Diet Coke

Well done vampirequeen and Menopaws!

The Bottle Green cordials are nice diluted with sparkly water, not so sweet but good flavour and satisfying, I'm drinking lots of water too and looking for nice options.

Wtg menopaws. You're right we can do this.

I didn't have any coke when I was out with my mam. I ordered orange squash but it was too sweet. Next time I'll order water.

I noticed in the supermarket today that there is now a whole side of one isle just for various colas. This is more than all the cheeses combined! The other soft drinks have a separate isle of their own. This may not be new (we don't drink soft drinks - stick with the wine lol!) - but I ventured down there because we have friends coming tomorrow. I was shocked!!

Thank god for anonymity. Only two of my children know and now you lot but you are right it does help because I feel less inclined to go back now others know, thanks friends x we can do this VQ x

Good luck to both VQ and Menopaws beating any kind of addiction is hard,be it diet coke, alchohol or chocolate. Keep us updated on here, it may well help you to write about it.

Thanks but I'm not out to hijack Vampires post just seems we are at a similar stage so can relate

Well done menopaws

Well done vq. I think you are right it's not just the substance but actions involved around it. Some things obviously you can't avoid like drinking........but it sometimes helps by changing routine ie have lunch in different place and diversion tactics too.

Wrong brackets?

Well done memopaws. (Smile)

Ok sharing here but with vampire queen going through this I feel it is a good time. I have hit the alcohol a bit hard the last two years due to personal issues, my son pulled me up and I stopped drinking nine days ago and I love a drink, the social side, the oblivion but when a mother makes her 29 son cry she has to do something about it. Now I know coke and booze is different but addiction is addiction. Each day (it's been 9) it gets easier, I wake up better, I sleep better, I'm happier less anxious and I am really proud. Even went to a summer ball last night and drank sparkly water all night without sulking. Keep at it vampire, you will go through stages but if you slip you will feel so cross with yourself, be strong and keep in touch xx

You sound to be coping very well VQ like you say getting through times which you associate with having cake is hard but you are doing well keep going.?

Well done vq, you are doing really well - keep persevering and you'll do it!

My DC drink a lot of water and, because they are out and about, have thermos-type water bottles rather than plastic bottles. However, I think it is leaving the plastic bottles in the car in the warm is what causes the problem with leaching unless they are BPA-free.

I could be wrong, someone else may know more about it.

Diet coke is dreadful for your body, damaging to teeth and artificial sweeteners are not good. DS used to drink a lot and when he tried to stop he became quite ill, we could hardly believe the symptoms he developed, more akin to drug or alcohol withdrawal.
I never touch the stuff, it is better suited to toilet cleaning, I favour chilled sparkling water with apple high juice content squash.

Well done for persevering vq. It will get easier every day and you may well be amazed at how much difference it makes to the way you feel. Have you tried sucking a boiled sweet rather than drinking so much water? Just keep your end goal in mind and be proud of yourself. (p.s. you must be saving a bit of cash as well )

Thank you for the 'well done', Anya.

We live in a hard water area, rosesarered. I've found that I prefer water that has been in the fridge. I've been refilling half litre bottles but now it seems we're being told not to do that. We can't win lol. Anyway I figure the diet coke is more dangerous than the plastic bottle so I'll keep doing it. I sterilise the bottles with Milton every few days so I'm not bothered about a few germs that might be there. The leaching of plastic chemicals seems to be worse if you wash the bottles in warm water so I won't do that.

My Mother had an addiction to raw carrots, she would peel and cut them up, put them in a cup of water and then sit and eat them.I assumed it was the sugar content that she liked ( I was a teenager at the time) as before that she would have a small bar of chocolate every night,She was always very thin, whatever she ate ( lucky her!) Had not heard anything about diet coke, we do keep some cans in, nice with sliced lime and ice cubes in hot weather.Only have a couple each week though.Good luck VQ in beating your addiction to it, can you find a good subsitute, lemonade etc? since buying a water filter jug I drink more plain water than I ever used to ( we live in a hard water area, do you?)?

I think you have to plan ahead VQ and decide exactly what you will drink and stick to it. Last year I gave up,alcohol for 100 days. Going out I was faced with the same dilemma and found that planning ahead was the answer.

In lieu of your mum I'll send you a 'well done so far' ??

I think going cold turkey is the only way for me. I've tried cutting down in the past but it just increases again. Today is a challenge day. I go out to lunch with my mam and usually have a pint of diet coke with the meal. I learned when I gave up smoking that it's not just the chemicals that you're addicted to but the actions too. Years later a friend asked me to open her cigarettes and pass her one. The action of opening the packet, the smell of tobacco, the slowly pulling one out....all triggered a desire to smoke.

I just have to get through it. Mam won't help. Well she'll think she's helping when she criticises me for having got to this stage when really a 'well done' would be far more effective.

Please try and gradually cut down on these drinks vampirequeen. Not only have diet drinks (not just Diet Coke) been associated with, surprisingly, weight gain but also new research has indicated a possible link to a higher risk of stroke and dementia.

I am very suspicious of artificial sweeteners and also think they have a horrible taste.

It dissolves teeth too!!

Did I meet you years ago joannapiano? I met a lady in a supermarket filling bags and bags with carrots and asked if she was making soup for a lot of people; she said no, she was addicted to them and the doctor had told her to stop eating them as she was going orange.

I am not sure that I believed her at the time and I didn't realise it could be an addiction.

Coke is very useful for cleaning the toilet bowl. It's awful for your body. Stay strong-I found it hard to give up an addiction to raw carrots. I ate so many my hands turned orange.

The more I read about it the worse it seems. The thirst isn't so painful today so hopefully my body is adapting but the craving is still there although that's par for the course when giving up an addiction. Today marks my first full week diet coke free.

I'm told by the rheumatologist that drinks like coke which contain aspartame are very bad for people with arthritis as it leaves a residue in the joints.