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[quote=Anonymous]Hi OP, I have an inspiring story for you. I am 36. I started drinking Diet Coke (switched over from regular in order to save calories) when I was 14 years old. I had the Diet Coke habit for 20+ years. It has only been in the past few years that I really started wanting to give it up. The first time I went any prolonged period without it was when I was pregnant (5 years ago now), because I was already so burpy from pregnancy that I couldn't handle the carbonation. Then toward the end of the pregnancy I started drinking it again. Same pattern with pregnancies 2 and 3, except that at some point in there Diet Coke stopped tasting good to me and I was all about Diet Dr. Pepper only (used to drink both).

After my second child was born, I was down to 1 can a day, and that felt like an improvement to me since I had probably had more like 2-3 on average for most of the time I had been drinking diet soda. But then after my third was born, I got a renewed urge to kick the habit. I just got to the point where I knew it was harmful, I hated feeling like a drug addict (and it really did feel like that to me, like I needed my fix, just like people who smoke after meals), and I decided I was really going to quit. This was last year.

My time when I craved soda was in the morning after breakfast (because that is when I had my 1 can -- I drink slowly so that 12 oz. would last me two hours, and often I didn't even finish it). So I switched to drinking a glass of iced tea, but being from the South, I had never drunk unsweetened iced tea really and didn't like it. So I would lightly sweeten my tea -- I experimented with using real sugar, but usually used 1/2 packet of artificial sweetener per glass of tea.  I didn't really like either of those alternatives because I felt like using artificial sweetener was cheating -- because it was a large part of the reason I wanted to give up Diet Dr. Pepper. And I didn't really want the calories of sugar in my tea, even the small amount I was using. So I finally decided I was going to get used to unsweetened tea and during the holidays this year I stopped using any sweetener. I made myself drink it, not really enjoying it, and it took three weeks, and by then I liked it. It has been four months on unsweetened tea and another four before that without a daily soda. In the past 4 months I have had exactly 2 Diet Dr. Peppers (both on a road trip, I think because I was bored) and I actually felt sick to my stomach after each one. Most of the time I am not even tempted anymore. When I go to Chick-fil-A (they have Diet Dr. Pepper on tap) I am not tempted to order a soda, I just get my tea. I am also not tempted to sweeten the tea at all -- it tastes good to me unsweetened now. I feel GREAT about having conquered an addiction that dogged me for so many years.

Anyway, there is a new book out about the science of habits, and it backs up what I did -- you need to figure out what it is you are craving and come up with a suitable alternative to drinking a Diet Coke. It takes some time to cement a new habit, so just commit to doing it for a month. I won't say that I will never have another diet soda, but it will probably be rare if ever because it honestly does not taste that good to me anymore. I used tea, but you could use water with lemon or club soda or something. I liked the fact that it was cold and refreshing, not so much the carbonation, so iced tea fulfills that same desire in a much healthier way.

Good luck, OP -- you can do it! If I did, anyone can. [/quote]

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