Tuesday, December 2, 2014

TK 2: Flippy Scrippy




This is easy -- I now love cilantro!

HAHAHAHHAHAHAAH JUST KIDDING. I'm still pretty sure it grows in the poisoned soil in Satan's garden, along with endive. (Ptoo!)

...but let me tell you how I really feel.

It took me a long time to figure out what to write about today. I couldn't think of anything I had changed my mind about, which shot me off into the beginnings of a shame spiral and the worry that I'm too stubborn and rigid and criminy, it's just a damn blog post.

Then I remembered that I recently -- around the beginning of September -- stopped drinking Diet Coke, something I'd wanted to do for a long time. 

I didn't plan it out on a schedule or count down as I had when I quit smoking (all 812 times). I just didn't drink any for a couple days and when a caffeine headache reminded me that I had been soda-free, I just stuck with it. I haven't given up caffeine because, well, come on. Let's not get too crazy. I don't remember what I did to cure the headache. Probably popped some ibuprofen and went to Starbucks for a latte. And then I, uh, did some volunteer work and housed some refugees and thought about my privilege.

Ahem.

I honestly haven't noticed that much of a difference now that I am primarily soda-less. Except that the avalanche of Diet Coke cans and bottles that was steadily taking over my apartment has stopped, and that has been reason enough to quit. (Getting my recyclables to the bins around town in a timely manner isn't exactly my forte.) I didn't generally drink more than a 12-ounce can or 20-ounce bottle every couple days, but that still means... rough estimate... that I haven't had ... wow. Fourteen gallons of Diet Coke.

Okay, so that's something.

I had wanted to quit ever since a friend referred to the bottle of Diet Pepsi she was drinking as a bottle of toxins. I've become more sensitive to the idea of pouring buckets of chemicals into my body. Additionally, I worried that it was such an automatic habit. I had started to buy 12-packs of soda from the store and they would just seem to disappear. And then I saw the news articles that diet soda contributed to weight gain and I think I was just like *drop mic* and made a change.

I still occasionally order soda at a restaurant, but my tastes changed pretty quickly. After just a couple weeks, I tried some Diet Coke and the taste instantly put me off. It was pretty thrilling to pour the bottle contents down the sink. Mountain Dew is on notice, as is Sprite and Sierra Mist and all their carbonated cousins. I drink unsweetened iced tea now but even that is starting to squick me out a little. I like to add a packet of sweetener and it's hard not to think of the stuff as cancer powder. Even though I know it's supposed to take, like, a semi truckload of aspartamedextrowhatever to cause issues. Better safe than sorry.

I say none of this to be sanctimonious, by the way. I don't give a shit if you drink a case of Jolt every day or if you too have lost your taste for a beverage you once referred to as an elixir. I find that I'm beginning to lose my taste for fried foods as well, which might be a changing taste buds thing or it might be an aging thing. Or maybe I just don't enjoy that side of guilt that comes with ordering cheese fries. I'll take improved health in whatever form it presents itself. Along with a filter for my kitchen sink so I can abandon iced tea and become one o' them water-only folks. (Communists!)

2 comments:

Teresa said...

Oh boy! I just STARTED drinking Diet Coke this year. You make me feel like I should stop while I'm ahead! 😋😋

Anonymous said...

Amazing how quickly your taste changes, right? I stopped having fizzy drinks and fruit juices last year, and now stuff I used to drink regularlyis sickeningly sweet. Well done!