I've kept off soda for a couple of years now....a few years back, my old Suburban was having real battery/alternator issues...not being too handy with cars I took it to the local gas station, one of the few filling stations that has great, enthusiastic mechanics working on site. I explained the problem to the mechanic, who told me to buy her a Coke. I thought it was an odd means of payment, but this is a quirky place, so I didn't think twice. She proceeded to pour the Coke all over the battery contacts and I watched as the cola ate through the corrosion and gunk that had built up on the battery contacts. Ate it away like acid. That was pretty much it for me and soda....yeah, I'll occasionally have the odd Mexican coke after a really hard/hot run, but watching that Coke eat away battery corrosion and thinking of what it does to the stomach shifted me to water, iced tea, sports drinks.

As a dentist, I can comment there is substantial evidence that coffee can have anticariogenic properties. (It can prevent decay). Of course, that is without creamer or any sort of sweetener. There is absolutely no value in drinking pop, in my opinion.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

Looking for tips/assistance from those who stopped drinking soda. Trying to stop it completely - regular and diet. Ideas please?
Thanks, John

Unsweet tea. I started with lots of Splenda and then ramped down to just straight. It's refreshing, has a touch of caffeine, and tastes great with a shot of lemon.

Carbonated water. I still drink soda when I need the sugar (between workouts,) but the carbonation in the water is still very satisfying.

Suppressed appetite? Really?
I'm not sure how much evidence there is to support it, nor do I have a reference to hand, but there is a theory that sweet food or drink that doesn't actually contain the calories that it tastes like it should, will actually cause cravings to satisfy the calorie discrepancy.
Like I said I don't know how much data there is to support this but it seems credible to me.
Given that cravings, in the long term, are more powerful than will power, this would make "diet" drinks a very bad idea.

So I'll share some helpful stuff and then give the shameless plug.....


If caffeine is your concern when drinking coffee then you should be paying attention to the roast level of the coffee you are drinking.


Lighter roasted coffee has more caffeine
Darker roasted coffee has less caffeine

if you are a Starbucks fanatic... they pretty much blast everything they roast on the surface of the sun, so not a whole lot of caffeine there.

There is a huge misconception out there that the darker the coffee the more of a jolt you will feel but that is not true. The roasting process is essentially drawing water and other minerals out of the beans so it looses its potency the darker it is roasted.

Like many of you I stopped drinking soda all together and went to unsweet tea to cut out large amounts of sugar in my diet, which in the south makes you alien. I felt a lot better and it was much easier to cut weight I was holding over from my college days.

now the shameless plug..... if you want good coffee, check out TampaCoffeeClub.com

I'm so sick of "soda snobs". I drink diet sodas when I go out for lunch or dinner. I hate it when someone says "you know sodas bad for you". You know what, Just let me eat my damn dinner while you shove fat down your throat and drink your water.

I dont buy the fact that diet sodas are bad for you. Sure there's artificial sweeteners and dyes but you'll need to drink 1000 colas a day to kill the rat they tested it on.

As for the acidity......... you do know that your stomach acid has a pH of about 1-2. So when I drink my acidic diet cola it's actually buffering my stomach.

I do buy the fact that if you drink diet soda you will probably eat more than if you drank water. Just going to that sweet tasting soda makes you want go back for more fries or that second helping of nachos.

Soda snobs are on the same level as vegans in my book.

I didn't drink coffee until I was 30. I drank a shitload of diet soda though. I didn't drink diet soda because it was diet, but regular soda was too sweet for me. I started drinking coffee because I knew diet soda wasn't good for me. It took a while want a coffee instead of a diet soda, but I started sleeping better, I had some bladder issues that went away. Coffee doesn't make me poop quite like a diet soda in the AM, so race mornings I down one to get everything moving, but that's the only time. From time to time on a ride I'll grab a regular soda for the sugar and during IMs I drink soda when available. I also grab a diet coke from time to time and I can tell now crappy it makes me feel. I have to pee all the time when I drink it so I sleep like crap.

I drink my coffee black when I make it at home. Which is 98% of the time. If I go to to a coffee shop I drink a latte, usually a breve latte. I have a fear of bad coffee so I don't buy it from a gas station etc, those are the times I drink a diet coke or something if I really need it.

I used to drink two regular Cokes a day. I switched from regular to diet but not cold turkey. I just stopped buying regular Coke at the supermarket and only had diet at home. If I wanted a regular Coke I had to go out and get it. That dramatically cut back on my regular Coke consumption and gradually I lost the taste for it. Once you switch completely to diet you can start substituting iced tea. The flavored iced teas (I like Trader Joe's stuff) are pretty tasty and only have about half as many calories as juice.

No doubt!

Both coffee and tea contain antioxidants (and different antioxidants). As long as you don't flood them with sugar it's some of the best beverages you can have. I usually drink 2 cups of coffee, back tea, and green tea a day (but I do work night shift so I may over do it haha.

I drink 3 cans of diet coke a day, my doctor says I'm healthy.

Name 1 health benefit of diet coke and how it keeps you healthy?

As for the acidity......... you do know that your stomach acid has a pH of about 1-2. So when I drink my acidic diet cola it's actually buffering my stomach.

MmmKay, but the pH of your mouth is right around 7-7.5. Whereas the acid may not affect the stomach so much, it does bad things to your mouth (especially your teeth).

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Take a short break from ST and read my blog:
http://tri-banter.blogspot.com/

The acid on your teeth from soft drinks is overrated. Sodas are a little bit more acidic than coffee. The frequency of sugar is what's destroying teeth these days.

Agree. I don't get the "flat coke" thing. Nothing better than an extra, extra, extra cold coke after a workout. Carbonation never bothered me.

Although... I do think this thread is beginning to make me cut my soda intake by at least half. I had 1 diet soda with dinner tonight, after a run. Orange juice for breakfast and water the rest of the day.

Kinda like the vegetarians. They comment on my steak and potatoes, yet they can't do a damn ironman. So, who is healthy and fit?

True, frequency of refined sugar is a HUGE consideration with respect to dental health. But why?? It's my understanding that bacteria utilize the sugar, metabolize it, and the waste product is.....ACID.

Not to turn this into a dental seminar ( I'm actually attending one right now, yawn)...but everytime you eat or drink ANYTHING, there is a measurable drop in pH in the oral cavity...so frequency of eating can also be a factor in decay risk.

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi

It keeps me from drinking 3 beers a day
It keeps me from ingesting an extra 600 calories a day

Though I am still working I don't have enough retirement built up to live into my 90's. Coke Zero is my pleasurable path to shorten the time line to match my meager retirement savings. Maybe I should also add in a daily ration of bacon. mmmmm......bacon :-)

Not counting the substantial risk I take being on the road.

That's funny :)

I actually wouldn't mind if you turned this into a dental seminar. I'm still a few CEU short for 2016. I figure my Peter Dawson and Pikos courses this summer should ensure me enough CE for the year.However, I'm still going to drink my diet soda with lunch.

This problem was solved in 1984

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MXnTbmPxv5g

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Ian

After seeing that I think I'm going to stop