This is gunna be a headache...literally

I think it was on New Year's eve just before the start of 2012 that I said I wasn't going to drink soda for a year.  I made it to March and then found myself working from 5:30am to 8:30pm straight most weekdays, and fell back into my caffeine addiction.

After I returned to the States after living in Spain for seven months, I found that I didn't even LIKE American soda anymore.  In Spain, it was made with cane sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup, which, in my opinion, tastes waaaaaay better and is easier on your body (not that it's particularly healthy either way).  Even so, I don't know if it's possible to get through the grad program I just completed without self-medicating on caffeine.  Chances were, in any given class that we sat through, everyone was sipping a soda or coffee.  A few weeks ago, a few of my classmates and I agreed that we were all a mess physically from living on so much caffeine and so little sleep this past year.

Well, besides killing my appetite for healthy food, leaving me jittery, and causing me a lot of stomach discomfort, my caffeine addiction is hard on my budget- just one soda a day can add up to over $50 a month.  Grad school is over and I can't use the I-need-to-stay-awake-to-study excuse any longer, and come fall, I don't want my students to have to deal with a crabby teacher if I can't get my hands on caffeine.

So, see this right here?

For the next year, this is my last soda (I say "next year" because I know if I say "ever" I'll give up too soon- I'm hoping after a year I won't have any desire to drink soda ever again!).  Thankfully, I HATE coffee so I don't need to worry about giving that up, too...but this is still going to be rough!  I'm bracing myself for a few days of splitting headaches and fatigue.  After that, I'm going to have to be strong when I go to a social event and everyone else is sipping soda, or when I'm shopping and it's so tempting to grab a soda from the mini-fridge by the cash register.  I do plan to allow myself occassional caffeine breaks by sipping some tea (which is WAY cheaper and healthier, of course) but I don't think I could down enough green tea in one day to equal the amount of caffeine I've depended on this past year!  

So, be nice to me if you see me over the next few days...but not so nice that you don't ask how the giving up soda thing is going!!  I'll accept offers of accountability!!

Comments

  1. JessicaMay 14, 2014 at 1:44 PM

    I am currently giving up soda too. It is hard!!! And I hate that I am so controlled by it. Good luck!

    ReplyDelete

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