soda addiction - help!

[perSue]

ok, so we all know soda isnt great for our health, it's liquid calories, etc.
sure, well I drink a soda only occasionally.

it's DH... i swear he's addicted.
he stopped once a few yrs back. I was SO proud of him! But that lasted only about a year.
but then soda started sneaking back in.... 1 here, and 1 there...
now it's back to multiple times a day drinking.
on top of that there are a couple health issues that would entirely benefit from NOT drinking soda!

I am trying to think of ideas of a replacement. he doesnt like flavoured waters, no fruit juices, no coffees, teas or caffeinated drinks... I don't know what to do!

Help!

[Greebo]

If he doesn't want to change, you will not change him.

Your ability to control the behavior of people is limited to the confines of your own skin.

Sorry.

[guest002]

I'm hooked to diet soda, but not as much as my dh. I'm cutting back to 1-2 a day and that's a huge step. I just keep showing dh how much soda has gone up in price over the past month. It's insane. But in the end, it will be his decision to cut back or quit. I just will keep decreasing the amount I purchase based off of the price.

[itlw8]

he has to do it himself and it is HARD I have also stopped the diet pepsi many times and it creeps back in it is a true addiction .


switching brands helps sometimes I switched to diet dr pepper and then to ice tea

you get horrible headaches when kicking the caffine and it is impossible to get suff done..You are tired in the morning and worn out in the evening.


I KNOW how bad it is and I know I lose weight when I do not drink diet soda but still it seems to be a life long fight for me.

[LLDG]

How I got my husband off canned drinks:

I added it up - look honey, 4 cans of soda a day @ .75 per can = $3.00 per day
$3.00 per day times 365 days = $1,095
Holy Cow! That's a flat screen TV!

Same to get him to give up his cell phone:
$65 a month * 12 = $780 = scuba dive trip on the coast.

[Parksfamily5]

I agree with the others that you can not make him quit if he doesn't. Although, a little nagging never hurts.

I do think that if he does quit he should start by cutting back instead of going cold turkey. I had a friend who got severe headaches from trying to quit caffeine all at once.

Heidi

[perSue]

Leann - thank you!! I may just use that to kick-start this movement!

dh has done it before, so i know it can be done.
what's more important is his long term health.
It will happen, it's simply a matter of showing the obvious to help him do what he wants anyway... thanks Leann!

[Texasgirl]

During the week I would drink 2 Diet Dr. Peppers a day on the weekend 4 or more a day.
I cut back to 1 a day and then to just 2 for the whole week which I do on our movie night.

You have to want to stop drinking them and you really can't force someone to give them up.

Maybe show him how much is being spent on them.

Good Luck!

[karone]

we are big pop addicts. i can go through six 24 packs of pop a month and jason like 8 or 9 a month. for me its a mixture of for the taste and the caffeine, for jason its for the taste.

[voodidit]

Nagging want help. I was/am a Coke addict myself, but I've been trying to make myself cut back. I won't drink a Coke unless I also drink a glass of water first, I also use a cup that goes in the freezer, so I can make my drink last longer without it getting hot as fast.

It's helped me cut way back.

[beks37]

I have stopped drinking pop several times and once for like 3 months. Then, I just went back to where I was. I drink pop for the sugar and caffiene. I find myself craving sugar in any form and pop does the trick. Dh drinks Dr. Pepper like crazy and has been known to drink a 2 liter in one evening. He can stop drinking pop with help/motivation from me, but otherwise he won't. He doesn't see a need.

[qtkitty]

My first question would be did something change a about the time he started back to drinking soda... expecially the amount of sleep he is getting.

There is a direct link between the body craving sugar and lack of proper amounts of sleep.

I myself had not drank soda in a couple of years having cut it out as we reduced sugar from our diet. When i was pregnant i had the occational soda when i had a headache in lue of meds. Now with a baby working 40 hours a week and helping at home lack of sleep and some stress factors have me craving sugar horribly bad to the point i wonder around the house looking for sweets and gulping sodas at the rate of a lt a day ( my fault for bringing the soda into the house though ).

Jason~ I used to make Kool-aid and gatoraid in soda bottles.. i kept a funnel that held 1 cup handy and had the amounts of water to scoops or packet and cups of sugar writen on the side as well as a fill to line. Shake and Vwala. They stored nice in the fridge as well and i could make 3 at a time and they would fit.

I also always kept one chocolate milk made i took out about 1/2 cup of milk out of a gallon and poured in enough chocolate syrup to make it chocolatey and then shook.

That was when i had 3 step kids who went through liquids like it was going out of style. A week they were going through 4 gallons of milk!! They had a bad habit of making the milk WAY to chocolatey if left to their own accord like 50/50.


Oh and yes water does have a taste its all based on the trace minerals found in the water. We used to go to a natural aquifer to get water when i was little. Of course before we moved down the hill i liked the taste of our water now we are on a different well and the water tastes OMG NASTY!! And any sort of town or city water * bleck * lets not even go there.

[perSue]

THANK YOU Jason & qtkitty...

actual responses I was looking for.

You have excellent points...
Dh has NO effects from caffeine... he just prefers to drink it since there's not much else TO drink.

You're both right, many waters simply have "after tastes" or other weirdness to them.

Koolaid is the preference of ds - I try to make it cuz he overloads the sugar!!!
(so it's special drink a few times during the Summer.)

Otherwise, it's just trying to get him to lessen how much he drinks to the point of not drinking much at all... except on special occasions.

obviously everyone else seemed to have misread this post... so I'll try to make it "clearer" in any other post I seek advice for that I'm not trying to dictate to others how I want them to live, but rather help them make healthier choices.

but that's neither here nor there obviously.

Thank you for those (3 or so) who actually answered my question.

[perSue]

LOL Jason.

thanks.

I'm just concerned more for Dh's health.. w/out getting too personal (dont think he'd appreciate it), i'm more concerned w/his long term health - getting off soda or down to a couple a week (max!) - so that he doesnt feel he has nothing to drink.

and soda obviously isnt good for health, and i dont want anything ill to happen.

thanks again

[McD]

I need to cut back on pop. I do great at home--when I can make my sweet tea to drink. Maybe I need to look into bringing a jug of that to work with me...hmm....would be cheaper than pop.