About This Site

I started out this site as a sort of self-reinforcement to help myself control my soda addiction. Much like some people get addicted to cigarettes, alcohol or other drugs, I came to the realization that I was addicted to soda.

What makes an addiction?

According to official sources an addiction is a persistent compulsive use of a substance known by the user to be harmful. Let’s look at how soda fits into this category.

Soda is:

• Unhealthy for you
• Laced with a habit forming substance (caffeine)
• Expensive

So, on top of these negative traits, I realized I was receiving relatively little benefit to drinking soda, beside a psychological one, and that I could not even drink it in moderation. I soon found myself drinking 3-5 cans of soda a day, or 2-3 bottles. I was gaining weight, and also I started to have problems with sugar, namely if I didn’t drink a soda in the morning I was feeling nauseous. This is a typical sign of both sugar addiction, which can lead to diabetes, and also caffeine addiction.

Quitting ‘Cold Turkey’

In order to nip it in the bud, I decided to quit ‘cold turkey’. The temptation was too hard with an unlimited soda supply at work. My rules were simple… no soda. At all. At work I switched to water with an occasional low-sugar drink mix packet. When I go out to a restaurant I will drink water or occasionally iced tea. My goal is to reduce my high fructose corn syrup consumption and I prefer natural sugar whenever possible.

I went through this process in 2008. After quitting soda for a few months I saw a drastic reduction in weight and I was feeling better. Foolishly I started drinking again – first ginger ale, one a day. Then I encountered the ‘slippery slope’ and within months I was drinking several cans of soda a day. Once I started gaining weight again I realized I had to cut soda out completely, and for good.

Living The Soda Free Lifestyle

So here I am. Living the soda-free lifestyle. I miss drinking Mountain Dew intensely, that was always my ‘cocaine’ of the soda world. I maintain the site to reinforce to myself, and hopefully to others, how bad soda is for you and why it is the “smart decision” to stop drinking it altogether. There is a movement to heavily tax soda, although I do not necessarily agree with this I do think think this shows that many people class soda with cigarettes in that it is an unhealthy addiction to be avoided.

Thanks for visiting. Let me know if you have any improvements to the site or wish to contribute. I always welcome guest posts or other concerned parties!