Soda-Free September
Recently I decided that I'm most likely drinking too much soda. I had mostly switched to diet sodas and the like, but even that just tempts me to drink more of the real stuff, since I've never really enjoyed the taste of aspartame. (In fact, I always cut my diet soda with a little of the real stuff at the fountain, just to kill the aspartame.) In turn, I was depending more and more on caffeine to get me up in the morning, since I've been constantly exhausted for weeks. That just wasn't good.
Then I met a guy who's in excellent shape last week, and he mentioned that he doesn't drink anything carbonated except ginger ale. That rather cemented my thinking, so I decided that as of September 1, I'd cut the soda for an entire month - diet and all - just to see if I can do it, and to see if it has any appreciable benefits for my health and physique. I know there are other things that go into having a healthy and trim body, and I do many of these things already. Consider it an experiment and a test of willpower combined.
I'm in the middle of Day Four so far, and I've successfully resisted. We shall see how well I hold up as the days go by. I can be really stubborn when I want to be, especially when I feel like I'm testing myself. Of course, none of that guarantees that I won't run out and get a 44-ounce Cherry Coke on October 1.
(I thought about cutting beer for the month, too, but since I might end up volunteering at Irish Fest . . . well, c'mon, that would just be impracticable. But I'm making an effort to cut my alcohol consumption in general as well. It can only help.)