Soda Management

(Rob) #1

I’m getting a friend into Keto. He’s done Atkins and liked it (lost 50lbs) but fell off the wagon years ago while I was still CICO and put most of it back.
He’s keen to start but is worried about his soda addiction. I have researched in the forums and the main advice is drop it like it’s hot, cold turkey but I don’t want to put him off before he starts.
I was an addict too and in just a few weeks have found that it is now super sweet so when I do have it I only have one and not often.
I want to offer a ‘plan’ to my friend… something like only have one with a meal so it doesn’t spike insulin much more than the rest of the meal?

Would that be sensible (if even true)? He is buying into the science and I don’t think it’ll be long before he realizes he doesn’t need it but I don’t want him to not start over this.

(Charndra Pile) #2

That’s probably a good idea, having it with the meal like that.

I’ve quit AS three times this year, and have at present, and yes it now tastes grossly sweet (yay!), so I feel this is the end of it.

It took a couple of weeks to replace the addiction with fizzy water (soda water), and stress was always what detailed me… But not this time!

Expect the withdrawal symptoms of a headache and sleepiness the next day. My Dr said caffeine this way is bad as, people tend to over-drink sodas (Coke Zero for me), not so much with coffees! He also said it is more addictive than heroin, and to treat it as if it IS a substance-abuse problem (!), & consciously work on replacing triggers, avoiding them, planning for them…

I also listened to the Hidden Brain podcast I link below again, and used the WOOP app to prepare, then practiced it.

It has been great!

Oh, the other tip is the one I am currently harping on and on about at the moment - use salt to get over a sugar addiction. I think this has really helped. Plus listening to DrFung and Megan Ramos say why they are bad news, AND I asked my Dr to tell me NO MORE AS!

Good luck, keep striving.
Charndra.

(Charndra Pile) #3

WOOP
Many of us have heard that we should think positive… Visualize ourselves achieving our goals. But researcher Gabriele Oettingen finds, this isn’t actually the best advice. Instead, we should use her strategy — which she calls WOOP.

Hidden Brain
[Hidden Brain](Hidden Brain: Episode 30: WOOP, There It Is https://play.podtrac.com/npr-510308/npr.mc.tritondigital.com/NPR_510308/media/anon.npr-mp3/npr/hiddenbrain/2016/05/20160506_hiddenbrain_oettingen.mp3?orgId=1&d=1294&p=510308&story=477071587&t=podcast&e=477071587&ft=pod&f=510308)
Jeez, I can’t seem to link right on my phone, what a link mess! Well, you can see the podcast and episode name there…

(Rob) #4

Thanks for the advice and the WOOP concept. Not sure how I will get on but Gabrielle’s voice is so soothing just listening was like guided meditation.

(VLC.MD) #5

I drank diet pop and lost lots of weight. Keto is as low carb as you can go. You start with weaning carbs. Then tackle zero sugar zero calorie diet pop after some Keto success.

(Sophie) #6

Do you think your friend would be open to switching out La Croix for the soda?

(Brian) #7

I was a Mountain Dew junkie. And then I moved south and met sweet tea. Both are loaded with sugar!

What helped me the most to get rid of both was to find something I could drink that I liked to replace them. Plain water just wasn’t gonna cut it.

I started out with making my own spearmint tea. It was a favorite of mine when I was a kid so I started making it with a bit of stevia instead of sugar. I’d make it a gallon at a time. I even had a bed of growing spearmint outside so it wasn’t like I was out looking for teabags. Just go pick some and let it sit in hot water for a while, strain, stir in the stevia, and cool.

That helped me to transition away from soda and sweet tea. And I still like my spearmint tea. But I’ve kinda gotten away from that now.

Anymore, I tend to drink lemon water. I just take filtered water and cut up a couple of lemons directly into the water. It’s in a glass jug in the refrigerator and I’ll refill the water after I get some out. I’ll change the lemons every few days.

I do drink just plain water but right now, I tend towards drinking the lemon water.

I also do have my morning (large) cup of coffee so I do get a little caffeine. I’ve moved to the 1/2 caff variety now so I don’t get as much caffeine as I used to, and occasionally have some decaf later in the day. (There is just a little caffeine in decaf, but not a lot compared to a Mountain Dew, or a big glass of sweet tea.)

That’s how things worked for me. The idea was not to leave myself with a vacuum that remained unfilled.

Good luck!

(Darlene Horsley) #8

I was a Coka-cola addict and it was not uncommon for me to consume 4 to 5 of them a day! What helped me the most when switching to a diet soda was to go with a completely different flavor such as diet Pepsi, Root Beer or Dr. Pepper. Diet coke just triggered the real Coke craving. Now I’m happier with Le Croix and an occasional diet soda.
Sweet tea was also an issue! I live in the South and as anyone from here will tell you “it’s the Wine of the South!” I can now enjoy tea with an AS and hopefully soon without.

Good luck to your friend… hope this helps with his soda addiction.

(Jennifer) #9

I will do Zevia and Bai products and the rare regular diet soda on days I’m eating. I think the sweeteners do elevate my insulin if I drink them on an empty stomach. But that’s ok if I am already eating food.

But I don’t do sweeteners when I’m fasting for that reason. They can increase cravings.

Everyone seems to have a different tolerance for sweeteners. Just get your friend to eat keto with the diet soda and hopefully they will start to feel so much better that they will be open to limiting soda consumption.

(John B) #10

My wife and I are now drinking sparkling water (seltzer). We make sure we check the ingredients, as some have sweetener added, but are able to find several different flavors out there. if we are looking for something ‘sweet’ we can always add some Stevia drops, or Swerve. One recipe we found was to add about 1/2 tablespoon of lemon juice (we discovered lime juice is also tasty) 5-6 drops of vanilla flavored liquor stevia with plain seltzer. Yum!

(Rob) #11

Thanks for all the suggestions and suggesters!
He’s going to restrict diet sodas to meals and try seltzer with decreasing splashes of Mio over time.

As with you guys here, I expect him to ween himself off like we have.

#12

Lots of great advice and ideas already. I would back the soda water/sparkling water suggestion from personal experience. I use it whenever im craving a sugar hit and even though there’s no sugar in the brand i buy, it does the trick! I think our brains our conditioned to thinking fizzy things are treats!

But for another reason as well - to help him kick the soda habit, its important that he replaces it with something else thats similar in some way - be it fizzy or the colour or bottle shape - in order for him to have the best likelihood of success.

Final motivator for him - saving money?? Calculate the amount he spends on soda a week/month/year and have it written down to show him. Maybe there’s something he’d really like to save for in particular, and his ‘soda money’ could keep going in a jar for that while he owes keto and doesnt buy the soda??

All the best. You sound like a great friend!

#13

La Croix is awesome. I also have a “Soda Stream” and I cut up lime or lemon slices and pretend it’s a fancy drink. I quit drinking alcohol about 14 months ago and selzer has been my go to drink ever since.

(VLC.MD) #14

I just got one. Start a topic on it and share your recipes :+1:

#15

Lemon or lime slices and pour over ice, that’s pretty much all I do. In the beginning, I did some fancy fruit juices, but I have eliminated all of those because of the carbs.

(CharleyD) #16

You’ve done him a service! I didn’t quit my Diet Dew habit for a few months in as I was looking to declutter the diet and polish some rough edges.

It took learning that there is an insulin (Cephalic Phase) response with a flavored, even no calorie sweetener before I completely understood, and then I was immediately OK with dropping the pretty green can compulsion. My reward center’s weird.

I still drink it maybe one time a month as a treat since I also grok that the area under the insulin curve is what is important. So that means it’s doing the least amount of damage if it’s with a meal.

It’s still not helpful if you’re trying to keep your gut biome happy though. May want to point him to Dr Nasha’s Metabolic Approach to Cancer as well as Obesity Code if he has trouble ditching the diet drinks.

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #17

If your friend’s sodas have caffeine in them, would he be interested in switching to coffee, BPC perhaps? That would keep the caffeine going but allow him to get off the artificial sweetener.

I used to drink a lot of soda (though I never enjoyed colas), switched from sugared to diet (mostly aspartame-flavored at the time), and then decided I didn’t like the aftertaste, so switched again to Seltzer. I don’t really enjoy the taste of water, but the carbonation makes the lack of flavor okay. These days I drink coffee (either plain black or with heavy cream) and Seltzer. That’s it.

(Dave Corbett) #18

When I first started Keto in March I was fighting major cravings. I quit all sweet flavors for about 3 weeks. It was a little rough for a few days, but as I settled into the diet the cravings eventually melted away.

Now 9 months in I use Mio water flavorings or have the occasional diet soda I don’t find they trigger any cravings.

#19

No unsweetened tea?

(You've tried everything else; why not try bacon?) #20

I used to be a tea drinker, and I still enjoy a cuppa now and again. But there’s a reason they call it caffe-ine, and not tea-ine, lol! :grin: :bacon: