I grew up in a family of tea drinkers (both hot and cold), and drinking sodas was a treat. Once I started to join the work force and make my own money, it turned from a treat to a daily habit. And for the past 10 or so years I have averaged 2-3 cokes a day. My favorite sale was the buy-2-get-3 free sodas from Harris Teeter. So, when I started to want to lose weight I realized just how many calories I was consuming and switched to diet soda.

When I switched did not decrease the amount of sodas consumed. My thought was if it has no calories, I could drink as many as I wanted with no consequences. However, after researching more on the effects of diet drinks and sodas from NoFizzUSA and other sources, I realized they are not as harmless as I thought.

One piece of knowledge that really stuck with me is the realization that diet drinks actually increase your body’s desire to eat food. All those empty calories making the body crave more food to burn the energy. So the ground work was laid for NoFizzUSA, and I vowed to knock the habit.

What is amazing to me now is just how much of a habit drinking soda had become. Just pulling in the drive-through and ordering my meal takes a concerted effort. No — I do not want a Coke – although my mind is saying yes, you do.

I am on the road to being soda free, one day at a time. I am determined to remove anything from my life that is a negative and as much as I love the taste and the caffeine kick it provides, I am not willing to sacrifice my body just to indulge. After all with the work I am trying to accomplish by working out and living healthy, I would even prefer to eat a big juicy hamburger and work off those yummy calories then just drink a soda!