Experimental Me

Stop the presses!

I went an entire 48 hours (48 HOURS, PEOPLE!) without a Diet Coke! Now, if you know me in real life, this is a monumental achievement. If you don't know me irl, trust me, it's gigunditically HUGE. Seriously. Ask KL. When we were roommates, we had two fridges. One just for my Diet Coke stash.

The predominant side effect of life without DC was a major afternoon slump both yesterday and today that did not coincide with the Muffins' naptime. Other than that, though, it was (brace yourselves) pretty ok.

We went out to run errands earlier tonight and I picked up my usual Diet Coke (you know, because I haven't sworn it off for good or anything) and it was divine, but I also noticed something...I wanted sweets afterwards. I'm thinking perhaps I see a connection... On any given day, I down between 75 to 100 ozs. of Diet Coke. And, yep, I'm usually a sweet-craving, make-cookies-or-brownies-for-no-reason kind of gal. But, over the last two days, I didn't really want anything sweet. Sweets were so not on the radar, that I didn't even notice that I hadn't been wanting them until after I had my lovely large Diet Coke (without ice!) and then was craving ice cream or fudge (oh, who am I kidding - I wanted them both and I actually tried to go to the candy shop on Main St. where you can get homemade ice cream and fudge, but there wasn't any parking).

I'm trying to make a concerted effort to consume less diet soda. According to a new study, drinking more than one soda a day - even diet - can increase your risk of developing, among other things, heart disease. I've long been addicted to Diet Coke, nearly 20 years now. I don't use the term addict lightly, either. I used to tell people that I didn't "feel right" unless I'd had my Diet Coke. I would swear that I could feel it coursing through my body as it helped me to unwind from a stressful situation. It may sound crazy to you, but that's how it used to make me feel. Even still, I down a can or glass of the stuff in a couple a minutes and feel completely refreshed and relaxed. It's kind of sick, I think.

I've often thought it wasn't a bad addiction to have. I don't drink, I don't smoke, I don't gamble, I don't even drink coffee - so what if I don't feel right until I've had my Diet Coke first thing in the morning? There are far worse things I could be doing to my body, right? Ultimately, though, whether or not diet soda can lead to heart disease isn't the primary reason I decided to experiment and see if I could go without my sweet, sweet drink. I want to set a good example for the Muffins and I don't know how much longer I can go through the drive-thru of McDonald's without the kidlets realizing that they're not just purveyors of "Mommy's drink". Plus, I've already got a pretty good list of risk factors for developing heart disease (thanks to family history), and I didn't need one more. I'm not pretending that I don't feel a little betrayed by my sweet mistress of refreshment, and I don't know if I'll ever be able to quit her altogether, but it's a first step. I'm going to load up on flavored seltzer waters, but I'm not going to try and quit Diet Coke completely, at least not for now. I'm just going to think more carefully about how much I actually consume and try to be better to my body. All in all, I think it's a pretty good plan. And, hey, if my theory pans out and the consumption of sweets goes down, too, that can't be an altogether bad thing either, can it?