Posts filed under 'Artificial Sweeteners'
I’m Banning Diet Coke
I’ve talked about my Diet Coke addiction in the past, but after last night’s therapy session, I’m more convinced my habit has to die a quick death.
Thursday night, we talked about how my perfectionism and anxiety are lessening, and how I feel I’m at a better place now than I was even a few weeks ago. (Yea! Plus, 31 days with no chewing-and-spitting!)
Then I brought up Monday’s binge … in gruesome detail and, after asking me if it was really a “catastrophe,” (something we’re working on — not catastrophizing every little thing) my therapist hit on something really good when she asked me if I eat a lot of things with fake sugar.
I thought for a minute. “Hm… not a whole lot … I like fat-free sugar-free pudding, but I don’t put Splenda on everything or anything. And my maple syrup and jam are sugar-free … and I like sugar-free gum but I’ve been straying from that lately …”
She nodded. Then she asked if I drink a lot of diet soda. I paused. “Yes, why?”
Turns out, she seems to think this midnight eating business might actually be more physiological than even emotional … and that my Diet Coke addiction (particularly aspertame) could be part of the problem. (more…)
16 comments October 17, 2008
Just for the Taste of it?
Does anyone else remember those hokey Diet Coke commercials from the mid-80s, where the obnoxious jingle at the end was, “Just for the taste of it…Diet Coke!”
Yea, well I think there was something much more sinister going on behind the scenes at whatever ad agency Coca-Cola was using at the time.
Sure, they marketed it to consumers, encouraging us to buy it “just for the taste of it” but really, I’m absolutely convinced it was a conspiracy. If you ask me, I think Coca-Cola’s engineers, quality control team and ad people all knew that Diet Coke is, in a word, addictive. They banked on the gullible American consumer falling for the trap.
Case in point: I waitressed in my hometown each summer between college semesters, and would get exasperated at the tables where everyone was drinking Diet Coke. Literally every five minutes, I’d be flagged down to fill their empty glasses.
I could have had a tray in my right hand, a glass of wine in my left hand, and a pen falling out of my pocket, but their eyes told me that they needed their Diet Coke. Stat. (more…)
15 comments July 8, 2008
