The Glade 4.0

I'm not terribly overweight, but if I lost bit I would not be sad at all. Several of my coworkers have joined the church of Gary Taubes and have been doing the carnivore-type diets (high protein and fat, low carbs). I can't argue with their results. One guy lost 70 lbs since April and has more energy and zest than I've seen in quite a while. Some of the less heavy coworkers have lost more than 10 lbs in a single month.

I am interested in their message and would like to subscribe to their newsletter. I don't eat sugary snacks (19 times out of 20 I will say "No thanks" to a piece of birthday cake). Potatoes and bread will be my kryptonite.

But the biggest thing I want to change, and the thing that I know contributes the most to my current physique, is soda. Specifically, Mountain Dew. I do indeed have a dewbelly and I can't stand it.

Ideally, I'd like to get rid of soda altogether. But since I'm a realist, I figured weaning myself from regular soda to diet might be the more sensible and realistic step.

Here's my problem: I've never been able to drink diet drinks without blanching. Is this something that I should just continue to try and get my palate used to it? Does it get better and easier (and hopefully more enjoyable) to drink over time? Is this similar to beer drinkers and saurkraut eaters, where it becomes an acquired taste over time?

Even if I don't make a huge dietary change, I think cutting out regular sodas completely would make a huge difference. I drink at least 1.5 to 2 liters of soda in a day. Easily.

Here's hoping.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Drink your weight (in pounds) in ounces of water every day.... Drink more in the mornings and taper off in the evenings (unless you want to be up peeing all night).

Not drinking soda starts with not buying (or stealing or borrowing) it. If you don't have it, you can't drink it.

That's the ultimate goal. But again, I don't really want to shock my body that badly by going absolutely cold turkey. I know myself too well to think that's a possibility.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

it's like quitting smoking. You have to decide you don't want to drink it any more. It's a mind over matter situation.

Trying to phase it out is probably going to be a lot harder (to be successful).

Except in this instance it's not that I am trying to find nicotine-free cigarettes. I am fairly certain my body would accept a diet drink over regular. My post was asking about suggestions to get my palate used to it.

While I appreciate the advice on drastic change, it's not what I was asking about and it's not likely going to happen in the very near future.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Well then, the only suggestion I would have would be to start documenting your consumption and try to strictly follow whatever plan you come up with.

You could make a spreadsheet in google docs so you can access it from anywhere, and keep it updated in near real time.

Personally, I wouldn't switch to diet drinks. I find the studies on long-term health risks from, and addiction to, many artificial sweeteners quite distasteful.

Some people (I think you're one of them) don't taste artificial sweeteners as purely sweet- I don't, they all leave a really bitter aftertaste for me. I don't think it's a healthy taste to acquire, so I've never really worked at it.

I think you'd be much better off to limit yourself in the amount you drink rather than replace it with something that might not be that good for you.

For alternatives that are less sweet, I brew herbal iced teas at home, and find them a great way to stay hydrated. When brewing, you can add anything from no sugar to a bit of honey, and you can control how much.

Personally, I brew a pot of tea with 2-3 bags, and then pour it into a roughly 2x pitcher filled with ice.

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Darksiege: You are not a god damned vulcan homie.

Diet Dew isn't bad. Once you get used to the taste, regular dew is *really* sweet. I made the switch and just kept at it. Eventually I got used to the flavor difference.

Alternately, look into a sodastream. Most of their non-diet sodas taste pretty close to the name brand stuff and have 1/3 the calories. The "Fountain Mist" is pretty good.

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Holy shitsnacks!

Well, I found I can drink Diet Mountain Dew and Coke Zero pretty easily. I don't mind the aftertaste since I premeditatedly prepared for it.

I did find I drink them a lot slower than regular soft drinks. For lunch today I had only about a quarter cup of coke zero at a local mexican-ish joint. Normally when I go there I drink at least a cup and a half of vanilla coke. And yesterday I bought a liter of diet mountain dew, and I was still working on that same bottle by the time I went to bed (and I still only got 3/4 of the way through it).

I don't know if it's just because my body's sweet-o-meter is filling up faster, and it feels like it doesn't need as much of the diet stuff. But I do know that I have to keep an eye on it. I am not getting enough fluids this way, and I need to make sure I drink extra water, even though I am not thirsty.

Either way, it's got to help me shed some of those pounds. I'm cutting out a hell of a lot of caloric intake from soda alone.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Started the low carb diet officially as of yesterday morning. It's not an official plan, I don't believe in paying money to diet businesses.

So far so good. I am not craving carbs as much as I thought. The switch to diet soda went a lot smoother than I expected. And my salty snack craving was easily sated by microwaved melted cheese crisps.

The biggest thing I found interesting is that I did not feel tired at all throughout the whole day. Normally I take at least one nap per day (regardless of caffeine intake) and yesterday I never felt the need to. I woke up refreshed this morning and still feel great! Normally I'd be yawning and ready for a lunch power nap at this point. Hell, I have two boxes of 5 hour Energy drinks in my desk drawer that I may need to donate.

The biggest thing I learned is that I need to buy a better scale. The digital one I own apparently sucks. I'd weigh myself, step off, wait 2 seconds, step back on, and I'd weigh 1.5 lbs more. I'd step off, wait 2 seconds, and I'd weigh 4 lbs less. I need a far more consistent one, and I am going to look at options today.

Here's hoping the dewbelly will die a permanent death.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Keep at it. I find just the act of paying attention to what you're eating and drinking makes a positive impact. Eat as much quality food as you can (as opposed to junk) and you'll see a big change.

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“Strong people are harder to kill than weak people, and more useful in general”. - Mark Rippetoe

A great diet soda is Diet Cherry Vanilla Dr. Pepper. It doesn't taste like cherry or vanilla it actually tastes like regular Dr. Pepper and doesn't have the nasty after-taste of a regular diet soda.

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Except then you're stuck with the taste of Dr. Pepper.

Which is nasty.

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Holy shitsnacks!

I actually don't notice an aftertaste of diet drinks anymore, and the diet sodas taste just as sweet to me as the regulars (and this is coming from a guy who has been drinking 1.5 liters of regular soda a day for 15 years). I figured it would take me months to get to this point. I guess it was mostly mental preparation.

I have not seen diet vanilla cherry dr. pepper around here. But my wife is more the DP fan, so I haven't looked really hard.

The thing I am saddest about is that I started this diet several months too late. Mountain Dew offered up voting for which diet flavor should win for production, diet supernova or diet voltage. I love Mountan Dew Voltage (blue raspberry mountain dew? hell yes!). But Diet Supernova (strawberry mountain dew? not so much) won. I would have liked to have thrown my weight into that voting circle.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

'Buk. I don't know if its appropriate to say that about your wife on a forum

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Holy shitsnacks!

Well, maybe not this particular forum.

But no, just Dr. Pepper is what she likes.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

I find the best thing you can do with diet drinks is make them as cold as possible.

I will say this: Crystal Light is awesome. Especially their raspberry lemonade. Wow.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Ok, I made an unpleasant discovery today: Not all diet sodas are created equal; When you choose to drink diet from a fountain, you're rolling the dice.

Went to Arby's for lunch and got the Diet Mountain Dew (stuff I have been drinking regularly out of the can). Wow. It was like drinking liquid sand. And I am pretty sure it's how most people believe diet drinks taste.

I guess there is some calibration that needs to take place, and some establishments just don't care. A couple folks here at work have apparently dialed in our fountain machine's (yeah, we bought an actual Coke-dispensing fountain machine, except it's "Vault" is actually Mountain Dew) Diet Coke. And I've had Coke Zero from a fountain with great results.

So, for anyone who attempts to switch to diet sodas as I have, be warned. Cans and Bottles are your safest bet.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Cans and bottles taste horrible; and most soda fountains have a) too much water and b) not enough carbonation to make sodas taste properly. Cans and Bottles have extra chemicals fountain drinks don't have.

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I'm really not sure I understand the logic of trading one vice (sugar sweetened drinks) for another (diet drinks) when it takes so much effort to acclimate yourself to it.

Just drink water (the more the better) :p

Its not really that big a deal to acclimate. Took me a day or two I spose.

If you drink a liter of soda a day, its something like 600ish calories. Going to diet, you still get the soda, but 0 calories.

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Holy shitsnacks!

What helped me in moving from drinking mostly soda to mostly water was drinking Propel flavored water.

If you're used to soda, Propel just tastes like some really weak flavored water, and you might not like it. If you treat it like Gatorade, though, it's only slightly less flavorful in comparison.

Drink soda only with meals.

Once you get used to drinking Propel, switch to Dasani or something...

Then, when you go back to Propel, it wont taste like yummy flavored water, it will taste like your pure bottled water has been tainted with a thick syrup and you'll notice how much it sticks to your teeth and how inferior it is at quenching your thirst compared to regular water (or Dasani...way better than straight tap water). Also, by this time, soda will feel like drinking maple syrup, and you will crave pure water.


I still drink soda...in fact I've been drinking a LOT of it. Thing is, 2 cans a day now feels like a lot of soda to me, whereas before I could down 6-8 cans no problem. I also feel much more energized when I've been drinking water and can notice the signs of dehydration faster. Usually when I'm drinking a soda it's with my meal and even when it's not, I usually have some water to go with it.

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Ron Paul 2012

Never tried propel. I will give it a shot.

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!

Ok I am convinced that this is the greatest diet in the history of man. For dessert last night, I had.... bacon! A diet that lets you eat all the bacon you want, and still lose weight and get healthier? How in the hell can some people say this is a bad thing?

BACON!!!

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Les Zombis et les Loups-Garous!