How did you quit diet soda and artificial sweeteners

[Dredaye9]

If you have how did you do it? Cold turkey? Did you ween off of it? I find it so hard to quit ! I know how bad it is for me ! Is splenda any better than aspartame? I can't stop drinking diet sodas!!!

[EmPugs]

I don't keep soda in my house at all, we go through about 2 cases of water a week, I drink about a case myself. I do occasionally have a diet soda when I go out. I have a bottled water addiction.

I think just not having it in the house is a good way to get started on getting it out of your life. I use Stevia in my coffee, but if I get a coffee out I get Splenda, the Splenda is a bit sweet for me, it tends to make me want to eat.

[picklepete]

I had good luck with iced tea + fresh lemon and seltzer + fresh lime.

As for safety, I really don't worry about sweeteners but I like to minimize them so my fruits and veggies taste better.

[Darkginger]

I did it cold turkey, and it took about 2 weeks for me to totally lose my taste for sweet things - had a sweetener in coffee one day by accident (wasn't awake!) and it tasted foul, which was a revelation. I very rarely have a diet Coke with vodka in it if we're down the pub, but on the whole, plain soda water with a slice of cucumber or lemon tastes better now

I don't know if ditching the sweeteners is the cause, but this time round (my 2nd, after falling off the wagon after 3 years maintenance), I'm totally free from temptation, no desire whatsoever to eat off plan. For me, that makes it a worthwhile exercise

[svenskamae]

I tapered off to fewer and fewer sodas per week, until I wasn't drinking any. I only drank diet soda at work, so I didn't have to get used to not drinking soda at home. I also invested in a Brita water filtration pitcher and always kept cold filtered water around, and as I drank that instead of soda, more and more, I came to like water better.

I find that I appreciate the natural sweetness in vegetables and dairy much more, now that I don't use sweeteners or drink diet soda, and like Darkginger, I'm really not tempted to eat off-plan food.

[ivyjewels]

I quit cold turkey.

When I realized the bloat it was putting on my belly; that was reason enough for me to quit.

I made it my New Year's resolution a few years back and have never looked back!

It's not easy, but with determination you can do it!

Good luck.

[flatferenghi]

it will be interesting to see if that will result in a diminution of diet sodas. I drink a lot of diet soda, but only about 1/2 of what i used to. Still, i would like to cut down even further. Time will tell. Love & Profits: FLATFERENGHI

[Leo41]

It was easy for me once I realized that anything with a sweet taste stimulates my appetite. I don't need anything to make me hungry!

When I was weaning myself from diet soda, I used plain club soda with a dash of lemon juice for flavor because I realized that it was the 'fizz' that I missed. After a while, I didn't want that either, but I'll often have it in the summer in restaurants instead of plain water or iced tea.

Now in maintenance, if I decide that I want an indulgence, I will eat the 'real thing' --i.e., sugar rather than artificial sweeteners. But that is rare for me because I try to avoid sugar.

[ladyinlove56]

I only drink diet cokes if I am at a party or out to the movies.....I drink ice tea with lots of ice and sweet and low and will not change it....I drink cystal light when I need something sweet .....water with lots of ice and sliced cucumbers...good taste....

[Westbrookj1]

Newbie here; Is diet soda such a bad thing?! Enlighten me!

[mmorris]

I also did it cold turkey!! I ended up drinking Ice water and sooooooo much of it. I think I may be healthier and I also save a lot of money.. I drank 2-4 liters a day....

[LoriWants2Lose]

Not ready to give up my diet soda, but I know it has chemicals and weird stuff in it, so one day I likely will. Maybe. Not sure. LOL

[wishbone]

Christmas Day marks 1 year of NO DIET POP AND NO ENERGY DRINKS.

And I own a bar and grill....so, fountain pop can turn into the never ending/never empty glass of soda !!!

I just decided one day that I was done. And it was not easy.....the caffeine withdrawal headaches were HORRIBLE. The energy drinks were by far the most addictive thing that I have ever quit. I wanted to sleep for a MONTH !!!! Now, the brewed ice tea and the bottled green tea is the only caffeine that I drink. My coffee is also decaf.

JAN

[picklepete]

Originally Posted by Westbrookj1

Newbie here; Is diet soda such a bad thing?! Enlighten me!

It's one of those things we have to decide for ourselves. I'll say that I lost the bulk of my weight while drinking oceans of the stuff so for what it's worth it's basically zero-cal/zero-carb but looking at the big picture of nutrition it's probably wise to minimize industrial products.

[jmc305]

I like water with lime juice and stevia. However, I also really enjoy my Diet Mt. Dew and Sun drop. I have personally never noticed a stall while drinking lots of diet soda, but lots of people say it stalls them or makes them feel cruddy. I would say to break the addiction you would either have to wean off them slowly, or go cold turkey. I would try to find an alternative that I liked while still drinking the diet sodas. That way it will be easier to let them go and you won't feel deprived.

[flatferenghi]

don't use them, except for those already in the diet sodas. FF

[Sunny7]

just talked with a friend of mine and she was a diet coke addict....drank several bottles a day, anyway last week she had the flu, and ever since then the thought of drinking a DC makes her nautious, i said you are better off for it, that stuff is poison....hope she doesn't get the taste for it back....she is happy that it wasn't that hard to get off it...

[diamondsinthesky]

I am a recovering diet soda addict. Diet Mountain Dew was my drug of choice. I haven't had any soda since this Sunday, which for me is huge.

Now coffee is another battle entirely, although I only drink 2 cups a day.

[IWILLDOIT1978]

I am not yet ready to give it up either. Maybe one day but as for now I am doing good just sticking to low carb. If it stalls me later then I will have to look at things again and try.... but until that day comes I am happy drinking my diet rootbeers and diet sunkist and the occasional diet mountain dew!

[Punkin]

I used to drink diet sodas by the caseloads. But I think it was more psychological, because I know if I drank the real thing I would just gain tons of weight. The artificial sweetener isn't really a replacement for sugar. I got off them by drinking clubs soda with 1/4 cup of pure grapefruit juice instead. Eventually I cut that down to 1 a day. I have recently cut that out and replaced it with soda water flavoured with lemon. I did this just to get rid of the extra carbs. It seems fine, since I am so low carb now, everything tastes sweet.

[4myfuture]

I was addicted to diet soda and I believe it led to many of my sugar cravings---quit cold turkey. Feel so much better!

[suzanneyea]

I went cold turkey on the diet soda and I am amazed caused I used to drink tons of it daily Now I went slower on the equal in my coffee I am now free from both!

[DairyQueen]

I love diet soda and don't need to give it up.

[iakaren]

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[Taxbane]

Originally Posted by Dredaye9

If you have how did you do it? Cold turkey? Did you ween off of it? I find it so hard to quit ! I know how bad it is for me ! Is splenda any better than aspartame? I can't stop drinking diet sodas!!!

Switch to Zevia Sodas (All natural, no carbs, no cals, tastes like a diet soda)...

Switch to using stevia extract (powder) and liquid for cooking and for making your drinks sweet (coffee, kool-aid) etc...

Other sweetners I use:
Just Like Sugar (Chicory Root)
Truvia (GMO so,...... not the best IMO, but better than frankensugars)
Erythritol
Swerve (Erythritol and Stevia blend)

Others I havent tried yet: Monk Fruit Extract, Polydextrose...

[Mrs S]

Lime sparkling water. LaCroix is my fave. Also, Pellegrino, Lime Perrier or simple Club Soda with a twist of lime. This helped me kick sweet tea AND diet soda.

[DiamondDeb]

I quit diet sodas cold turkey at the start of 2002 & never looked back. Haven't had one since.

I had previously cut aspartame in favor of Splenda. I wanted to cut all AS so I tried, and loved, stevia. I started using it instead of Splenda, then began cutting products containing it.

The last holdout was a LC Hood chocolate milk. I used it in protein shakes & really liked it. I finally bit the bullet. This was helped when it became very difficult to find. I am not sure they even make it now. I'm pretty sure that was in 2002, but I don't recall exactly. It is possible it was the next year.

I found that the more I used stevia the less I liked Splenda. If I made something that had Splenda in it I had to add stevia, too.

[BigRunner]

Originally Posted by ivyjewels

I made it my New Year's resolution a few years back and have never looked back!

It's not easy, but with determination you can do it!

Good luck.

Very fitting reading this today.
Starting tomorrow, no more sweeteners.

[picklepete]

Santa brought me a Sodastream machine this year, along with a variety of unsweetened concentrates (only ingredient is "natural flavors"). I'll play around with them.

[E.W.]

I was drinking about 3 2 liter Diet Cokes a day till about 3 years ago. Now I drink a lot of
tea or decaf coffee. But at least they don't make me hunt a bathroom every 30min. Still
want one from time to time but today will be one more day I don't feed that adiction.