I'm Gonna Have to Face It, I'm Addicted...

To pop (soda, Coke, soft drinks, whatever you wanna call it). I've been trying to break this addiction for almost four years now, and I've gotten nowhere. It started when I was living in Omaha and working at the Picture People during the Christmas season; some days I would work eleven- or thirteen-hour shifts with no break and the only calories I consumed would be from the Mt Dew someone brought me from the food court, because they never bothered to bring me food. (I wish I were exaggerating; the management was supremely horrible, and I was the only non-smoker, so I was always overlooked when it came to breaks.)

I've tried to give up pop several times in the past three years, and sometimes I've even been successful for a few weeks. I've tried to just cut back, but that never lasts long either. I drank a lot of pop in college, and so I decided my senior year to just give it up, just like that, and I did. I've been trying to figure out why it was so easy for me in college, when pop was free and readily available with every meal in the dining hall and why I'm struggling so hard now. I have no idea. About the time that I gave up pop in college, I was walking two to four miles almost every day, and I think I gave up pop improve my health. I lost probably ten pounds that semester, just walking and not drinking pop. Now I'm exercising regularly again, and I want to improve my health and lose a little weight, but I can't seem to kick the pop habit.

There's a lot of controversy over how bad pop really is for you. Most articles that I've read say that it's not so much that pop is bad for you, it just often replaces other nutritious beverages and/or foods that would be more beneficial. I'd rather err on the side of caution, however, and cut it out of my diet, or at least significantly reduce the amount I drink. My food journal has already helped me cut back my daily intake. It's one thing when I am guzzling pop all day at work without thinking about it, but it's quite another when I total up the number of ounces (and calories!) I drank and see that number in black and white.