I have a confession to make.  I am addicted to soft drinks.  In Texas we call them coke, regardless of the brand.  In Oklahoma, they call them pop.  My grandmother used to call them soda water.  It doesn’t matter what you call them; I like to drink them even though I know how bad they are for me.

Since high school, I began drinking large quantities of the sugary sweet drinks.  Then later in life I switched to the diet varieties because of the empty calories and amount of sugar in the original drinks.  I could easily drink four in a day, if not more.

Then I found out how incredibly bad artificial sweeteners are for your body.  In Suzanne Somer’s book, Breakthrough, she interviews a variety of doctors about health.  Dr. Russell Blaylock, a neurosurgeon, spoke to the evils of aspartame, which believe it or not is a neurotoxin.  He states, “Diet soda is not only addictive, but just one diet soda can kill the neurons in your brain within six to eight hours.  These chemicals literally ‘excite’ the neurons to death, which is why they call them ‘excitotoxins.’  Their regular consumption can cause brain damage and cancer, as aspartame increases your cancer risk” (pg. 210).

I don’t know about you, but I need all the brain neurons I can get.  I certainly don’t need to kill them needlessly by drinking a diet soda.  After reading this, I gave up diet drinks and any foods with aspartame like gum, candy, and other drinks.  In addition, I found out that both Jake and Isaac are allergic to aspartame.  Picture an out-of-control, hyper boy.  That is Jake on a diet drink.  It just is not worth it.

Some soft drink manufacturers are sweetening their products with Splenda.  It is sucralose, which is”made from sugar” as the advertisements will tell you.  Dr. Steven Hotze disagrees.  He says in Breakthrough, “It’s sucralose, which is chlorinated hydrocarbon, which is toxic… Splenda was originally made as a pesticide–go dump it on your ant beds and come back tomorrow to see all the dead ants” (pg. 345).

On the bright side, I have another way to decimate the ant population in my yard.  But instead of quitting my soft drink habit, I went back to the original drinks.  I knew I was getting too much sugar and empty calories, but they taste so good.  I limited myself to one a day.  Then it was two a day.  I realized that I was addicted to them.

I knew I could quit.  I had been able to not drink these drinks when I was pregnant.  I just really had to want to quit.  For further inspiration, I read the Beverage section in Sally Fallon’s book, Nourishing Traditions. She writes, “A primary factor contributing to the scourge of degenerative diseases plaguing America is the national love affair with soft drinks” (pg. 51).  Ms. Fallon goes on to say, “We have become the Pepsi degeneration.”

Two months ago, I decided to not drink any form of soft drink.  I also decided to not sweeten any drink with sugar either.  I allow myself coffee, tea, water, mineral water, and raw milk.  In fact, I am drinking a lot of water.  Occasionally I desire something bubbly and sweet.  My alternative is a glass of mineral water like Perrier with flavored stevia drops.

Stevia is made from an herb in South America.  It can be used in powder or liquid form.  For my drinks, I use the liquid drops.  The unflavored stevia is good to sweeten tea, but I have noticed that I am drinking more unsweet tea the longer I have not been on sugar.  In my coffee, the vanilla creme stevia or the english toffee stevia drops are good.  In mineral water, the rootbeer drops are my favorite.

There are many other flavors, but I have not had the time to try all of them.  They have grape, chocolate, chocolate raspberry, lemon drop, etc.  Stevia adds zero calories to your drinks or foods.  It also has a zero glycemic index; therefore, it does not affect your blood sugar levels.

I have felt much better since overcoming my soft drink addiction.  I do not have my mid-afternoon crashes anymore.  I am happy to be living a healthier lifestyle.  Try the stevia drops.  If you are like me and addicted to soft drinks, then you can quit.  You know it is bad for you.  You just have to want to quit bad enough.

Tags: aspartame, Breakthrough, diet drinks, flavored stevia, Nourishing Traditions, soft drinks, Splenda, stevia, stevia drops

This entry was posted on Wednesday, July 21st, 2010 at 9:13 am and is filed under Food Allergies, Homesteading. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.