Frugal October- Day 8

Quit a Bad Habit

I have been drinking and enjoying diet sodas for a good portion of my adult life.  

And I have given them up for another portion of my life,  mostly for finances but also because I know they were a bad habit.

At the beginning of 2012,  I was off of all sodas and doing fine.

Then,  we were thrown for a loop when our 2nd grand daughter was born premature and tiny.  

I was so nervous,  and went back to drinking Diet Dr Pepper.  Yes, I know that makes no sense because the caffeine accelerates your nervous system,  but when I was drinking them,  I thought I felt better. 

The last 7 months have been rather stressful and I just kept drinking more and more soda.

Well,  enough of that!  it is expensive to buy sodas,  inconvenient to lug them home from the store, and they were not tasting good anymore.  

So the last week of September,  I ran out and have not bought or drank anymore.  

Caffeine withdrawal,  if you really are dependent on it,  will cause some horrible headaches and lots of sluggish feelings and just plain tiredness.  I took Aleeve to help with the headaches,  they did not go all the way away but the Aleeve made them bearable.  I also went to bed earlier for about  a week and ate sweets when I wanted to fight the sweet fix I had been getting with soda.  

I must say I am really proud of myself for doing it and really am feeling better too.  

If you need to quit caffeine,  try to find a lower-stress time in your life to do it.  Because it will make you feel b - a - d until you get the craving out of your system.  

Now I am drinking water,  some unsweetened iced tea,  and a cup or two of hot lemon tea.  

Yes, tea has caffeine too but much much less they way I make it than soda does.

I've also drank a few ginger ales when I wanted something fizzy.