Addicted

I have a feeling that I am going to be doing a lot of confessing on this blog. So here’s confession number one. Hi my name is Kailey and I’m addicted to Diet Pepsi. First step is admitting you have a problem right? There should be a DPA. (Diet Pop Anonymous) But seriously, it’s addictive stuff. This all began on my mission in Puerto Rico. (Ironic right?) I had a companion who drank it a lot and I got into the habit too. (I’ll just blame it all on her) You’re tired all the time, so the caffeine was definitely welcomed. I came home and never gave up the habit, although I drank it much less. The amount I drank did increase over time. (tolerance much?) And now the habit has gotten a bit out of control, so it’s time to stop. I have quit numerous times before, the longest stretch started when we were trying to get pregnant, up until I had Lucas. (close to two years) Those bleary eyed first weeks with a newborn had me reaching for my beloved caffeine once again.

I have heard a lot of different information about aspartame. The internet can be amazing…so much information at our finger tips. But it can also be horribly frustrating. Sometimes it feels impossible to find any real information! Of course there are two sides to the debate. One is that aspartame is safe. It’s been the most widely studied out of any new food additive out there, there have been no connections found between aspartame and health issues etc. Other side is that aspartame can cause brain tumors, hinders weight loss, can cause or exacerbate psychological or emotional problems, can cause birth defects, vision problems, brain damage and seizures. Yikes. Both sides can present equally convincing arguments, facts, and studies. So who do you believe?

One fact I wasn’t aware of is that aspartame was only approved for use in soft drinks in 1983. Before that it was only used as a powdered form. (and they were using it in baby food…what??) So really aspartame in pop is relatively new, which makes it difficult to study long term use in humans. Still everything can be so confusing. I think that our own intuition about things is important to acknowledge. Aspartame is a man made chemical. Are all man made chemicals bad for us? Probably not, but when it comes down to it, I really don’t feel good about my long term use of diet pop. There are many healthier things I could be ingesting, and I honestly think it takes a lot of work for our bodies to digest the chemicals we drink or eat. So I am going to give my body a break and say good-bye to my delicious concoction of aspartame and caffeine. I do expect that I’ll slip and have it occasionally. But like I said the daily fix I get right now just isn’t healthy. Hopefully my withdrawals won’t be too bad. (hello headaches and cravings!) So it’s more water for me…and probably more Crio. (A recent discovery that I’m going to post about too!)

Anyone else addicted to diet pop? Want to join in with me??