Thursday, October 8, 2009

Oh Diet Coke.

So I attended this health seminar at my gym the other night after my bootcamp class and learned a lot. A couple interesting tidbits?

  1. Don't wait until you're hungry to eat. My bootcamp instructor is a big advocate of eating 5-6 small meals throughout the day. She says that if you wait until you're hungry to eat your metabolism has already gone into the "starvation mode," thinking it won't be getting food for awhile, so it takes longer to kick back into action.
  2. Everyone should eat (minimum) 9-14 fruits and vegetables a day. Woah there. And it should be a 2-1 ratio, twice as many veggies as fruits.
She also talked about soda. Now, I'm a soda drinker. Big time. I did manage to give up soda for lent a couple years ago, but it was tough. I've been hearing everywhere lately that even diet soda (Which is all I will drink, regular soda? No thanks!) actually contributes to weight problems. Something about the fake sugars they use in diet sodas triggers the brain into thinking you're hungry. Check out this article if you're interested in learning more...my ability to summarize valid points is pretty lame. :)

So, my goal is to quit diet soda. Maybe allow myself one a week. I'd like to quit cold turkey though. My little bro did, and he doesn't miss it. My problem is that I rarely drink water. I know I need to just suck it up and do it, but if I make myself do things before I'm ready, I generally wimp out. Like with Weight Watchers, I gave myself a few months to get used to the idea, so when I committed, I knew what I was getting into and I was ready for it.


(By the way, as I write this, I have a can of diet coke open beside me. Darn you addictive soda!)

Currently Reading: The Red Necklace by Sally Gardner

4 comments:

cj said...

Ugh, diet soda is the DEVIL. I used to only drink one or two on the weekend, but now I'm up to one every day. I am totally addicted to the carbonation and cola flavor. I would like to give it up, but I'm torn between just succumbing to having it as my "vice" and just dealing with it, but it is really bad for you. I did quit for a while and I think I did notice that my sweet tooth cravings diminished a bit (like the feeling that I need to eat something sweet after every meal). Have you tried any herbal teas? You might like that as a substitute, in order to drink more water. Herbal teas come in lots of yummy varieties and they don't taste like the *tea* tea that many people dislike the taste of. Look in the grocery store at the Celestial Seasonings brand...you might like the apple cinnamon kind. It really pretty much tastes like what it says--and no calories.

steph anne said...

I came across this post from 20SB.

I wrote a letter to Diet Coke a while back when I tried reducing my daily intake here on my blog

I like to blame my Diet Coke addiction on my Mom being addicted to it when pregnant with me. After reading your post, I'm actually going to try to cut back then quit cold turkey or just limit to 1 a day.

Unknown said...

I used to drink tons of soda a day. I decided to give it up completely, because I realized the bad habit. Water was something I HATED. Now I love water and I don't miss soda at all.

Best of luck to you, and you can do it!

MeCassieMarie.blogspot.com

Louise | UPrinting.com said...

I agree with the soda thing. Diet is even worse than the regular. And to think they call it diet... when it really is far from being one... ¬.¬