I am joining this forum to help myself beat my cola addiction.
I have been gaining a lot of weight and it is due to my strong urge to eat fast food with a cola. I grew up watching my mom gain weight and withdraw into her own food addictions.
I haven’t been able to go longer than 6 days without a coke…and that was once 4 months ago.
People continually ask me if I am pregnant because my belly continues to grow because I give into my cravings.
I turn to cola and fast food when I am stressed or angry or sad.
I have a couple family members battling sex addictions and I decided if they can fight that I can try to fight my cola addiction too. In the end it is all about how our brain responds to the chemicals. I feel a lot of guilt and shame and anger and annoyance that I cant get it together. I work in the mental health field and so I know the skills I just don’t apply them.
I go to counceling but I need a place to check in.
Thanks for listening.
Several folks here battling food addictions and you will find (as I have) that certain thoughts and behaviors are common across all addictions. The good news is, many of the tools a d recovery strategies are common as well. Welcome the forum.
I have up diet coke before alcohol. No soda for me…it was tough that first week…i could barely keep my eyes open, I was grouchy. After about a week it got better. I drank a lot of water. There are similarities in giving up soda. You get an urge, get on here and occupy your mind. You can do this
It’s crazy how addictive sugar and soda are! I know once I start drinking it, I crave it like crazy!!! If I get caught in a cycle of drinking it, I’ll replace it with La Croix for the carbonation or just plenty of water. I’d float away if it was possible with how much water I drink. Also flavored ice tea is a really good option, you can get Tazo herbal tea that has hibiscus flower, herbs, “tropical fruit essence” lol whatever that is I’m sure it’s on the box. Anyway when you’re pouring the tea in your pitcher after you’ve boiled and steeped, you should add some honey and stir, it will dissolve fairly quickly. Chill for however long and pour over ice. I also like infused water… Cucumber, mint, lemon, ginger etc that combo specifically is supposed to be good for digestion.
Welcome 
It has been many many years since I kicked my soda habit and my caffeine habit, they often go hand in hand. What worked for me was a tapering off over a month…slowly cutting soda out and replacing it with non caffeinated fizzy water, such as La Croix.
Keep working toward your goal and welcome!
My mom was deep into this. Buying a fridge pack and drinking one daily. What she did to get off was replace it with crystal light, those packets you out in a water bottle. Then LA criox and now that’s her thing. Best of luck to you
thank you for your support! and great ideas. I am trying to go cold turkey. I do enjoy la crux and dasani sparkling water. I was reading some other boards people trying to cut their addictions and asking themselves “why did I pick today?!” I keep thinking that. I think to be able to reach a month mark would be an absolute miracle. But I have seen miracles so I guess we are going for it!
Yes for avoiding soft drinks I always keeps some sparkling water at home so at least I get the sparkling part lol. But another thing is that eating/drinking sugar gives you the urge to get more sugar (about an hour after or before). It makes peak your insuline and after you’ve got a drop of energy and your body/brain wants more quick energy so you’re craving for more sugar. The North American diet is mostly based on meals like that, so it’s not all your fault, every body is struggling with this some days just because we’re surrounded by sugar and trans-food.
Anyways, that’s just mean if in general you can diminish your non-natural sugar intake, it will reduce your urge to get more sugar, physically. You can compensate by eating more good fats to get your energy or naturally sugared stuff. I say all that just because that’s what I’m personally trying to do lol.
And, as the alcool, I’m trying to say “i will not drink today”, and I repeat that every day. Also thinking about your goals when you’re in front of a choice of drinking or not: would you rather drink or reach your goals?
Keep up the good work 
Welcome! Food, sugar, and caffeine can be terrible addictions and can be extremely difficult to overcome. When fast food is so readily available and cheap, it can be very difficult to stay away from. People say life is too short to deprive yourself but at the same time some people are not able to indulge without going completely overboard, hence why we are all here. A glass of wine or a soda with lunch never hurt anyone but for us, one glass of wine turns into 5 in one sitting and one soda with lunch turns into 8 throughout the day!
Stay strong and you can overcome this and live a better, healthier lifestyle. You can do this!
Today I had lunch at a restaurant and it came with a free pop… and I stood at the pop machine and debated and looked and started to justify…but I drank water with lemon and limes! GO ME! 
Good job!! Keep going!
By the way, I bought today some soda named Stevia. It’s no sugar and no artificial sweetener… so a real zero calories which is not bad for health and body weight. It’s made with stevia, something extract from plant or whatever. I knew it from following some crossfit athletes on indtagram who takes that instead of any sweets. Still more expensive so you don’t want to drink 6 per night. Check it out if it can helps! Because it’s true that watching a movie with popcorn and… Perrier… could be boring. Anyways keep up the good work
Sugar and caffeine are both addictive, and those are pretty much the main ingredients in most sodas. I saw a
satirical video a while ago on YouTube where they lay out the soda industry in the US. It’s full of humor, but also really puts things into perspective.
Warning: If seeing a bottle of soda would trigger you, don’t watch this. They show and drink a generic one.
If Soda Commercials Were Honest
They also did one on the fast food industry.
Warning: If seeing fast food triggers you, don’t watch this.
If Fast Food Commercials Were Honest
I have considered that! I actually looked for some… but then I got to thinking and I realized that any kind of sweet drink lets me justify to my cola…diet, real sugar, sparkling water zero calorie drinks… when I start there I move up to diet no caffiene… then just diet… then the regular “because they say diet is worse” or “the restaurant doesnt offer these other ones.”
i am amazing at creating justifications! LOL
It sounds silly but sometimes to fight a sweet craving I’ll just brush my teeth… Can’t have sugar right after brushing, right ? Anyway sometimes it’s enough to let it pass. Also I enjoy perrier (my replacement for beer) 
You can do it !
Today our refrigerator died… and all the food went bad. And I couldn’t make my husbands fathers day nice… I work today and tomorrow so I wanted to use the time off on both days to make it special and instead we tried to repair our refrigerator and dropped a bunch of money on the required new one. I got off work at 11 and the night shift crew brought in Wendys… I was so tempted to go buy some and drink it with a large cola…and a frosty. And tomorrow morning I have bread and water to give the kids and my husband for breakfast… and now I am going to have to buy breakfast…and say no to a large cola. tomorrow is my one week mark.
handling stress makes it so hard for me not to turn to food. 
but I know I will feel proud when I hit the one week mark
made it to day 10!!
Good for you . must feel good to have 10 days now are things getting easier
Nice job! I’m also on day 10! Keep it up you can do it! I went from alcohol to cola to San Pelligrino(the fruit kind) to now sparkling water. I love my dogs and cats and all animals so I decided to take a more ethical approach to my diet which ended up cutting out fast food entirely. When I started actually thinking about how my food is treated before its food I’m able to make better decisions about what I eat. Not saying you should, but it helped me. God it is so hard to talk about ethical omnivorism without sounding like a preachy vegan.
I am not sure that it is easier… I literally am having a battle in my head all the time trying to justify. but! the fact that my goal has won over my urges I am really glad. this is the longest I have gone without soda since last september
That is a really good way to think about it!! I say preach on! haha. congrats on your day 10 too!