Carbonation Free for 4 Months!

      On March 12, 2013 I put the bottle down and had my last sip of carbonated beverage. It had originally started as a pact with a co-worker and friend. We were each buying at least one soda per day at work. And at $1.25 per bottle, that's $6.25 per week just on soda! Now, I was able to swallow the cost of soda per week because I needed it. I was addicted. If I didn't have at least one soda per day, I was miserable to be around. I was tired and sluggish and if I closed my eyes long enough, I could probably have fallen asleep sitting up at my desk. Not cool.

      There were many reasons that I wanted to stop drinking carbonated beverages. Both for physically and financial reasons. I had been talking about quitting soda for a while. Every other day was always 'my last one' and 'starting tomorrow I won't drink soda anymore.' Yeah, well.. that never worked. Because tomorrow, I would stand at the machine and trade $1.25 for a soda. The same thing was happening with my co-worker.

      So one day (March 12, 2013) we decided today was the day. No more soda. Actually no more carbonated beverages, at all. We wrote up a contract, added exceptions such as birthdays and holidays. We also added consequences. For example, if you drink a carbonated beverage, you had to buy the other person lunch.

      Now you may be thinking, why all carbonated beverages and not just soda? Because carbonated beverages in general aren't very good for you. At least not the kind we would be drinking if we only eliminated soda (ex. Energy drinks).

      There was only one small problem with our logic. We spent so much time defining what we couldn't have, that we didn't think of what we could have. So on March 14, I started another bad habit. Buying iced tea from the vending machine. So much for saving money because iced tea costs the same as a soda. I slowly weened myself off of the tea and now I rarely will buy one. It helps that I have to pay for laundry and it's $1.25 to wash and $1.25 to dry just one load.

      So what do I do now? I bring a large container of coffee to work with me for my coffee fix and I have a Brita water bottle that I bring and sometimes leave at work, so that I always have something to drink and won't be tempted to step in front of the vending machine.

      I'm proud of myself for going 4 months now without a bottle, can or glass of soda. I don't feel any different. I haven't lost weight and I haven't 'felt' any better physically. But, I know that my insides are better off without the carbonation and chemicals in carbonated beverages.