Goodbye Diet Coke

I can't remember exactly when it happened but sometime between beginning college and ending college I became grossly addicted to a little beauty known as Diet Coke.

At first, as a non soda drinker, I would enjoy this drink a little here and a little there.

And then somehow, one day, I turned around and I was full on addicted to this drink. There would be days I would go without a lot of water simply because I only drank diet coke.

I know it's not healthy, but most addictions aren't healthy.

One time at church I shared with a lady how I was addicted to diet coke and she said that she would pray that the Good Lord would one day convict me of my awful habit.

Snap. I was just casually sharing my favorite drink with her and she went all charismatic on me. I told her that I would pray the opposite that I would never get convicted of my sweet manna of a drink because it brought me joy and no calories wrapped up in one silver can.

Then I got pregnant and I quit cold turkey. I knew that aspartame was awful for one's body and I didn't want to take the chance of what it could do to my baby. You will hear many people say that there are no reports of aspartame doing anything to a fetus, HOWEVER remember diet coke first came out in 1984. NOT THAT LONG AGO. I didn't want to take any chances so I eliminated all aspartame from my diet (it's in a lot of different drinks and some foods).

Then after Eli was born I started drinking Diet Coke again and I'm not going to lie, it was a wonderful reconnection. I had missed that sweet nectar and it filled the void perfectly.

However, along with my diet coke consumption came symptoms that I had not dealt with my whole pregnancy; migraines, weird eye problems, stomach aches and a host of other issues. I blogged about it and somebody told me to google "aspartame poisoning." Cue God's conviction - or something like it just a little less spiritual.

I decided to give up aspartame and see if my symptoms went away. If they didn't then I would consult WebMD and we all know nothing good can come from that.

After about a week of no aspartame my symptoms went away. And that's all it took. The lady from my church had her prayers answered, I completely quit diet coke and never looked back.

Because I no longer feel awful all the time it hasn't been hard to not drink any diet coke, but I have turned to her sister Coca Cola which comes with lots of calories and sugar. And I'm well aware that its not a "healthy" alternative to Diet Coke but its still better than lots of aspartame. I wish somebody would pray that I would get convicted about drinking Coca Cola.

I'm not telling you all of this to tell you to quit drinking aspartame because I think it's evil (which I do) but I'm just sharing my experience.

And I must admit I'm jealous of the people who can drink their Diet Coke with carefree ease not caring a lick about poisoning their body. I have started to feel bad lately about the amount of sugar I put in my body and what it's doing to my body and teeth but I try and push those thoughts way back in my mind where I can no longer hear them. No need to get all granola over here.

So if you are drinking a Diet Coke tonight enjoy it for me. I had a lapse one time and drank one and got a migraine the next day. It might have been a coincidence but it has made me steer clear!