Yes, I don’t like carbonated drinks… although lately I’ve been drinking them like is nothing, and I could see how one can easily become addicted to them.
I’m not a professional, so I wouldn’t be able to give you a recipe that is going to work for you, having said that I wouldn’t mind giving you a suggestion, knowing that I’m not trained in the topic.
1. Recognize it’s a problem: Like they say with everything, you have to realize that there’s a problem in order to take some actions. In your case, you already acknowledge this so let’s move to point 2.
2. Reduce your consumption: Yes, this is the most difficult one, but it’s better than having to get rid of it all at once (between you and I, I don’t think that ever works). So yes, set up goals, this could be daily, weekly, monthly goals… something like, buy the end of this week I would like to be drinking 52 cans, given that you drink 55 for example. You set up your goal, and make it something doable, and not very drastic, otherwise it won’t work.
When going out, ask your server for extra ice (or half water half soda), so you reduce your intake too. Perhaps won’t be that noticeable, but at least is something.
3. Introduce other drinks to your diet: At the beginning you are not going to notice that much, but remember that drinks are pretty much water with flavor. So your body might have been used to drink that amount of water, and it might get hard to drink less, and for sure it would make it more difficult. So look for some other drinks that you can take instead of soda. I’m my case I carry a bottle of water everywhere I go. But doesn’t necessarily have to be water, it could be juice, milk, vitamin water, powerade, whatever you feel you like drinking that day. Mix it a little, one day drink juice, the other day drink water and so on. Don’t take the same think always, because later you’ll have an addiction on that other non-carbonated drink instead. This doesn’t apply for water though… hahaha.
If water is too nasty for you, I would try getting a filter. Sometimes filters make the water to taste better. I wouldn’t recommend getting other drinks because they would too have sugars and might become addicting too.
4. Be more active: Yes. Believe or not exercise helps to overcome addictions, especially to soda and sugary drinks. When you exercise, your body would ask desperately to be re-hydrated. And since your brain is concentrated on the exercise, you would easily not pay attention to what you drink, in other words, any drink would be good for your body according to your brain (except for alcohol… that could be a little to strong for you brain to ignore). So this is the best time to drink water, pure water, and getting your body use to it. So every time you exercise, you’ll want to drink water instead of a coke. And as the months go by, you’ll realize that a sugary drink taste awful when exercising. For long exercise sessions though, I would recommend water with electrolytes, Smart Water is a good option, but there are others too. Always check the sugar content or ingredients… the less the better of course.
5. Listen to your body/brain: Say you completely got rid of soda. And instead of drinking 56 cans of Coca-Cola, you drink 20 bottles of water. There are going to be days that you are going to crave a carbonated drink. If that’s the case, do what you feel more comfortable and doesn’t bring any stress to your life. Some people would go crazy when they crave something and they can’t get, so… even though is a good think to hold on to temptation, it’s even worst to let it dominate our body and mind by turning us into a grumpy old person. So yeah, if you are craving a glass of coke, go get it and be done. Is not like you are going to go back to your old habit overnight. Although I would be careful with that. Those cravings later would disappear, and if they don’t, that means that you are giving in too much and should reduce your intake a little more.
6. Check your goals periodically: I wouldn’t call this point 6 or the last one. This is more of a recommendation that you should keep all along the way. This is the only way you can see if you are making progress or not. The moment you stop setting up goals, you are going to be prone to go back where you started. Keeping track of your goals not only will help you, but also make you feel better when you reach them. That my friend is free motivation to keep moving forward.
And no matter how hard it becomes… Be patient!
