Great Success!

I've never done heroin. I've been able to steer clear of crack cocaine my whole life. The only substance I've ever really had issues with is cigarettes and I was able to kick that habit in about 36 hours without any considerable adverse reaction.

Enter the devil's juice - Coca Cola. As noted in previous posts, my addiction to "real" Coke was brief but spectacular. I was a six pack a day user. I don't even want to think of the negative effect the buckets of high fructose corn syrup I downed daily had on my teeth, weight and insulin levels. I knew if I was going to lead a healthier lifestyle, Coke was not going to be in the picture. I also assumed it would be one of the easiest things to drop.

Boy was I wrong.

It started innocently enough, just a small headache sometime after noon on my first Coke-free day in years. It almost felt like an allergy headache, pulsing from deep within my sinus. By six o'clock, just moving my eyeballs from side to side produced excrutiating pressure and pain.

I felt groggy and tired. I felt feverish (although I never took my temperature). I went to sleep early that night, my head throbbing on the pillow, curled in the fetal position with a slight case of the shakes.

Could a soft drink have this kind of a hold over my life? Is 60+ ounces of Coke the only thing propping me up during the day?

I awoke the next morning with the lingering pain of the headache, still behind my eyes. Again, sometime late in the afternoon it became overbearing. I felt run down, but blessedly the shakes did not return.

All through my ordeal, I never really craved a Coke. I felt like having one might ease some of the pain, but it wasn't as if I had to have one. It wasn't until the day after a late night of drinking that I really craved a Coke. I substituted a Sprite, which has just as much carbonation and sugar, but no caffeine. At least it got me through the day.

So all told, it took me the full week to kick the habit. I'm drinking a lot more water, a Sprite every now and then (I'll be dropping all soft drinks later in the program), and don't really have any cravings.


I am pleased to report that I stopped at a Carl's Jr. on the road this weekend. I ordered the six dollar cheeseburger, a large fry and... a lemonade! Great success!


I think I'm going to like this diet...