How I kicked the Soda Habit

Hey everyone. It's FRIDAY! This weekend hopes to be a relatively relaxing one as I see no plans in it! Yes....for attempting to sleep in.....well see, relaxing and writing thank you cards from our birthday party. Yes I know I need to write the post still, but I just got the photos and they need a little work before they are blog worthy!

So anyways, you guys it's been two months since the hubby and I stopped drinking soda. We haven't bought a 12-pack in over 10 weeks either. This is a huge accomplishment to both of us if you knew how much we were drinking.I am not saying that we haven't had any, for example on Wednesday the hubby met me for lunch and we went and had wings. Now you can't have water with wings, neither of us like iced tea, and you can't really have a cocktail in the middle of the work day without a little raised eyebrow....so we each ordered a diet soda. It was gross.

Here's how we did it:

1. Remove temptation. We made sure that there was absolutely no temptation around us. Don't buy, don't have it in the house.
2. Have an acceptable alternative. We have had Sparklett's water delivery for years, but this time we upgraded our service to get (3) 5-gallon bottles a month instead of one. Also with our Costco membership we are actually saving money, because they offer a discount to Costco members. 1 bottle plus cooler rental before $25. 3 bottles and a free cooler rental $18. Not a ton of savings, but were getting so much more water. Also, since water can be boring we decided to buy some water enhancers...like Mio. We tried to find something that didn't have aspartame (the major reason to cut out soda) but these still have artificial sweeteners in them. Next step cut out those! Also I like to mix it up and use different flavors like the Market Pantry brand (Target), Crystal Light liquid (the powder has aspartame in it) and Essential brands.

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3. Have breakfast with protein. The problem I was having was my breakfast didn't have enough protein to wake me up, thus needing the caffeine to jolt me out of bed. Oatmeal and fruit are great, but I needed that extra oomph in the morning to get me up. When my sister-in-law introduced us to these protein shakes, we knew we found something that could work for us. They give us loads of energy and the added low glycemic index helps keep your blood sugar level, which is great for my hubby being diabetic.

Benefits of not having soda. We both have so much more energy its astounding to us. The need for it is gone and we both feel great. I have heard that your supposed to have clearer skin when you drink more water, well that I haven't noticed, but I have noticed that when I do get a blemish they don't stick around long. Also we have stopped eating out as much at fast food restaurants because the food just tastes gross without the distraction in taste from the soda!

I think that this is something that everyone should do. Cut that garbage out of your diet!

Note: All opinions are my own. I was not compensated in any way for this post.