How To Break Your Diet Coke Addiction

1. You have to believe this is a good thing. I’m going to get heavy on you here, and I know we’re only talking about soda, but I couldn’t have broken this habit without being completely convinced that it’s bad for my health. There’s no room for doubt when you’re relying on willpower to battle an addiction. Do your research into the chemicals that go into sugar-free cola, and make up your own mind.

2. Going cold turkey probably won’t work. In the spirit of total honesty, you should know that I tried to give up diet coke a few times, and failed. I really think the reason things worked out on the last try is because I decided to stop trying to completely cut the drink out of my diet. Instead, I’d cull down to just one small can in the afternoons, and then eventually let myself only have a drink on the weekend. You know, the way normal people consume cola. It took a couple of months, but gradually I found myself feeling less and less desperate to chug down a family sized bottle every

single day, and soon my relationship with diet cola wasn’t a dependency, it was a decision about whether or no I felt like one. Almost immediately (I’m talking a few days) after cutting my consumption I noticed my skin clearing up and my digestion improving. I’m no doctor, but I don’t think that’s just a happy coincidence. As I started to feel better, it became more obvious just how bad this habit was for my body, and I found myself naturally wanting to drink it less.

3. It helps to pick up a new, healthier habit. For the few months that I spent easing back on my diet coke habit I started drinking peppermint tea like a crazy person. I had a teapot on my desk at work which I would keep filled up throughout the day. Every time I felt the urge to have sip of something bubbly, I’d reach for the peppermint tea instead. It’s also around about that time that I started appreciating dark chocolate–a couple of squares in the afternoon acted like a little hit of caffeine and helped to curb the diet coke drinking.

4. You will see positive changes everywhere. Ditching diet coke was a gateway to many more healthy habits in my life. I felt naturally more energetic after cutting out caffeine almost completely from my life, and more confident thanks to my skin starting to clear up. Around the time I quit I found myself wanting to eat more healthily (and actually following through), and I began showing my face at the gym in the first time for a long time. It might sound like a bold claim, but life post diet coke is just better–you should definitely try it some time.