Read this report from Dr H. J. Roberts about Aspartame and Addiction HERE
‘The most American thing I’ve ever seen’: Traveler smuggles entire suitcase of Diet Coke on trip to Europe - HERE
Breaking Up With Diet Coke: How One Addict Kicked The Habit - HERE (Vogue article)
Sweating, shaking and a week-long migraine — what I went through to quit Diet Coke - HERE
Diet Coke addict drinks up to FIFTY cans a day - and has spent £150,000 on her fizzy drink habit - HERE
At one point, Jakki Ballan, 42, was drinking more than three cans an hour.
Drinks up to 10 litres a day and panics if she doesn't have constant supply.
Has suffered hallucinations as a result of consuming so much of the drink.
Stay-at-home mother spends around £6,000 a year on her Diet Coke habit.
Drinks up to 10 litres a day and panics if she doesn't have constant supply.
Has suffered hallucinations as a result of consuming so much of the drink.
Stay-at-home mother spends around £6,000 a year on her Diet Coke habit.
How to Break a Diet Soda Addiction - HERE
Are you wondering how to break a diet soda addiction? For most of my life, I was addicted to diet pop. As part of my work to break a 15+ year weight loss plateau, I stopped drinking diet soda and haven’t had any during the last year....
Weigh to Go - Diet Coke addiction left me weighing 17st and a ‘fat, lazy person in leggings’ - Read the story HERE
My Diet Coke addiction had to end - HERE by Bella Mackie
Fizzled Out
I was a Diet Coke addict who guzzled 28 litres a WEEK but lockdown has finally helped me kick my 20-year habit (June 27th 2020) - FULL STORY HERE
...Gillian has been having to take regular doses of paracetamol to cope with Diet Coke withdrawal headaches in lockdown... It’s a pleasure not having to lug a bottle up to bed, or make regular trips to my wine cellar in the rain... A welcome side effect is that I am considerably less windy, and no longer propelled along by a constant stream of CO²... Admittedly, I’m still downing around two bottles of squash per week, but this is lessening slowly...
...But once I went cold turkey on getting off the diet soda, life became a lot easier with sweet cravings. Now I like tart tastes instead of sweet. I put a splash of lemon juice in my plain soda water. I like plain yogurt with just a few blueberries of just a tiny burst of sweet. Mostly tart. I know if I started drinking diet sodas or using artificial sweeteners again my sweet cravings would come back. So I just avoid them altogether. John (Edited by John Burns 6/28/2020 17:26) HERE
Lucozade addict gets through eight bottles a day - and says the drink is harder to give up than Class A drugs - HERE (Lucozade Energy Drink contains Aspartame, the same as Diet Coke. Admin emphasis)
My 20k Diet Coke Addiction Was Harder To Quit Than Smoking, And I Bet There Are Thousands Out There Like Me - HERE
By Charlotte Burns
Personal finance journalist and award winning money blogger
...I didn't expect much to come from it (apart from maybe people telling me I'm an idiot), but the response was overwhelming. Hundreds of people contacted me to tell me that they were addicted too. That giving up was harder than smoking and it was making them ill.
I am in love with Diet Coke. I've been drinking it every day for over 18 years and have managed to spend more than £20,000 on my drug of choice....
Here’s what happened when this guy quit diet soda for 100 days... HERE
In his most recent video, YouTuber Joel Wood admits that he has some sort of “addiction” to diet soda drinks like Diet Coke, Coke Zero, and Pepsi Max, sometimes drinking up to 2 liters a day. “I always grew up on diet drinks and now I prefer the taste,” he says. “I don’t drink a diet because I think it’s healthy. I drink it because I enjoy it.”
Pic below taken from a forum:
 |
| |
A mother was slammed after revealing she constructed a 'travel potty' out of three double-bagged nappies to relieve herself during an hour drive during lockdown - but it leaked and left a 'huge puddle' on her backseat. 28th May 2020
...Admitting she has a birthing injury and an 'addiction to Diet Coke', she said she felt 'confident and liberated' that she'd be able to urinate inside her car using her makeshift 'travel potty'.
Diet Coke Wants to Give Your Boss Free Pop For a Year | HERE
... Just last week I was explaining to someone that my family let me drink Diet Coke as a little kid.
Was it because I was the youngest of four and my mom was just like, I don't even have the will to change this habit? Was it because my sister woke up every morning and drank a Diet Coke before she even had breakfast? Was it because I needed a little jolt every now and then? Probably not the last one, I was pretty energetic as a kid.... but whatever the reason I was a Diet Coke addict before the age of ten...
A YouTuber quit drinking diet soda for 109 days and found he craved less sugar than ever - HERE YouTuber Joel Wood went from drinking two litres of diet soda a day to giving it up completely.
SODA ADDICTION IS REAL, AND THESE GUYS WILL TELL YOU WHY IT’S SO HARD TO QUIT - HERE
Read the responses to the question below - HERE
Any successful soda / diet soda quitters?
One of my goals I keep shamefully revisiting every time I consider self improvement, or for a fun idea of a "new year's resolution" is to quit the diet soda drinking habit. Been drinking diet soda all my life since I was a kid. Multiple liters every day. Most days I won't even drink water, just diet soda until it's time to brush teeth and sleep. Usually some coffee too though in the morning, and to keep me up later in the work day or something.
For those who quit soda / diet soda, have you noticed any changes? Perhaps a better diet as a result, less bloat, whiter teeth, lower blood pressure + heart rate?
"... ‘I REALLY WISH I’D QUIT SOONER, BECAUSE I DON’T MISS SODA OR CRAVE IT ONE BIT.’
Daniel, 42, California: At my peak, it was just too much — about 256 ounces per day, which is four 64-ounce drinks a day, give or take. It wasn’t rare for me to drink a 12-pack of Diet Coke in a day, and it didn’t matter if it was from a can, a two-liter bottle or a fountain.
I’d get an extra-large fountain drink in the morning on the way to work, one for lunch and then one on the way home from work. That doesn’t include if I were to ever stop to buy a couple of grocery items, when I’d also get a bottle of soda. I’d literally buy one every chance I could get, despite having a ton at home.
I’ve had a number of cavities and other problems, which I’d attest was caused by all the soda. I also grew some belly fat, which I’ve been working on losing here and there. Considering how active I was during much of that time, as a cyclist and occasional runner, that’s probably my only saving grace from being in worse shape. But the blood test made me realize that even if I felt fine, it didn’t mean everything was fine under the hood.
In just a couple of months, it will have been two years since I quit soda. I’m now drinking a lot more water and feeling so much better. The closest thing I’ve had to a soda is a single root beer float, where I just had the ice cream and didn’t drink the root beer.
I still can’t believe I’ve accomplished this. Even five years ago, I would’ve thought a week without soda would’ve been an incredible goal. But I really wish I’d done it sooner, because I don’t miss soda or crave it one bit...
"...‘I LOVE THE SOUND WHEN THE CAN OPENS. IT REASSURES ME — LIKE, “THINGS WILL BE OKAY.”’
Rick, 28, Sydney: It dawned on me about five years ago when I tried to stop for the first time that I might have a problem. I was stressed with work and not sleeping well, so my doctor suggested cutting out caffeine. I figured it’d be easy, but it wasn’t. I lasted about five days. Since then, every attempt to stop drinking Diet Coke has similarly failed.
Before that, my friends would tease me about it, but I didn’t consider it an addiction. On peak days, I’ll drink around 10 cans a day — and always cans. I just love the sound when it opens. It reassures me, like, “Things will be okay.”
I crave Diet Coke most in the morning and when eating. There have been times when we’re at a restaurant and order food when I realize they don’t have Diet Coke. I either want to leave, or I’ll just run over to a convenience store and get some. I try to avoid that now by checking the menu beforehand.
When I was under 21, I didn’t have any symptoms. But now that I’m 28, I feel like the physical effects have gotten worse. The headaches are especially bad around 2 to 5 p.m. because of the withdrawals that kick in later in the day. It’s also not good for my teeth; my dentist keeps reminding me, too, that drinking Diet Coke makes me eat more than I should, as a can with lunch or dinner will make me eat beyond being full, which obviously impacts my weight.
I’m trying to drink more water, but other than Diet Coke, the only other thing I drink is alcohol. Every time I try to quit, it’s dinner that defeats me. It’s hard to explain, but I get really upset if I don’t have it with dinner.
I want to stop, but I just can’t. Maybe it’s time to look into professional help..."
I'm legitimately physiologically addicted to diet soda and have been for years. Right now, my average is 48-60 ounces a day. At my worst, I was drinking around 200 ounces a day. Outside of short-lived attempts to quit, I haven't gone a single day without a diet soda in more than seven years. Coke Zero is my preferred choice, but others will do in a pinch.
Nobody believes me when I say that I'm physically addicted to diet soda. I will have physical withdrawal symptoms - shaking, digestive upset, various moderate-to-severe headaches, joint pain, and muscle aches, and I can't sleep. Sometimes, I even get brain zaps, like when you're coming off an antidepressant. I also can't focus, I get extremely depressed, anxious, and angry, and I get weepy...
“I just love it,” she says. “I crave it, need it. My food tastes better with it.”
Talles sounds a lot like an addict. Replace her ever-present glass of Diet Coke with a cigarette, and she’d make a convincing two-pack-a-day smoker. In fact, she says, she buys her 2-liter bottles 10 at a time — more if a hurricane is in the offing — because if she notices she’s down to her last one, she panics “like somebody who doesn’t have their pack of cigarettes.”
"It was a part of who I was — I cracked open a can first thing in the morning, friends sent me Buzzfeed articles about things only Diet Coke addicts could understand, I had a little Diet Coke keychain and a Diet Coke mousepad, and my family I would send each other level red, full blown SOS texts when the fridge was running low. I was drinking 2-3 cans a day, plus fountain (my preferred delivery of choice) whenever I could get my hands on it, and I really had no true interest in stopping..."
Pic below from Missing my diet cokes!
 |
Brent Hatley Did Not Leave "Howard Stern" Because of His Wife's Dalliance With a Porn Star
"I’ve gotten these debilitating headaches since I was 14. They’ve been infrequent my whole life, but now they’re up to the point where they’re every day," he previously shared on the show."The whole left side of my head hurts. All the way through my tongue, through my shoulder, through my head… my vision gets blurry," Brent explained. "I’ll end up puking if I don’t take something for it."
A specialist in Manhattan told him that the migraines could stem from an overconsumption of diet soda and ibuprofen, so Brent vowed to steer clear of those two things from now on. "I’m completely done," he insisted. "[The doctor] said, 'No more ever again.'"
"It’s the rare person who has never been a victim of Diet Coke. I’ve definitely been there, and I’m not proud of it. My friend E—geek girl extraordinare—overcame her Diet Coke addiction, and can help you find your way to recovery."
Vera Wang. “I only drink water; I stopped drinking Diet Coke six years ago,” she revealed. “That was the hardest thing I ever gave up.”...
How my diet soft drink addiction started
During my abuse of diet soft drinks, there was never a moment when I realised I had a problem and thought ‘Oh, I should stop or drink less diet soft drink’.
How to stop letting diet coke be the boss of you
I drank at least four cans of Diet Coke every day for years. I’d heard that it could wreck my blood sugar control, boost my risk of prediabetes by 20 percent and trigger weight gain. I’d also heard that it could damage my teeth and cause mood swings, chronic headaches and even bone thinning. I didn’t care. The soda was my treat. I loved it, I craved it, and I had no intention of giving it up.
Then I found out that a sensitivity to Aspartame—the sweetener in my beloved beverage—could be the reason I was struggling with daily bouts of diarrhea, bloating, gassiness and belly pain. It was time to quit. So that Friday, I chugged my last Diet Coke and switched to water. No problem, right?
...It took two weeks to shake the worst of the withdrawal symptoms and at least six months before my daily Diet Coke cravings eased. My intestinal problems disappeared when I went cold turkey, but I still cringe when I think back to how miserable I was during those first long weeks...
Daniel:
“In the back of my mind, I knew it was an addiction, but because I felt healthy, I just kept at it,” Daniel tells me. “Even after hearing on the news studies that warned about too much aspartame, diet soda, etc., I just ignored it because I felt fine. Very naive, I know.”
Daniel had tried to cut down on his soda consumption before, but never made it longer than two days without relapsing. He was unable to power through the headaches and irritability that greeted him within 12 hours of his last soda. This time, however, felt different. “I was freaked out, and knew something needed to change,” he says.
Hardy talks about the principle of addictions at length, as this is a giant component of the material he teaches. I have also learned this principle poignantly from listening to Tony Robbins speak. Robbins maintains that three conditions must exist to successfully end a deeply-held addiction:
1. The fervent desire to end the addiction.
2. A traumatic or pivotal experience that signals you must change. This could be something like a young daughter lamenting that her father’s smoking addiction means he won’t be alive to walk her down the aisle at her wedding, or the doctor informing a heart attack victim he or she will not survive unless their diet and exercise habits can change.
3. The ability to substitute a less objectionable habit for the one you are trying to break.
I have tested this theory and proven it true. For more than two decades I had a Diet Coke addiction so bad it was the constant topic of jokes among the people who know me. At its peak I was unable to function without a minimum of six bottles a day. I made valiant efforts to quit and even made it for an entire six months one time until a particularly bad stressor pushed me off the wagon again.
Later in life — much later — I realized how often I was getting sick from plane travel, lack of sleep and exposure to children with colds. So I took an herbal immunity supplement. The friend who gave me the supplement warned me the drops could occasionally bring on a detox rash reaction in people who are a little older, who drink, or who eat a poor diet. Since none of that pertained to me, I believed I’d be fine.
A week later, in Phoenix to give a keynote address, I woke up in the hotel entirely covered in rash. It itched horribly and it even covered my scalp. I knew immediately it was due to the massive load of chemical toxins in the Diet Coke, since I actually ate pretty well. But enduring the rash made me suddenly repulsed at the thought of ever engaging with something so clearly detrimental to my health and body again.
That experienced occurred three years ago, on April 26 of 2017. I replaced the habit with several bottles of Kombucha a day and will never touched a glass of soda or artificial sweetener again.
Diet soda addiction
"I am addicted to diet soda! Does anyone have any tips on how to get off of it? I made it for a week once! I ususally need a little pick-me-up in the morning and I don't like coffee."
...REPRESENTATIVE HISTORIES
- The anguished friend of an aspartame addict stated: "She could hardly walk. She could hardly see. She was already going to a neurologist because they thought she had multiple sclerosis. But she told me not to talk about it even though her physician already told her that aspartame was the problem, especially after he started researching its role in brain tumors because two persons in her family died from brain tumors! When told aspartame would kill her, she said: 'I'm addicted to it and can't live without it. If they try to take it off the market, I'll get it on the black market!'"
- The wife of an addicted aspartame reactor wrote: "I've told my husband over and over again, as have several physicians, that his problems would probably go away if he got off aspartame. But he says he is addicted and can't." Provoked by her continued purchase of aspartame sodas, the daughter-in-law asked whether she would hand him a gun if he said he wanted to commit suicide. She responded: "Please don't say anything else. It's hard enough to watch him lose his memory, fall, and hardly be able to walk. I just want to make him happy."
- A mother stated: "My children are no longer allowed to drink diet sodas or anything else with aspartame in it. Unfortunately, I am addicted to it. I will try and wean myself but boy, oh boy, it's not going to be easy!"
- A previous alcoholic patient expressed concern that he had traded alcoholism for aspartame addiction. He observed in a letter: "There are MANY just like me. You will rarely see a recovered alcoholic without a drink in hand, day or night, whether it be coffee or soda...usually DIET. We can hardly keep sweeteners on hand at our meetings. MANY of us suffer from tremendous mood bouts. If aspartame has contributed to the difficulties I have had with depression and mood swings, I WANT TO KNOW!"
- The wife of a man consuming up to six liters of diet cola daily concluded: "He is truly addicted and unable to help himself... When not drinking it, he is like a new person, or at least the person I once knew. But when he then drinks it after abstaining for a week (as a result of incredible determination), I see depression, verbal aggression, a sense of hopelessness, inability to sleep, poor concentration, trouble with eyesight, chest problems, and weight gain."
- A female correspondent with aspartame-related panic attacks and palpitations wrote: "I heard about this problem and will be taking the abstinence test. It will be hard because I am addicted to diet cola. Something has to be done! It seems to me that capitalism is getting in the way of our lives."
- A woman with an "addiction to diet cola" refused to admit the "ridiculous amounts I have been using, even to my husband. I have the symptom of always being thirsty from aspartame. What do I do?"
- A woman with aspartame disease was misdiagnosed as having multiple sclerosis. She stated: "I am convinced that aspartame was at the root of my problem. It is hard to convey just how much of this stuff I was using. I used at least one large box of aspartame a week... for myself! After my husband heard on a radio broadcast that it was bad, he told me not to use it, and refused to buy it for me any longer. I then literally bought it weekly, hid it in the kitchen, and used it when he was out of the room. And people still don't believe it is addictive???"
- An addicted young man with longstanding symptoms he ascribed to aspartame sodas wrote: "I drank a lot of pop with aspartame when I was a kid in the 1980s, and felt bad. After reading a page on the net about insomnia, being lightheaded, having ringing in the ears, and feeling unreal 'like I was on something,' I stopped. But it's hard to make yourself stop. It took about two months before I felt better. I think most people who drink diet pop get addicted to it... like me. At first you don't seem to like the taste; then you crave it."
- A 28-year-old woman previously drank as much as two liters of an aspartame cola daily. She stated: "I was 'addicted' to it, and suffered terrible muscle spasms, vertigo, dizziness, nausea, depression, slurred speech, etc. I stumbled across an article about the dangers of aspartame, and was absolutely horrified. Within seven days after stopping, most of these symptoms disappeared. I have had no recurrences to date."
- A hospital pharmacist with considerable knowledge about addictive substances and drug abuse wrote: "I have been a chronic user of diet drinks for years, and always joked that I was 'addicted' to aspartame. Recently, I decided to stop them, but I can't do it no matter how hard I try. When I'm not drinking these drinks, the people I work with and my family have all commented that I act as if I'm going through heroin withdrawal. I also experience many problems while drinking them, the most profound of which is joint pain" (see 11).
- The mother of an aspartame addict gave a poignant follow-up of her daughter's case, which I described previously (1, p. 98), when her addiction recurred. She had been incapacitated with aspartame disease as a 23-year-old student. In her own words, "My epileptic-type seizures, and drastic personality and intellectual changes were so severe as to end my marriage, nearly ruin my academic standing, and caused me to lose my job." After stopping her excessive consumption of aspartame sodas, she evidenced clinical normalization, and then bought a beautiful home. The mother described her subsequent relapse.
"About eight months ago, unknown to me, she began drinking considerable diet soda. I learned a few days ago that she started drinking alcohol, plans to leave her fiance, and bought a motorcycle exactly as she had done 12 years previously when drinking diet soda. Her aspartame addiction makes her totally irrational. She crusaded against aspartame for 12 years, and is now drinking it. I don't know where to go for help, especially because most doctors I know think aspartame is just wonderful!"
- A woman wrote: "I am probably one of the many 'aspartame addicts' you have come in contact with. I have had a terrible diet cola habit of drinking at least a 12-pack/day for many years. I would love to change because I believe my particular ailments could be related to aspartame. Where do I go from here? Please help!!"
- The brother of a "recovered aspartame addict" related the details of his sibling's case to a neighbor who was beginning to drink excessive amounts of diet sodas. He stated: "I am hoping that he doesn't face severe withdrawal the way my brother did. After 5 or 6 bad bouts of withdrawal, he was finally able to kick the habit."
- An aspartame reactor invited her neighbors to a block party aimed at urging them to avoid aspartame which would not be on the premises. A "very addicted" woman with severe dermatitis and fatigue had tried to do so previously at the urging of her daughter, but resumed diet cola in two weeks. She went to the block party with a can hidden under her jacket... but was promptly spotted. She confessed: "I'm sorry, I just can't break the addiction. I can't get off of it!"
- A 36-year-old computer programmer experienced many symptoms attributable to aspartame disease after he began using "a line of products containing aspartame." He would ingest as much as three or four quarts of an instant iced tea in several flavors on weekend afternoons during the summer. Nearly one month of abstinence was required before his symptoms abated.
- A 47-year-old female sought consultation by the author for increasingly severe problems over the previous 1-1/2 years, during which time she consumed large amounts of aspartame. She began the day by drinking three cups of coffee to each of which an aspartame tabletop sweetener was added. She then ingested 10-12 glasses or cups of aspartame-sweetened beverages, and ate considerable amounts of aspartame puddings.
This patient gave a history of alcoholism and excessive amphetamine use decades earlier. (Amphetamines had been taken for extreme fatigue and weight reduction.) She joined Alcoholics Anonymous 20 years previously. She was now happily married, and had taken only a single social drink in five years.
Her main concern was increasing confusion and memory loss over the past year -- especially because she prided herself on a "photographic memory." During this time, she also suffered severe headaches ("never a problem before"), hearing difficulty ("as if my ears were covered"), "lightheadedness with staggering," vertigo on lying down ("the room was actually spinning"), attacks of severe nervousness and agitation, intense hunger, a craving for sugar and sweets, intense muscle cramps, pains in the legs and thighs, aching and stiffness of various joints, marked intolerance to cold, and elevation of her blood pressure (noted for the first time). Dryness of the eyes became so bothersome that she required one bottle of artificial tears a week.
Another distressing symptom was severe depression. The patient considered committing suicide on several occasions. She had the good fortune of belonging to a circle of caring friends who thwarted such an action.
The family history was also pertinent. Both parents had been alcoholics. Her mother was "a potential diabetic," and her nephew a juvenile diabetic.
After learning of the possible cause or aggravation of similar problems in other persons from aspartame, she promptly stopped all such products. She emphasized, however, that the ensuing "withdrawal symptoms" were far worse than those experienced after discontinuing alcohol or amphetamines. On a regimen of an appropriate diet, supportive measures and continued aspartame avoidance, her symptoms improved. She no longer needed the artificial tears. An entire subsequent visit was devoted to discussing her lifelong "fear of fat" that had initiated the use of aspartame products...
No comments:
Post a Comment
What's your opinion?