Soda Addiction

Updates (4/29/2010): My mission to quit soda has officially failed, for the fifth time, in April 2010. This one lasted 5 months .... I dunno what to do =(
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One of the worst habit that I have acquired since college is drinking soda, particularly Coca Cola. Perhaps it's the boredom of working in a lab, or rather it's the stress of trying to gather enough meaningful data so that I can draw some kind of conclusion for my thesis in time for graduation. Either way, every day in between 3pm and 4pm, I would dutifully hit the vending machine for a 12oz regular Coke or sometimes Pepsi. If I miss my fix, I would start getting headaches, become irritable, feel extremely frustrated and be completely unproductive for the rest of the afternoon. Since then I have been trying to quit soda (for at least 4 times now I think) but somehow soda just manages to find its way to my fridge or my desk and finally to my mouth in the end.

In the past 6 months, I have switched to diet soda thinking that diet would at least be slightly better than regular soda only to discover that the stupid aspartame in diet is giving me some really bad headaches. Worse, recent studies showed that diet soda increases the risk of getting type 2 diabetes by 67% compared to non-consumption. And I guess I really shouldn't be surprised by the research result. I have always known that soda is simply bad, bad, bad. I know I know. The sugar in the soda makes people fat and messes with the glucose level in the body. The phosphoric acid binds calcium, making the bones weak. And the acidity in soda eats my teeth like crazy and gives me plenty of cavities. Caffeine in it is addictive and keeps me awake at night when I should be sleeping. But what can I do? The carbonation in it gives me the high and makes me feel like I am standing at the top of the world and the simple thought of a soda pop sound gives me tinkles!!!!!!!!!!!!!

But ya, I am trying to quit again .... lemme see .... since 10/26/2009 and it has been 9 days since I haven't had soda. I wonder if I can do better this time ... argh...

Anyway, I found another article (http://www.blisstree.com/healthbolt/what-happens-to-your-body-if-you-drink-a-coke-right-now/) about "what happens to your body when you drink a coke right now" (copy and paste below). Pretty interesting stuff....

Have you ever wondered why Coke comes with a smile? It’s because it gets you high. They took the cocaine out almost a hundred years ago. You know why? It was redundant.

In The First 10 minutes: 10 teaspoons of sugar hit your system. (100% of your recommended daily intake.) You don’t immediately vomit from the overwhelming sweetness because phosphoric acid cuts the flavor allowing you to keep it down.

20 minutes: Your blood sugar spikes, causing an insulin burst. Your liver responds to this by turning any sugar it can get its hands on into fat. (There’s plenty of that at this particular moment)

40 minutes: Caffeine absorption is complete. Your pupils dilate, your blood pressure rises, as a response your livers dumps more sugar into your bloodstream. The adenosine receptors in your brain are now blocked preventing drowsiness.

45 minutes: Your body ups your dopamine production stimulating the pleasure centers of your brain. This is physically the same way heroin works, by the way.

>60 minutes: The phosphoric acid binds calcium, magnesium and zinc in your lower intestine, providing a further boost in metabolism. This is compounded by high doses of sugar and artificial sweeteners also increasing the urinary excretion of calcium.

>60 Minutes: The caffeine’s diuretic properties come into play. (It makes you have to pee.) It is now assured that you’ll evacuate the bonded calcium, magnesium and zinc that was headed to your bones as well as sodium, electrolyte and water.

>60 minutes: As the rave inside of you dies down you’ll start to have a sugar crash. You may become irritable and/or sluggish. You’ve also now, literally, pissed away all the water that was in the Coke. But not before infusing it with valuable nutrients your body could have used for things like even having the ability to hydrate your system or build strong bones and teeth.

This will all be followed by a caffeine crash in the next few hours. (As little as two if you’re a smoker.) But, hey, have another Coke, it’ll make you feel better.

Updates: I only had one soda in the last 7 weeks since 10/26. I am doing good so far =)