Something many people don’t know about me is I used to be highly addicted to diet soda. I thought I was doing the right thing by not having sugar but oh was I wrong, very wrong. In high school I would drink up to 5 cans of diet soda a day! Now I drink absolutely no soda, diet soda included.
So what inspired the change? In college I spent a lot of time becoming invested in health and wellness and picked up pieces of information and research bit by bit and have applied them to my daily life. I used to eat low fat crackers which labeled themselves as a “thin” snack and was confused why I didn’t see myself as skinny. Well hello – I was stuffing myself with a low fat snack which was also filled with natural + artificial sugar and handfuls of harmful chemicals. Diet soda is the same way! I knew if I wanted to become healthy I had to give up all soda. I completely cut myself off of soda the fall of my freshman year of college, I had tried this before and would always start drinking it again after a few weeks. I began by only having one diet soda around 3-4PM everyday. I would get this energy crash, be super moody and experience an insane headache around this time if I did not drink it. After weeks of doing this I phased out my afternoon soda with sparkling water. Something about the bubbles and carbonation made me forget about soda and diet soda all together. Flash forward many years and I am still living soda free!
People often comment on how I manage to live without soda – knowing how horrible it is for you is honestly enough – but whenever I get a soda craving (which does happen sometimes) I always revert to sparkling water.
I recently got hooked on Spindrift® sparkling water because it is flavorful, changes up the “normal” sparkling water routine, and makes for a fun afternoon drink – especially during the warm summer months when it is so hot outside! Many people go for sugar filled drinks during the day which is extremely dehydrating. Imagine what happens to your poor body – it is already dehydrated and then you give it a bunch of sugar to break down. No wonder people say the heat makes them exhausted. Spindrift® is America’s first and only sparkling water made with real, squeezed fruit. Spindrift = sparkling water + real fruit. Yup, that’s it. Which means it is more hydrating than many of the summer drinks we tend to reach for, including soda.
Spindrift® has many flavors of sparkling waters, my favorite is the lemon one! The cucumber one is also insanely refreshing and light. You can find Spindrift® near you by visiting their store locator. I always pick mine up at a local Target.
How do you stay away from soda + sugary drinks? Is this something you have struggled with in the past? What motivates you to stay away from soda? Share your story of giving up soda or ask for advice if you need help cutting it out of your diet by commenting below! Let’s help each other get on a healthy track by making better drink choices.
Health – much like happiness – is a journey, not a destination. We each need all the support we can get!
Thank you to Spindrift® for sponsoring today’s post and thank you for supporting the brands which support Curated by Courtney.