So I may have finally done it…I may have finally kicked my addiction to Diet Coke.

The key, I think, was finding a suitable replacement. This was necessary because Diet Coke was pretty much the only thing I drank all day, until I switched to my evening beer. Horribly unhealthy, I know. I have trouble making myself drink water, and I dislike coffee and tea. It was always a dilemma. Also, I quit smoking a few years ago–wasn’t that good enough?

A gift from students last year…

My husband (who drinks as much or more than I did) and I made the switch from aspartame to Splenda, but I still didn’t like being so tied to that lovely silver can filled with liquid chemicals. I have read all of the studies about the perils of diet soda, and the ones about how artificial sweeteners trick your bodies into actually craving more glucose. I wanted to quit. The question was how?

I read another study saying that one of the reasons people have trouble cutting the intake of diet soda is because they crave the effervescence. Sounded reasonable. I bought some seltzer, and drink it instead of Diet Coke. It seems to be working. I blended a bunch of fruit (strawberries, huckleberries, mango) and froze them in small portions When I want a sweet drink, I just put some in a glass with some seltzer poured over it. Lately, I haven’t even been desiring the fruit, because I can’t taste that initial bitterness that turned me off seltzer.

Now I am just waiting for the pounds to melt off, and trying to figure out how to get through an entire class period without running to ladies room to empty my bladder (always imagining my bladder might explode like Bob Wiley thought his would). How do people manage that? Will my body ever adjust?

I’m not going to lie, though…I miss it. Anyone else found an effective way to kick Diet Crack?