Food vs. me

Today, I promised I would talk about my relationship with food. This is, after all, a weight loss blog as well as a life blog, and I feel like I have gotten away from that aspect.


I love food. There, I said it. Food and I, we go WAY back. Ever since I was little, I have loved food. I remember when I was little, loving foods such as pears and carrots. I still love pears and carrots, but my taste buds have definitely changed.....

Many years ago, I made a new friend. POP. SODA. SODA POP. Whatever you call it. It's sweet, sugary, delicious, and makes me happy. While pop is delicious, it has calories. Many calories. Add on top of that 30+ grams of sugar and carbohydrates.

There is no nutritional value in pop. There is no reason to drink it. However, over the years, I have become somewhat addicted to it. In fact, really addicted to it. Pop is...all I think about each day and night. When I wake up, I start to crave it immediately. Around 11, I really begin to need it, and I usually have 1-2 cans a day. And if we go out for a meal, I always have a pop then. I just can't get away from it. I'm actually drinking it now.

The longest I have been away from pop was 1 week. During that week, I experienced frequent upset stomachs, dizziness, and headaches. After I took my first sip of pop at the end of the week, the symptoms went away. Caffeine withdrawal. It's a nasty, vile little thing. I have tried to give it up for many, MANY Lent seasons, but that doesn't work. My latest experiment was having 1 can of pop ONLY AFTER I had had an 8-oz. glass of water. My 2nd can of pop could only come after I had had another glass of water, and so on and so forth. That worked for 1 day. I am at my wit's end as to what to do. I can't give it up cold turkey (tried that, experienced symptoms listed above and couldn't take it any longer), but I am done with pop! So done!! It affects my weight, mood, daily caloric intake, and teeth, all in a negative way!

Here is just a small portion of my life and daily struggle with food.

Any suggestions of how to decrease/rid my intake of pop? What could be some big substitutes for pop?