Saturday, September 11, 2010

Today is the day...

that I will enjoy my last...yes, last...Diet Coke this afternoon.

I'm giving it up cold turkey tomorrow. So when I say I'm going to enjoy it today, I mean really enjoy.

I do only drink one (usually one...okay, sometimes two) each afternoon. I really look forward to it. It is my afternoon pick-me-up during naptime (okay, usually a little before naptime). But seriously, look at the ingredients on the side of the can. Is this what I'm putting into my body each and every day? I stress over feeding my kids the occasional non-organic grape or apple, yet apparently see nothing wrong with putting aspartame and phosporic acid into my body each day?

The start of my downfall was that darn lure of the siren song of McDonald's. "$1 soft drinks, any size." And any soda-loving, caffeine-addicted mama knows just how goooood McDonald's fountain soda is. Seriously, do they put crack in that stuff? Why is it so good? I often found myself pulling in to the drive-thru this summer to get my cheap-o (just $1.08 with tax...) super-duper extra-large Diet Coke as my afternoon, 0-calorie "treat." Nothing wrong with this, right?

Well, two things happened:
The first instance: While running errands one day, my daughter sweetly asked her obviously-cranky mama from the backseat, "Mama, do you need a Diet Coke?"
The second instance: My 3-year-old and 1-year-old were playing in the living room. My daughter grabbed their sippy water cups, handed one to her little brother, and said, "Here, let's drink our Diet Cokes."

That about broke my heart. I'm trying to set a good, healthy example for my kids, and here they are thinking that it would be neat to drink Diet Coke out of their sippy cups. Yikes. Yes, I know it could be worse. As I told this story to a fellow SAHM yesterday, she laughed and said, "It could be a lot worse. They could've said 'Budweiser' instead of Diet Coke."

Everything in perspective, right?

Anyway, today is my last day of cold, refreshing, aspartame-filled, caffeinated yumminess. May God help me and family in the days to come.

4 comments:

  1. I appreciate all of the support, Gin. :-)

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  2. I wish you lot's of luck with this. I am in the same boat as you drinking a pop (I drink regular coke) every afternoon as a pick me up. I am trying to cut back but haven't had the nerve to give it up cold turkey yet.

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  3. Just an FYI, Diet Pepsi doesn't contain aspartame... That doesn't make it healthy... but healthier maybe? I drink regular soda, I have given it up before, but my husband insists on keeping it in the house, and I am not self-disciplined enough to not drink it if it's here...

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