Lenting My Frustration
Confessions of a self-professed coke addict…
Week 1 – A coke addict
Sounds pretty bad on paper doesn’t it? Although, stick a ‘diet’ in front and it becomes a lot more acceptable.
But is it?
Apparently, Diet Coke contains just a little bit of aspartame, which is some ‘excitotoxin’ that, rumour has it, pretty much murders cells by stimulating them to the point of destruction. Sounds like a night gone badly at Ocean.
This is what is screamed at me threateningly from my laptop screen as I cradle my ice cold can with the comforted decency of a true junkie.
So with me drinking at least 3 cans of the beautifully carbonated but deadly concoction every day, my cells must be pretty screwed.
Instead of quietly ignoring these death threats from livestrong.com, I have decided to take action and give up Diet Coke for Lent. I’m now just over a week clean and hating it.
There is no substitute! Yet some of the suggestions to fill this gaping void in my life have been slightly counter-productive; “Just drink more coffee!” or “Try ‘fat’ coke and just go to the gym more,” and possibly the most preposterous “Surely Diet Pepsi just tastes the same anyway?”
The truth is, I am feeling a little better. The constant buzzing headache has pleasantly subsided and I have already saved quite a lot of money.
Can I keep it up? How badly do I crave my fix? Or is it true what they say, once you do two weeks, you can live entirely without it? Watch this space…
Next time: The Alternatives: Lucozade Litres.
Grace Campbell
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