The sun is back after a rain-filled week…Hallelujah!
Eric and I took advantage of the nice weather to get outside for our first hike of the year.
We weren’t the only Canadians with Spring Fever! We could barely find a parking spot…
Ladies and Gents…meet Dwight K. Schrute! Or just Dwight for short. ;)
I picked myself up a Garmin Forerunner 305 at Costco this weekend!!
I have been wanting one for over a year now and my Polar RS200 has been broken for several months so I finally forked over the cash for a Garmin. Costco seems to have the best deal in Canada (aside from one sketchy website which I deemed was perhaps not the most reliable).
Eric couldn’t stop laughing at how HUGE the watch looks on my wrist. I had to explain to him that it’s a runner’s thing and I am PROUD to wear this beast!
If you are an Office fan you will understand where the Dwight name comes from. On the show, Dwight is known for wearing a huge calculator watch, which the Garmin kind of reminds me of. ;)
I can’t get over how many cool features this watch has. You can train or race against a ‘virtual partner’. This will be so motivational for me on solo runs. You can also upload all of your workouts and track/compare with the software. I still have half of a manual to read, but so far it has been quite easy to figure out! I can’t wait to use this on my 15km race this Sunday!
We tested out Dwight on the hike today. I set up the automatic pause feature, so the timer pauses every time I stop for a rest. At the end of the workout (or during) you can look at how much ‘rest time’ you had. It prevents the need to keep pausing and starting the watch each time you stop.
It was about 18C today and just perfect for a hike!
So peaceful.
Winter BE GONE!
We brought some of these on our walk for a snack:
Eric and I love going on hikes together because it gives us uninterrupted time to just talk about anything and everything…
We had one VERY interesting talk that I will be telling you about soon. :mrgreen: Oh, it’s a DOOZEY!!!!
We walked for an hour and covered 2.9 miles of hills, rocks, waterfalls, and rays…
We worked up appetites for lunch…
A protein packed spinach, lentil, hummus, and tomato Ezekiel wrap:
My breakfast this morning did an OK job of holding me over. Not as good as my first batch of vegan overnight oats for some reason (I may have just been extra hungry this morning though!).
An apple which was way too soft and not very good…(I like crunchy apples!)
and a handful of dried organic apricots and a dark chocolate:
I spent the afternoon organizing my bakery stock and taking inventory. It feels so good to get a jump start on the work week. This week is going to be VERY busy and EXCITING as I am training my first employee, meeting with the organic farmer’s market director, finalizing the new GF Glo Bar, and of course doing my regular orders!
In my last post, I told you that Eric is trying to kick something COLD TURKEY from his diet!
If you guessed COKE you were right!
And no, not the illegal kind of coke…this kind… ;)
Eric has been addicted to Coke since he was a young boy. In university, he often drank up to 6 cans a DAY as a way to be able to stay awake. He cut back a bit after university, but he still drank about 2 cans during the work day. I used to encourage him to drink healthier things, but he never showed ANY interest in stopping so I dropped it years ago.
Well, what does he do totally out of the blue last week??
He tells me that he decided to cut Coke (and all pop) COLD TURKEY out of his diet!!!!
He has not had a Coke since the beginning of our vacation in Florida, and not one sip at work. Apparently, his coworker bought him a Coke last week and set it in front of him and Eric didn’t even drink it after much teasing from his coworker. I was so proud when he told me this story I almost shed a tear! lol. I gave him a big, beaming bear hug because I am just so proud of him!
I asked him why he decided to do this all of a sudden and he said, ‘It is the one consistent thing in my diet that is bad for me and I realized that I could replace it with something healthier.’
When the craving strikes, he is trying to beat it by making tea or having 100% pure orange juice.
So far it has been working…BUT, he admitted to me this weekend that he is craving one REALLY BADLY and he is worried that he might crack and have one and then be hooked again.
I immediately thought of you guys and I knew that you could help Eric! I said, ‘MY AMAZING BLOG READERS CAN HELP YOU!!!!’ :mrgreen:
He needs the encouragement now more than ever and I was hoping that you guys could leave Eric a comment below and encourage him to stick with cutting Coke out of his life. Then he can read the comments when he is craving some. Actually, this could help ANYONE out there who is trying to cut something out of their diet. Eric REALLY wants to stick with it, but he is afraid that he is not strong enough!! Any encouragement you can offer is greatly appreciated. :) maybe those of you who are also trying to kick pop out of your life can offer each other support!
Today’s question- Do you have a story to share about pop/soda? Do you like it and have you ever tried to cut back? What about diet pop?
My story with pop is a simple one- I always disliked pop since I was a very young child. I have never been a fan of carbonated drinks for some reason! The only pop I ever drank was the orange or pink stuff…and I drank it very rarely because I always preferred juice as opposed to carbonated drinks. I know a lot of women who are addicted to diet pop…they drink about 6-8 cans a day and can’t kick the habit.
I used to have coke and toast for breakfast everyday. I just don’t buy the stuff anymore. Out of sight, out of mind.
That’s so awesome about your husband.
I drink a soda VERY rarely. A few diet ones year.
I’ve been teaching my kids from a young age that they won’t like them so they tell everyone they don’t like them. We’ll see how long that lasts.
A friend of mine narrated this incident: we’ve all read circulated emails on how coke is strongly acidic enough to dissolve teeth, bones not to mention of all the damage it can do to our stomach lining. When her friend’s young son lost his tooth, she put it in a glass of coke and left aside for a few days. And lo, the tooth actually did begin to crumble and show signs of dissolving.
Brrr…I know for a fact that coke (or any aerated drink for that matter) really plays havoc with my tooth enamel but this story really shook me up and I’ve stayed coke-free for more than 15 years. I may have a sip once a few years when everyone’s insisting that I drink something.
Love your recipes, by the way. Have been inspired to buy an oven and begin baking myself. Just of out curiosity, what kind of oven do you use? A microwave (nah!) or a convection oven? Thanks for any tips!
I was addicted to lipton iced tea when I was younger! My mom stopped buying it when she noticed I drank waaaaaay too much. The first few weeks I complained a lot but eventually I just totally forgot about it. Nowadays I never drink the stuff. It’s way too sweet and yucky. A big glass of water or tea or natural juice… much better!
Yay for Eric.
I’ve never been addicted to pop or anything but I did used to be a smoker (eeeek)!!!! I quit cold turkey a few years ago and y’know, even now I get the odd craving.
They way I dealt with cravings was to clean my teeth. Give them a good clean, mouthwash and floss. I never felt like smoking a smelly cigarette then when I had a nice fresh mouth. This trick works for me when I’m snacking through boredom and know I’m not hungry so it may well work for sweet sticky pop!
I confess, I’m a diet coke addict. I’m curbing my addiction too though. It’s easier than kicking my cheese addiction. I just remind myself of all the bad things it does to our bodies and visualise all the healthy alternatives. I’ve cut down to one-two diet cokes a week, instead of two per day.
You can do it, Eric!!! Well done :) Going cold turkey is truly impressive x
I used to drink Coke or Pepsi pretty regularly, but I was REALLY addicted to Red Bull / Rock Star and all those energy drinks. When I worked for Disney, we had to act like cartoon characters on speed, so I drank about 3 large cans of energy drink a day! The worst day was when the vending machine didn’t have any and I CRIED at the thought of going for 8 hours without one. Ha! I quit there and then ;-)
I used to still drink diet coke on and off when I would go out for dinner. I guess I just stopped gradually. A few things that helped – I always felt increasingly worse every time I even had a sip. All those bubbles and fake sweeteners played havoc with my tummy.
Plus, my partner’s father told me that when he was a police officer, they used to use Coke to clean crime scenes, toilets and get vomit off of squad cars [from drunk people]. And I thought, I’m putting THAT in my BODY? It was not a pretty picture.
Now I drink green tea, water and Green Monsters. At restaurants, if I’m really craving a treat, I ask for sparkling water with lime syrup. Replace the Coke with other things — and soon you won’t even miss it. Not to mention your body will adjust to not having it and won’t tolerate it if you DO have a can.
What I would keep in mind though, is that one can does not mean you’ve slipped up and should therefore go jump off the CN Tower! Just draw a line under it and start over.
Good luck – we’re all rooting for you. And at least you’re not kicking a REAL ‘coke’ habit. That would be difficult [and a bit awkward for us, ha ha].
Oh, and PS: one concrete thing you can do – my boyfriend is trying to give up chocolate. He used to buy a bag of mini-chocolate bars a day. Now he puts that money he would have spent in a jar in our hallway. We’re saving up for a really fancy dinner out – or maybe a vacation, we’ll see! It’s a perfect representation of how much $$$ we spend on useless, unhealthy things… and it’s really motivating!
Good luck Eric! You can do it – and you’ll be delighted you did. :D Just think of what it is doing to your insides…it really is enough to put you off!
Carbonated water with lime or lemon is a nice replacement, or juice diluted with carbonated water. The thing about replacing Coke with orange juice though is it is still bad for your teeth if you drink too much, that’s all.
When I was trying to lose weight a year or two ago, I got seriously attached to drinking Diet Coke, (for me though that meant one a day, heh) – it’s scary because I think for women, if we’re calorie concious a diet drink is an ‘invisible’ drink; it is ‘nothing’ so we fill ourselves up on it rather than eat food. It scared me that I’d reach for one rather than eat something :( not good! It’s interesting from a psychological perspective (whoa, deep ;) )
Now I only have one if I’m out and drinking, as I drink spirits. But one or two is enough.
Best of luck Eric!!
I started drinking San Pellegrino with lemon juice squeezed in a few years ago to aid digestion, and the surprising side effect was that I started drinking less soda. I guess it was getting my bubble fix. Sure I have a soda from time to time, but if I have my sparkling water and lemon I’m good to go.
Hang in there Eric :-)
Eric, You can do this. I just remember reading that if you leave a metal nail in a can of coke, it will disintergrate over time. Think of what that stuff is doing to your insides! Yuck!
Hope this helps!!
Stephanie
TOTALLY did not know about automatic pause!! That would be so helpful. Sometimes I stop mine at long stoplights and then forget to turn it back on!
GO ERIC!!!! Coke is probably the worst thing in the world you can drink and the best thing in the world to cut out :)
Kristen at kristensraw calls it “THROAT DRAINO” ’nuff said.
Go Eric!! You can do it!!!
I am just like Eric. I’ve been using diet coke as my caffeine for years now. I’m a doctor, so it makes it worse because I know how bad it is for me. I decided to give it up for lent and found it getting easier and easier. Yesterday, I was super tired and it was hot so I succumbed and went for one. It tasted disgusting. I wanted nothing to do for it. Tell Eric he just has to make it through a few weeks and then he will find that he’s not having any trouble!!!! I know he can do it.
I’m also trying to kick a habit, one which might be a smidge worse than soda – energy drinks. (I drink the sugar-free ones, which means they’re more chemical-ridden than the originals.) I have tried to quit three times now…I succeed for about a week, and then go back to them either because I NEED a quick fix for energy or because they just taste so darn good to me! I’m a busy college senior, so sometimes I have TWO a day. Not good at all :(
I know you can do it, Eric! I’m going to try once and for all to kick mine as well.
Congrats on Dwight!!! I had an old Garmin for about two years (a two-time hand-me-down) but for Christmas my fabulous boyfriend bought me one and I couldn’t be happier!!! It has really helped me to train for my races this year and allows me to almost not even worry about pace and just go with it, I know my Garmin will beep at me if I’m off or when I need to rest. And SO many features! YIKES! Took me two weeks to figure out how to change it from miles to km!
As for kicking the pop habit, I used to be a huge pop drinker, my whole family was. When I started eating healthier I found out that pop is the #1 WORST thing you can keep in your diet. Seriously, #1!!! There is absolutely nothing nutritional about it at ALL. So when I would crave it, I would think about that and then also think about the ingredients and the fact that it basically equates to drinking sludge.
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with having one every once in a while though but at the beginning? Best not to, you want to make it a habit first. It’s hard, but just think about why you’re doing this in the first place!
Oh! Way to go Eric. I recenly (as of Jan) gave up my 4 can a day diet coke addiction. It was hard. Not as hard as when I quit smoking but hard enough to cause discomfort.
I switched over to Perrier. No added sodium in the diet so no worries. I would mix it with POM juice or orange juice. Sometimes I’d make a blender concoction and add 1 cup of Perrier to it to give it bubbles. Sweet and bubbly was important to me but naturally sweet was the key.
I’ve been diet coke free for a while without any regressing. Now I’m down to just drinking it straight with a wedge of lemon or lime. I no longer Jones for the “sweet”.
i gave up pop cold turkey a few months ago!
the only time i’ve had pop since then was when i was sick with the stomach flu (gingerale). Truthfully, pop always made me feel bloated and gross, and then i heard a story of people using coke to soak and clean their DIRTY OVEN RACKS. EWW!! that’s really when i knew i didn’t want it again! now if i want something fizzy i mix soda water with some juice. probably not that much better cause of the sugar, but i don’t feel gross like after having coke!
not drinking pop will make you feel SO much better!
Hi Eric and Ange,
I too, was addicted to Coke, and used to drink about 6 Diet Cokes a day. I have been Coke free for about 5 years now. I put aside all the money I spend on pop in a jar and within 6 months, I had close to $300!!! I took my boyfriend for a nice dinner and bought myself a new heart rate monitor.
Reading up about how bad soda is for you keeps me in check; it is carbonated liquid poison. I make sure to remember that whenever temptation arises. My favourite replacement is a little pomegranate juice with carbonated water and and a wedge of lemon or lime, and a few ginger slices.
Keep it up!
Don’t drink it!
I was brought up on diet coke since I was a child! (I’m convinced that my mom used to put it in my bottle lol.) As I got older, I noticed that I was really starting to pack on extra weight. I heard a rumor that the caramel coloring in coke (as well as the other chemicals) were known to actually hold on to extra pounds. As soon as I decided to cut it out of my diet cold turkey (and I’m talking at least 2 liters a day,) I started to see IMMEDIATE change in my weight. Not only that, but I had much more energy throughout the day! You can totally do it, and once the cravings are gone, you will definitely be thankful that you did.
If my story isn’t convincing enough for you, consider this: I work at a bakery cafe, and at the end of the day we put the nodules from the espresso machine into a big bucket of Coke because the chemicals in it has the capability of breaking down the bacteria! We use it as a cleaner! After witnessing that, I totally was appreciative that I gave up that nasty stuff!
Good luck :)
I drink at least one two-liter bottle of diet soda every day and I’ve been thinking very hard about quitting. It helps my own determination to quit to read about Eric’s success (which IS 100% a success-just because he feels weak now doesn’t diminish his accomplishment!). Congratulations and keep up the good work!
I rarely drink soda / pop, but when I do it’s usually Coca-Cola and the regular one. I hate the taste of light soda. Once in a while it’s fine have one and because I grew up not drinking coke or other sodas but rather juice / water / sparkling water it’s never been an issue for me. I also ALWAYS buy small cans so there is no danger to get hooked too badly when I actually never have it around :)
Good luck to Eric, I’m sure he’ll make it!! :)
HA! Your title made me LOL. =D
I am so jealous of your Garmin! I want one!! What a beautiful walk, we spent a lot of time outside this weekend too- it was gorgeous!
I have never been “addicted” to pop, but there was a time when I would drink diet at LEAST once a day to stop myself from mindlessly nibbling. I cut down some but I was still having 1 every couple of days, and decided to stop cold turkey- aside from the occasional Zevia (made with Stevia)- a couple of weeks ago. So far, so good! There are SO many chemicals in the fake stuff, and SO much sugar in the real stuff- and too much of anything is NOT a good thing!
Good luck, Eric!!
xo
K
Ever since I began my healthy lifestyle 2 years ago, I switched to diet coke and I would drink it probably twice a week. And then about a month ago I cut it out completely! I really don’t want all those chemicals in my body.
Where did you go hiking? It looks like a beautiful trail! Have you ever hiked at Webster’s Falls? It’s one of my favourites. :)
You can do it! You have the will power!
My Mom gave up soda for Lent this year and took up drinking water. She used to drink 2-4 cans of diet Dr.Pepper cherry vanilla w/e it was everyday and almost no water. After Lent she now drinks about 2-3 24oz bottles of water and has NO DESIRE for soda whatsoever!! She feels better and her hair looks much better~ Just stick with it and you’ll feel wonderful!
Luckily I never got hooked on soda so I haven’t had to quit it!
Enjoy the Garmin. I love mine!
I named my car Dwight too! It’s quite the appropriate name. :P
Wow, what a beautiful hike!
Giving up a favorite food or drink is definitely tough, but I always try to think of it as being MY choice, and not that it is completely off limits. I’ll say to myself things like “Sure, you can have that if you want, but do you really want to?”
I just find that if I view a particular food/drink as being completely off limits I crave it even more!
Good Luck!!!
Eric! Don’t drink the coke! The virtually all non-organic corn (including HFCS) is GMO. It will literally kill you! (I am not sure about Canada, but this is 100 % the case for the US. The European Gov. will not even allow their citizens to consume such dangerous GMOs!)
If he really gets a craving for something bubbly, I know Whole Foods carries an all natural soda called Zevia. It’s sweetened with stevia and has no artificial ingredients. It comes in all sorts of flavors like Lemon-lime, black cherry, orange, root beer, and cola. I’ve had a couple of them, and I think they’re pretty good.
I just gave up diet coke. I have loved soda since I was little but had cut it back to one or less a week but like Eric I realized that it was the one unhealthy thing I needed to kick. I’ve been sipping on mocktails of soda water and juice and Kombuchas when I’m craving the bubbles. Good Luck Eric!
LOVE the Garmin name! I have one too. Unfortunately it died on me yesterday during my 5 mile run. Boo!
Me and you have the same soda history! I never like carbonated drinks as a child, and the only one I ever drank was orange soda. I would hold it in my mouth until it went flat and then swallow it.
You can do it Eric! Just keep thinking about that fact that you can put a metal nail into a cup of soda and eventually it will disintegrate. You don’t want that in your body!
Like others have said, I realized that it was the fizz I craved as much as anything…so I gave up soda cold turkey, and started drinking club soda and tonic water. After about a year, I had a diet coke as a treat and realized — it really WAS a treat. Now, I have a soda every couple of weeks/months and I enjoy every sip, but never feel like I *need* it.
I’ve been running with a borrowed Garmin Forerunner 305 for about the last week. Wow! That thing is amazing! But I think when I purchase one I’ll go for the simpler 110. (The 305 confuses me!) What made you choose the 305?
As for your hubbs going off the coke, make sure he has plenty of advil around for the withdrawl headaches! They really suck! I used to drink diet cherry coke (beginning with breakfast!) every day. I decided to quit coke out of the blue last summer, and, except for an occasional beer or wine, stopped drinking alcohol this fall. When I feel like drinking something special I go for sparkling water with ice and lime.
As a good little Southern girl, Coca-Cola has been a part of my diet for years. I never drank more than a can or two each day and sometimes not everyday, but I decided to cut it out because it’s just empty calories. I do crave it when I eat certain foods and will even give in every now and then, but drinking it makes my stomach feel so heavy. I’d rather enjoy the calories of a rich piece of chocolate anyways than in a can full of HFCS!
I didn’t realize there was an auto pause on the Garmin. Gotta look into that! I love mine:D
YOU CAN DO IT, ERIC! My boss, who had like, 7 Mtn Dews a day quit, so I know you can!
Eric, you are a better person than I! I am currently trying to quite Diet Coke and while I’ve cut back, I still have 2 to 3 a week. It’s still an improvement though! I just realized that if Eric can do this, so can I. I’m officially trying to quite cold turkey from this point forward. I hate the thought of all of those chemicals in my body. Icky.
My boyfriend gave up all soda a few years ago and replaced it with homemade iced tea and water. He still wants it every once in a while, so what he’ll do is only get soda if we go out for dinner. We only go out for dinner 1-2x a month, so that’s the only time he’ll drink soda, and that’s only if he really wants it. That way, he can still satisfy a craving, but it’s not in the house tempting him. And, since I have never liked soda, I’m not bringing it into the house, either.
My boyfriend gave up all soda a few years ago and replaced it with homemade iced tea and water. He still wants it every once in a while, so what he’ll do is only get soda if we go out for dinner. We only go out for dinner 1-2x a month, so that’s the only time he’ll drink soda, and that’s only if he really wants it. That way, he can still satisfy a craving, but it’s not in the house tempting him. And, since I have never liked soda, I’m not bringing it into the house, either. You can do it, Eric!
I can really appreciate how important this is for Eric. He definitely has a lot of support behind him. I drank a lot of Diet Coke until about 4 years ago. It was right around this time 4 years ago when I found out that I was pregnant with my son. I immediately stopped drinking Diet Coke and I aside from a very occasional Diet Coke when I go out to a restaurant I almost never drink them.
I stumbled upon the healthy living blog world about a year ago. Since then my diet has changed immensely. I have even started running and dabbling in yoga. I am happy to say that I am addicted to green monsters (or blue ones of late thanks to a huge bag of frozen blueberries from Costco). I am learning so much about nutrition, baking, cooking, exercise and just how to really get the most from the food I eat.
I have had the privilege of trying a few flavors of Glo Bars and I can’t wait until the day that they are sold in stores here in my area, because I am certain that you will enjoy widespread success. They are amazing!
Anyway, good luck Eric. And thanks for sharing your story Angela. You are quite an inspiration.
I used to be addicted to diet coke. I decided a year ago I didn’t want to be anymore so I cut it out for a whole month. I told myself I can have it again at the end of the month – I think that helped because if you think you’re never having it again it makes you want it more. By the end of the month I opened a can, had a sip and couldn’t have anymore. I just didn’t feel like it!! I found it was more of a habit, I drank it at the same time every day. I still have it whenever I want, but it’s only about one can maybe once a month.
I know there are already 173 people who commented with good luck comments but I had to add this to the pile!!
My husband was addicted to diet pepsi for the greater part of his life…diet pop is just as bad as regular pop! I too tried to get him to give it up but them he was quitting “only for me” and not for himself. I told him if he wasn’t going to do it for himself, it wasn’t worth it because eventually he would resent me for it. One day, he just decided to give it up. After almost a year he was ready to treat himself to a pop when we go out to a restaurant, which I think is a good idea. If you go without it for so long without treating yourself, you’ll crack and get back in your old habits. But only treat when you are ready! Plus, he drinks about twice as much water as he would on a regular day if we’re going out for supper as well.
Good luck Eric! You can do it! Also Angela I need to find these wraps in Alberta somewhere, they’re all over the blogosphere and I’m starting to feel as though I’m missing out on something amazing :)
Hahahaha When I first read your post last night, I accidently read that Eric was going to cut out cold turkey from his diet. Then I reread and it made so much more sense. Man did that give me a good laugh. :)
Good Luck Eric!
Oh, is that Hilton Falls? Love that spot year round (hiking and snow shoeing with hubby and dog)!
Eric – you can do it! I used to religiously have a Coke every afternoon around 2pm. When I started eating properly, I found I didn’t have that afternoon energy dip that always had me reaching for a can ‘o sugar. Give it up for a couple months and when you taste one again, you’ll realize it actually doesn’t taste that good. Good luck!!
Good luck Eric! Just think of all these people here cheering for you! You can’t give in! And trust me, before you know it, Coke will disgust you and drinking it will make you feel like crap.
I, like many people out there, used to drink at least one diet coke every single day. You won’t believe the difference in how my body felt once I cut it out. The nagging headaches I used to have magically disappeared, I sleep 100 times better because I don’t have caffeine running through my body all day, and I KNOW i’m more hydrated that I once was. It’s tough at first, but you can do it!!!!
Yuck soda. It has NO nutritional value whatsoever. I don’t know about in Canada, but in the US, it’s full of high fructose corn syrup. It’s high in sugar. It leaches your bones. It rots your teeth. http://waterforlifeusa.com/blog/uncategorized/8-ways-soda-fizzles-your-health/
As far as diet soda goes, some studies have shown that the artificial sweeteners in soda actually cause people to crave sweets more, so I don’t think that is a better alternative.
If it’s the carbonation he craves, maybe he could get hooked on seltzers, club soda, tonic water, or sparkling water instead! If it’s the caffeine he craves, I think tea or coffee (hot or iced) are great options. Provided he doesn’t add lots of high calorie trimmings, he’ll be getting tons of antioxidants along with his caffeine boost with few to no calories!
I personally haven’t had any pop in about 7 or so years, but my boyfriend struggled with a coca cola addiction. He would seriously drink 2 in one sitting, and would then be gassy, bloated, and just feel all around awful.
To kick the habit, he limited himself to one pop, once in a while. Now, he rarely drinks pop (around me, at least!). I think one of the things that really helped him was identifying all of the bad side effects of drinking pop (bloating, feeling sick, burping, etc.). Actually vocalizing the source of these things helped to solidify in his eyes how NOT enjoyable pop is.
I’m a bubble addict. I don’t do pop at all, when I need a bubble fix, which is often, I go for perrier water, or a little pure fruit juice topped with club soda.
I used to drink Coke all the time in College. I had a 6 can a day habit myself. I actually waited until I had strep throat to quit b/c I couldn’t feel any worse and that way didn’t have to deal with the withdrawal! I also gave up caffeine entirely for 2 or 3 years before I felt like I wasn’t addicted to it. Once I felt like it didn’t have power over me, I let myself bring coffee and tea back into my diet.
As for cravings, I would avoid things that go well with coke (like pizza!) b/c that would just make me want a coke. And when I really wanted one, I would treat myself with something I really liked instead (like a piece of chocolate.)
Good fizzy substitues are sparkling water with a few drops of grenadine, or with lemon or cucumber.
Good luck, Eric!! Keep up the good work! :)