30 day no Coke trial (No Caffeine, Aspartame/HFCS/Sugar)

[ivo]

Hi there,

I decided I might as well finally give up Coke which is generally my only source of caffeine excluding various teas I drink from time to time. This isn't as hard as it would have been for me. Several years ago I was drinking 2~2.5L of HFCS(normal red) Coke every day (I also weighed 120 kilos/250 pounds at around 173cm height). I have since reduced this amount significantly to say a total of 2-4 litres per week. A side effect of the switch was that i generally lost my conditioning to sugar/corn syrup in the process and whenever I have something very sweet (like a can of normal soda) I get high blood pressure, restlessness, headaches etc. I also get headaches from the large amounts of caffeine in diet Coke (Diet Pepsi is better in that regard but contains more aspartame) so I want to cut caffeine as well. Luckily I don't really like/am used to coffee so that won't be too hard. I also hate the sickening sweet relief that Aspartame is giving me after such prolonged use and I'm alarmed by the controversial studies of that artificial sweetener.

So anyway, it's high time for all that poison to go away so I'm starting a 30 day trial in which I will not drink or eat anything containing Caffeine/Sugar/Corn Syrup/Aspartame (and all other artificial sweeteners). I will be eating some honey if I get a sugar craze or something. I might drink some concentrated juices (fructose?) although they do contain too much sugars as well so I'll avoid those (perhaps grapefruit juice only).

[Petrolhead]

I'm struggling with coke addiction too, I like the idea about fruit juice and honey to take the edge off the cravings.

Guess even though they are still high sugar they don't have the acid, sweetners, caffeine, additives etc.

[ivo]

Petrolhead,

sorry for not replying earlier but I decided I wouldn't post another comment for atleast two days so I could get some preliminary results for my trial.

It's been two days drinking only water (and a couple of beers) and avoiding sweets although i have eaten half a bar of dark chocolate too (quarter pieace at each breakfast with some milk and bananas). So far it seems to be going well. I feel a slight loss of apetite, and perhaps a little more overall energy and stable mood (I don't remember feeling depressed about anything in those past two days).

As for juices - I decided on them since they were closest to a natural unprocessed source of sugars and honey is well... honey :-) Most say it's good, some say that fructose taxes your liver too much. I'm just trying to find a good balance for my dietary needs with a low overall amount of sugars and eliminate or reducie the intake of the various chemicals found in our food one step at a time.

[RRR]

I weighed 250 lbs a few years ago. My first step to losing 100 lbs was stopping drinking soda. (I was averaging probably 5 cans a day). I lost 10 pounds quickly by doing this and was inspired to lose the rest of my weight.

Juice concentrate is crap. Beer is crap. Replace all crap with fruit/vegetables and your health will increase quickly.

[Sonic]

I used to be a pepsi addict, it took me 3 tries before i finally got it right. The reason i failed was becaused i didnt know why i was trying to stop drinking it. When i finally did, it became easier and automatic.

So, don't look at this lifestyle change as a temporary fix. You'll always fail that way. Get yourself into a place where you realize that the changes that you make in the way that you live are going to be permanent. There's no shortcut and there's no endpoint. It's like the title of this entry says: you're never going back. You don't have to like it, but I can guarantee that sooner or later, it won't matter. You won't have to like it, you'll have to do it!

From;The Bodyweight Files: The trip that you never come back from

[ivo]

Ok so it's been 5 days or so without caffeine, aspartame and HFCS and I feel.... just fine. I didn't expect this to be so easy but I guess that after so much time trying to get rid of those stimulants all that was needed was a final push. No caffeine crave, no sugar crave - in fact it took me 5 days to eat a bar of dark chocolate and as tasty as it was I never felt a need to stuff myself with it. Overall energy is good, I've started getting up a little earlier than usual. My mood seems to be quite stable which is good too. It seems so far this has been a success.

[Dharma]

Originally Posted by ivo

Ok so it's been 5 days or so without caffeine, aspartame and HFCS and I feel.... just fine.

I'd like you to consider while experiencing your change in diet that maybe the changes you feel, the habit of getting up earlier, maybe some added enthusiasm, is all coming from a source inside yourself and you are using the food as a permission slip to access that change. Is it really the food or is it something inside you that is changing along with the diet change?

[ballhit2]

You know they used to put cocaine in coca-cola. Maybe you could find an alternative energy-jolt apart from that toxic slimestew known as Coca-Cola.

[ivo]

You're absolutely right. In fact it's interesting to note that Coca Cola still uses Coca leaves as flavouring in it's syrup formula (leaves with the cocaine sucked out of them for medical use).

[ivo]

Originally Posted by Dharma

I'd like you to consider while experiencing your change in diet that maybe the changes you feel, the habit of getting up earlier, maybe some added enthusiasm, is all coming from a source inside yourself and you are using the food as a permission slip to access that change. Is it really the food or is it something inside you that is changing along with the diet change?

Dharma,

It's difficult to point out exactly and this is just one of a series of changes I've been experimenting with over the month of March. I also left my last job and found a better one which starts in April so I'm completely free of duties and concerns until then and I'm making the most of this time.