Week 2 of No Soda or Candy
- 30 Day Experiment - Voluntary Simplicity
- Week 2 of No Soda or Candy
It’s been a week now since I stopped drinking any soda or eating candy and I got to say, I feel GOOD! Some of that could be due to the fact that I’ve been getting more sleep lately. However, I got very little sleep last night and I still felt good this morning. Usually, even after a night with a decent amount of sleep, I would get to work and feel like taking a nap. I would keep feeling this way until well into the afternoon or at least until I had my first diet coke.
I had the same experience while at school this weekend. I used to be unable to make it through a class without at least one diet coke. This weekend I was able to make it through all of my classes without feeling sleepy even once. Well, actually, I did feel sleepy once but hey, you try paying attention to a three hour lecture about stock option pricing formulas and we’ll see how awake you are!
Regardless, I think I underestimated how much I had grown dependent on caffeine. I picked it up again towards the end of last year as a way of treating myself when I felt down or depressed, but I always thought it was just a casual habit. Turns out I had become a caffeine addict without even noticing it to the point where I was unable to stay awake through many parts of my life without a shot of caffeine.
Which is why I’m incredibly happy now to say that I’m done with caffeine. I think this is one part of the 30 day promise that I will have no problem maintaining long term. I feel better without it and I no longer need the artificial pick me up to feel better about my day.
Ahh Candy, My Old Friend!
The candy part, that’s a different story. I love candy. Actually, let me correct that, I love sugar, especially processed sugar in all its glory. Sure, I can enjoy an apple or an orange but there’s something about candy, especially good chocolate, that drives me a little crazy. It’s an incredible pleasure for me, as you can see in some of my previous posts.
In the past, I was able to control my consumption of chocolate to a reasonable amount. However, I also recognize that there were time when I binged on sugar in a way that was extremely unhealthy. So I was looking forward to trying out this 30 day experiment and seeing how I felt. Unfortunately, temptation has proven a worthy foe. While I have cut out nearly all processed sugar from my diet last week, I have fallen victim to the occasional brownie at lunch. I know I shouldn’t eat them, I’ve told myself not to and yet, I still do.
At the same time, I’m not going to beat myself up over this occasional lapse. I have decreased my processed sugar consumption by an amazing amount last week and I would rather focus on this accomplishment rather than my slightly less than perfect success rate. The decrease in sugar is not having as big of an impact on my body as the removal of caffeine but I do find myself craving sugar less and less, so perhaps there is something going on here.
So Far So Good
Either way, I am exceedingly happy with how this 30 day experiment is going so far. It’s had a very positive effect within a week of starting out and I feel like this is going to have a long term impact on my eating habits and health.
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Thank you to Fitbuff for including a recent 60 in 3 article in their latest Total Mind and Body Carnival.
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I have been going on strong for about three years without drinking soda. Haha yeah I use to love Coke and Pepsi, and I would drink it all of the time. But ya know what? I decided to quit the stuff for many reasons. For one I had started running for my cross country and track teams. For another I realized that there were plenty of other tasty drinks out there that weren’t so blatantly bad for you. For another, I didn’t want to have gross looking teeth. So I ditched the stuff, and went cold turkey. I am so glad I did.
-Randy