kicking a habit

If you haven't been able to tell from my recent tweets (which you can find right over there on the right column ----->, or you can just FOLLOW ME), I quit Diet Coke this week.

That's right. You read it correctly.

I am no longer drinking Diet Coke.

I quit cold turkey on Tuesday. I haven't had a single drop which, if any of you know me at all, is a rather large achievement. Like, a monumental achievement. If I'm Niel Armstrong, not drinking Diet Coke is my moon walk.

I mean, I get it. It's only been 2.5 days. But I'm really adapting some addicts mottos in my life and trying to focus on the "one day at a time" bit. I can only do this one day at a time. And in the scheme of things, long term is not something I can really focus on at the moment.

Let me tell you about what spurred this relatively sudden decision. I was facing this choice anyway with the impending Juice Fast, but the other day, I was at work and suddenly my whole body kind of seized up and I had trouble breathing and my hands were shaking and I was sweating all over and I was in such terrible pain I can't even explain it to you.

(If I'm being honest, my mind went straight to that place where I thought I might be featured on the next episode of I Didn't Know I Was Pregnant, since the pain kind of came in a few waves and I'd never felt that kind of intense pressure in my whole back and torso before. Needless to say, I'm sitting here almost three days later having not birthed a child, but I think it's kind of a funny hindsight-y kind of anecdote and definitely indicative of the way media affects my thought process. It's possible I should consider a media fast next.)

ANYWAY. I drove myself down to Urgent Care (because I'm a hands-on, DIY kind of gal) where Ames met me and I was tested for kidney stones because all my vitals were 100% normal, in spite of the fact that I was convinced my heart was racing out of my chest. No kidney stones. Oh, just turns out I was having a Panic Attack.



...'scuse me?



Now listen. This whole story may be considered TMI at this point-- being only 72 hours since it all happened-- and my family is probably shaking their heads disparagingly as I over-share my life, but I have a point here.

My point is that, while panic attacks are somewhat common, they are in no way normal. And while I'm investigating a number of other contributing causes as to why this all-of-a-sudden happened, the fact is I've been making choices in my life that have made me more prone to this sort of thing. One of those choices: over-consumption of Diet Coke and caffeine.

This is an example of how being cavalier and super awesome about the bad things I eat and drink is NOT trendy or cute or hilarious.

So here I am. Luckily, by the time My Episode happened on Tuesday morning I hadn't had any Diet Coke that day, and I decided in that doctor's office that I was going to quit cold turkey-- that I was going to follow in the footsteps of my fantastically inspiring pipe-smoking grandfather who walked into a doctor's office one day to find a (benign) spot on his lip and quit right there on the spot, after decades and decades of smoking.

I mean, I feel like Grandpa Dab (affectionately known as Bop-Bop, if you're feeling nosy) could relate to my hobby-not-habit since he went so far as to include his pipe in his headshot.

But really. I sound so overly dramatic comparing Diet Coke to tobacco, but this is my health on the line here. Time for a drastic wake-up call to my system.

So far, it hasn't been terribly drastic. Mildly drastic, but not terribly. Right now this moment I'm staving off headaches which are totally to be expected. I feel much better about staving off headaches than encouraging my body to sustain another episode that makes me feel like I'm dying. So. There's that.

We haven't started the juicing yet, but I'm looking forward to it more than ever. It's probably better to have started this process with this step and then move on to removing all preservatives without shocking myself into oblivion. I have a serious dependence on preservatives, guys.

Correction:

I HAD a serious dependence on preservatives. NO LONGER!!

And in the meantime, it's amazing to me how wonderful and calming and happy my "Judy Garland" channel on Pandora is making me today. Just wonderful.





So what beverages (other than water, duh) do you suggest in lieu of the Diet Coke?