Diet Coke detox

[cgallery]

About a week ago I started tapering off Diet Coke.

Throughout my adult life I have consumed entirely too much Diet Coke. I almost always had a bottle of the stuff in my hand. I consumed it w/ breakfast, lunch, and dinner (when I wasn't having a beer). And plenty between meals, too.

My dentist mentioned (multiple times) that the acid in the soda is hard on the enamel of my teeth.

I've been on a bend to eliminate as many chemicals from my life as possible. I'm not particularly phobic about chemicals in MY life. But if I dump pesticides on my lawn, and my neighbor dumps pesticides on HER lawn, and everyone else in our community dumps pesticides on THEIR lawns, then we're going to have a problem. These are simply my opinions. I have no scientific data to back them up. I just don't think it is smart to drink, cook, and bathe with water that is polluted with all these chemicals. And if I'm unwilling to bathe in chemicals, I don't think it is wise to purposely ingest them.

Another contributing factor is the cost. All that Diet Coke adds up. I'll bet my household was spending $1500 to $2000/year on Diet Coke alone! That's insane.

So I started tapering off about a week ago and the last two days I've had zero Diet Coke. I have replaced the Diet Coke with water and milk. And an occasional non-diet cola. I have not modified my alcohol consumption at all (a light drinker of non-lite beers and an occasional [not even weekly] g&t and maybe an ever more occasional glass of wine).

ANYWAY... The "detox" (if that is what I'm going through) is awful. My legs and hips are killing me. I can't sleep at night without taking Advil for the pain. No discomfort anywhere else. No headaches or anything.

I don't think I'm going through caffeine withdrawal cause I still drink some caffeine, and eat chocolate, and in the past I've switched to several days of caffeine-free Diet Coke with no similar symptoms. I sorta suspect the Aspartame (a.k.a. NutraSweet).

After I started experiencing the pain I did a little googling and confirmed what I already knew (that Aspartame breaks down into some not-so-great-for-you things in your body). But I figured by getting rid of the stuff I'd actually feel better, not worse.

Anyone else ever give up either diet or non-diet Soda?

Or how about coffee? If you ever gave up caffeine, did your legs hurt?

[crokett]

I gave up caffeine once because I was drinking way too much but that was almost all coffee. I am not much of a soda drinker. My head hurt more a lot than anything. I started drinking it again but now am down to more or less 1 cup on my way to work plus the occasional afternoon cup but that is only in winter.

[jking]

I've pretty much given up regular drinking of any cola. My usual choices were Mountain Dew & Coca-Cola. I've never been able to stand diet pop, there's usually a terrible aftertaste. I quit drinking pop because my doctor mentioned by blood sugar was slightly elevated & I decided it was getting too expensive. I never had any issues giving it up. I still drink Coke once in a while, maybe once or twice a month.

Now, ask me to give up my coffee & we'll have words.

[shoottx]

A Yup, i quit caffine cold turkey about 5 years ago. I was drink 2- big Starbucks, (just loved a venti Iced Americano before bed) 6-8 Diet Cokes, and other assorted coffee drinks per day. I could set down a cup of coffee and go to sleep.

Decided I was a little over the top on that much caffine so I just stopped. It was no problem quiting. After about 2-3 days the headache was down enough that I could almost see. A Couple days later the muscle cramps stopped and I could at least get into a hands and knees position to bark at the moon. After that really no problems.

Yeah quiting was a bi... well it was rough!

[Bill Stock]

I've had recurring tooth sensitivity issues for over two years. Been to several dentists, had veneers done, tried all the special toothpastes, but nothing helped completely. It was so bad before the veneers that I could only eat soup for a month and brushing my teeth was excruciating. Gave up the diet soda for a while and the problem cleared up. Regular Coke did not seem to cause the same issues and Diet Pepsi seemed worse than Diet Coke. Anecdotal I know. I'm off the wagon at the moment, but I really have to get back on.

I can't say I noticed any other miracles other than the teeth, despite all the bad stuff you hear about aspartame.

[jackellis]

25 years ago a few words from a young lady friend was all it took to get me off soft drinks. I might have one a year and then only because there's nothing else.

No other addictions that I'm aware of.

[gsmittle]

I'm pretty sure I keep the Coca-Cola Company solvent. I've been known to drink a 2-liter bottle of Diet Coke in one sitting.

During the school year, I drink way too much of the stuff. By August I've usually tapered off to a can or so a day, then when school starts up in August I start drinking lots more. Must be the 17-hour days during the school year…

My usual reaction to cutting back is a terrible headache for three days. Lately I've noticed a lot of pain in my legs that went away after about 10 days when I cut back on the DC.

I should give the stuff up…

g.

[cabinetman]

The real question is, did you get fat drinking Diet Coke? I used to be a regular Pepsi drinker. When I ceased drinking Pepsi, my whole life changed. I started noticing images with clouds, and for hours would watch leaves blowing in the wind, plant colors became more vibrant, and stray animals had a different attitude towards me.

And then I just happened to try orange juice with ice. When the ice melted, the taste was less acidic. So, now instead of just plain old water which has zero taste, I drink an infused OJ mix of 25% OJ in water and ice. Mmmmmm
.

[cgallery]

The real question is, did you get fat drinking Diet Coke?.

I'm not going to blame DC for any weight problems I have. In fact, while I was a complete lard ass, I was able to lose well over 100 #'s while still drinking it. In fact, I've done that twice.

The problem is, the weight keeps coming back. There are lots of reasons for that. The primary one being that I'm eating more calories than I'm burning. The other one being that losing 140 #'s makes your metabolism do some pretty funny things.

I will say that everything goes great with a Diet Coke. So when you're drinking one, you're inclined to seek munchies to compliment the soda. Losing the weight was probably more difficult to do while drinking the stuff.

There are times when I would drink DC for only the purpose of quenching my thirst. But half of the time I was just having a private food party for one. I'd open a bottle or can, take a sip, and then go on a raid of the kitchen.

Water doesn't have the same effect on me. I drink it when I'm thirsty. But it doesn't seem to stimulate my appetite.

In terms of the evils of Aspartame, I'm trying not to become one of "them," who espouse the evils of Aspartame and make it seem like every single disease we're faced with these days came AFTER we started adding Aspartame to our foods. People live forever these days, chemicals aren't ALL bad.

However, it is also interesting to note that the start of the "obesity epidemic" (if there is one) seems to coincide with the increase in consumption of diet pops. Perhaps just a coincidence, I don't know.

All I know is that I've gone up about four pounds since stopping the Diet Coke (probably water weight). But I'm hopeful that in a week or two my weight will start dropping.

[wardprobst]

You are doing a good thing for a lot of reasons- health, environment (check out what it takes to make Diet Coke) and others. I would suggest upping your water intake for the aches and pains, I think it will help. Home filtered water is better tasting and easy to do with a pitcher system or whatever. Point is, keep up the good work and it'll get better.
From one who has BTDT,
DP