Yesterday morning, I woke up with a rather manic idea to improve my health. See, I’ve been “running” now for a month, and I knew yesterday I was going to start one of those Beach Body exercise programs. Why? I’m sick of my clothes. Oh, and my driver’s license expires in a month and I’d like to look a little better.
But it didn’t feel like enough. My sister and brother-in-law have been pressuring me for years to kick my diet Coke habit, citing all kinds of scientific evidence that if I laid off the sauce I would likely drop a few pounds. Didn’t make sense to me, since diet Coke is zero calories, but the brother-in-law, who is a doctor, cited some fancy pants medical journal about the way diet sodas metabolize in the body and blah blah blah…
So back to yesterday morning–I decided to quit the diet Coke. I figure if the promised weight loss doesn’t happen, I can always go back to it.
So this morning, instead of cracking open a cold diet Coke, I just had some water. And in the middle of my first piano lesson, the bad news started rolling in, and it just didn’t seem to stop for most of the day. See, for any reader out there who thinks that teachers don’t work during the summer, suffice it to say I have spent at least 7 hours just this week emailing parents, students, trying to solve problems on my newspaper staff, and it’s taking a bit of an emotional toll on me.
All of this without the aid of my old friend, that creature comfort of a diet Coke.
So I picked up some flavored sparkling water tonight and that seemed to take the edge off a little.
I like the bubbles just as much as the caffeine, I think.
And I have a 20% off coupon at Kohls that starts later this week, and I’m seriously considering buying one of these. Because flavored sparkling water is expensive. Way more expensive than diet Coke.
But apparently, much healthier.
Pray for me, people. Because while today definitely brought some challenges, I think a lot of the rage I felt was the initial stages of detox. So here’s hoping the rest of the week is mellow.
I would suggest buying plain sparkling water, like San Pellegrino or Perrier (you can usually find cases at Costco for less than it would cost to buy individual bottles) and add lemon or lime juice yourself. In addition to the bubbles, it also as that burn-your-mouth sensation that comes from colas. But maybe I'm just bizarre in my appreciation of that aspect.