Breaking a coca cola addiction - any ideas would be useful!

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ever since I can remember being alive, I've had rather odd obsessions/addictions over foodstuffs, objects etc, over the past couple of years coca cola has become a major addiction, most probably due to the sugar and caffeine in it. I have tried a lot to get off of it and it's like going through cold turkey, it makes me feel so rotten I can't do anything much for like 5 days, it's like a serious addiction but nobody takes me serioulsy cuz it's a fizzy pop.....I really need to cut down as it's not doing my anxiety any good.

Help.....

Yes sugar and fat is seriously addictive, and caffeine can be addictive. One of the main reasons why you have another one shortly after is because it doesn't quench your thirst. This was explained to me by the son of the Coca-Cola boss in a country I used to live in. Basically they know that in order to get over that you have to replace it with more than twice as much water. So my advice is you need to keep drinking water. If you can't stop together I would water down the coke using sparkling water. Just keep watering down slowly.

i have a similar need to get the same brand of coke myself.

I wouldn't stop consuming it even though only the first sip of a fresh can was good. I just kept going and going even though it was wreaking havoc with my body. I think I stim with food. I also had a thing for salty crunchy starchy food.

Anyway, I don't know how it is with you but for me, I have to keep going through something until it makes me nauseous and then I keep consuming it like with playing a song on Repeat One until I think I am going to throw up but I listen to it some more. I think it is like getting through the flu where you have to reach the point of actually vomitting before you can start to feel better.

Anyway, one of the things that was part of the breakthrough were the articles that came out about cola being the new cigarettes and how corn syrup and flavor was used in a way to make cola addictive. That pissed me off. I stopped and I don't want it. buying a soda siphon to make my own soda didn't help. I still keep ginger beer on hand but I don't have to drink cola in mass quantities on a daily basis. It was the news that my addiction might have been intentional that got me to stop. But I also know that it was stimming. I drank even when it didn't taste good.

To a non aspie, stimming with food, songs, anything must look completely mad but from the inside, it feels like something that needs to be processed in this way to remove its hook.

Coke isn't like smoking, you don't have to just quit, try cutting back instead. Mark the times in the day you'd like a coke. Maybe one at a meal, so you wont go into withdraw, but will still cut back.

I've got to the point where it is effecting everything I do, I can't even go to a shop or to the bar without wanting it, and adverts on tv are like medival torture, and if I mix it with alcohol and drink to much it makes me sick, but that does not seem to stop me, Jack and coke are like HEAVEN to me, my life is coke coke coke . I have broken into tears over it......cola rules me.

1stly - it is regular coca-cola & not the neurotoxic 'diet' version?

Id check the ingredients closely, but keep in mind that the most contentious stuff is usually not listed, or appears under a pseudonym. Check this list of MSG pseudonyms for example - hopefully(!) this is off topic - but it gives you an idea the lengths these manufacturers will go to to decieve the public into taking potentially addictive and dangerous chemicals http://www.truthinlabeling.org/hiddensources.html

2ndly - if you want to cut down, try substituting chocolate, coffee etc. Even though they are drugs too, it might help break the psychological addiction and eliminate some of the other hazards - in the same sense as nicotine patches supposedly help smokers.

Psych may be on to something - try substituting, with elimination. Either try cutting out the caffeine or the sugar first. Switch to unsweetened coffee if you think the sugar is worse for you, deal with less sugar for a few weeks, then reduce caffeine. Or go the other way, switch to a non-caffeinated soft drink, and once you are used to no caffeine, try drinking less sugary stuff.

I haven't had a soda in two years, but I had two or three a day before that. Six months ago I started to become addicted to energy drinks because I had to get through long 16 hour shifts they make you do in the army. Now, I can't function in the day unless I have one, because in the army, there is always something unpleasant and mandatory going on. I can't wait to get out so I can stop drinking energy drinks. For every one I drink I drink a quart of water to maintain homeostasis.

D

Just forget about the stuff. Once you've forgotten about it because you're busy with something else - surprise - you'll notice that you're not experiencing any withdrawal symptoms.

After a typical life with sodas, I drink only water, now. The thought of filling my body's tank with sugar is disgusting to me, even if I remember how good it tasted.

Replace it with something more healthy,

like alcohol or cigarettes

I replaced Coca Cola with root beer, because it has no caffeine (though don't know how much healthier it is). Now I'm in love with root beer...Do you think you can successfully replace it with something healthier?

Yea, defintely try to replace it with something else. I had a horrible addiction to coke, went through a six pack of it in a couple of hours. Literally rotted a tooth out, and got gingervitis due to it when I was like 12. I made a vowe with myself one day and said I will only drink soda if I go out to eat or if I'm at a party or something. Instead I started with a different soda like Adrie said, root beer, or I drank gingerale. Then I eventually went to juice drinks, and flavored waters. It just takes time, but if you really want to give it up, theres always hope you can break that addiction.

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For me it's Mountain Dew. Drink it every day. I had to make a choice, though--- but I couldn't give it up. So I made a compromise. Now I drink Diet Mountain Dew. I figure at least it's got no sugar, and it still has my caffeine kick. Maybe a compromise would work for you. I've gotten to where I can even drink other things sometimes, like milk (soy milk is yummy) or even juice... though I always carry a Dew on me, just in case of emergency...