pitcher of water gives it a refreshing essence of flavor.Ĥ. Another favorite soda alternative is flavored water. ![]() 1-2 ounces of cranberry, orange or any other 100% fruit juice blend can make all the difference. Most of the time the carbonation alone did the trick–but when I craved a sweeter beverage, I found just a splash of juice worked wonders. Bored with tap water, I began exploring the wonders of sparkling water. When I first started cutting down on soda, I really missed the carbonation + flavor combo. Once you start cutting out soda, you’re going to want to replace it with other fluids so you don’t get dehydrated. Allow yourself 5 per week for the 3rd month, 4 per week for the 4th month, and so on.ģ. From there, you can gradually cut down even further. For example, if you normally drink 3 sodas per day, cut down to 2 per day for an entire month, and then 1 per day the month after. By writing a plan, you’re thinking through and committing to a reasonable approach to drinking less. Keeping #1 in mind, jot down a schedule for weaning your soda consumption. Over time, you’ll miss those first few sodas less and less and eventually you’ll be ready to cut out one or two more.Ģ. Soda has not, and will not kill you over the next few weeks or months while you gradually get off of it. ![]() Heck, maybe even 1 per day! Whatever the number, make it reasonable. I bet you can rather painlessly replace 3 sodas per week with tap or sparkling water, though. If you drink 3+ sodas a day, switching to tap water cold turkey will most likely make every sip feel like a punishment… not to mention induce some serious caffeine withdrawal headaches. I still very much enjoy a cola with my cheeseburger and french fries, but now that I drink it so much less frequently, I have no problem treating myself to the real deal.Īs a former soda-drinker myself, I thought I’d share some tips and tricks I found helpful along the way for those of you who also want to get off the sweet stuff:ġ. Over the course of about a year I went from drinking 2-3 sodas per day to 2 to 3 per month. At one point, I consumed more soda than water throughout the course of the day.īack in 2006 I decided I wanted to rid myself of a dependence on artificial sweeteners, so naturally I started with soda. Something about it being calorie-free gave me permission to drink it with reckless abandon–so I did. I actually used to be a big soda drinker–the diet type in particular. Whether you want to cut down on empty calories and added sugars, consume less artificial sweeteners, wean off of caffeine, or even save money, ditching soda is a great place to start. The reasons to stop drinking soda are abundant. ![]()
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