Addicted to Diet Coke

[ChrissiK]

Dear all,

I am having a really hard time letting go of my Diet Coke.
I know it's not good for you (the artificial sweetener) and not good for conception (the caffeine), but I just need something bubbly, refreshing while I work at the computer.
Sometimes I also need the caffeine kick (I don't drink coffee or caf. teas), but mainly I like the cold, sparkling bottle of something.

I've tried carbonated water with juices, but nothing give me the same satisfaction. I must be seriously addicted.

Anybody have any suggestions? Anybody else trying / tried to stop drinking (coffee / coke / etc) and had a hard time?

I need to get serious about this, I know. As I am writing it down it sounds so petty compared to other issues...

Thanks for listening!

Christiane

 

[Natsby]

I know caffeine isn´t good but I think sweetener is worse for conception it can have a very bad effect on fertility. There must be another soda that would do the trick, no? Otherwise I would say go cold turkey, yes you like it, but it is so terrible for you, imagine you are drinking kettle cleaner every time you take a sip, it is pure chemicals and sugar, go on girl be strong you can give it up!!

 

[sarahincanada]

i agree its not the caffeine thats bad....aspertame in diet drinks is just an awful awful chemical, so I tell everyone not to drink diet drinks, not just those trying to get pregnant!

I feel the same way about regular coke, and tea. I have about 4-5 teas a day, they are weak with milk and sugar but man it will be hard to give up. coke I just tend to have at restaurants, but nothing else taste better with a meal to me.

I dont have any advice as I have zero willpower, I always feel though as soon as I get pregnant that will give me willpower as Im not just thinking about myself.

 

[Indigo77]

For me, it's more difficult when I try give something up entirely...
So instead of denying myself...I limit myself...say, 1x/ week..

 

[dachsundmom]

Not that it is that much better for you, but I switched to Pepsi One, which is sweetened with Splenda; I drink one can a day. I am a morning coffee drinker and an afternoon decaf coffee drinker.

I have zero willpower whatsoever, lol.

 

[readyformore]

I limit myself to 1 coke per day.

I love coke and the thought of denying myself of my guilty pleasure while ttc is impossible. Ttc is hard enough to do without giving up everything you enjoy.

Moderation is key.

 

[ChrissiK]

Thanks everybody - it is soooo good to have people that listen and understand!
Everybody else either says "just stop drinking it" or "why are you trying to stop" (we are secretly TTC).
I think I will wean myself off it - every other day to every 3 days - and when I ovulate hopefully the possibility of success will give me the strength to stop...

 

[Natsby]

Ahh I´m the only hard liner on here, too harsh eh? sorry. I find the more I think about the reality of a thing the easier it is to give up. If I think of diet coke as a chemical cocktail I don´t want to drink it. It was the same when I was veggie I had to concentrate on meat being cute animals slaughtered. Notice I say when, didn´t work for ever clearly, lol but for a few years at least.

 

[velo]

Diet coke is really a triple whammy when it comes to TTC - caffeine, aspartame, and the acidity of soda. (too much acid in the diet makes for a hostile environment in the vagina!)

I gave up coffee for TTC (apparently decaf is bad too as it is acidic) I do end up having an occasional cup of regular or decaf but its not daily anymore. I don't generally drink soda but occasionally get Dr. Pepper cravings which I have resisted due to not having any around. I think sometimes my body is just craving sugar!

Oddly enough I got a broccoli craving the other day, I couldn't get enough of it! (seems better than the Dr. Pepper one) I wonder if I am a bit iron-deficient?

The best substitutes for something to drink would probably be plain water, or green tea (not only low in caffeine but it has anti-oxidants which are good for conceiving) or red raspberry leaf tea (tones the uterus!)

Easier said than done of course.

Good luck - it sounds like decreasing gradually is a good plan!

 

[Macwooly]

I am a real coca cola addict (can't bear diet drinks) and I have slowly weaned myself down a lot. At one time I could drink 2L a day!

Now I have one cup of tea a day and avoid coca cola totally apart from when I get AF then I go nuts and enjoy as much as I want but by CD5 I stop again.

I won't lie it has been hard and there are days when I want some but on those days I get my DH to buy a can and I have a few mouthfuls and let him finish the rest. It's probably not good for his but he has about a pint of cola a month maximum.

 

[Wendyk07]

I dont limit myself at all. i dont drink diet juice at all i much prefer the full fat stuff and i would be a right crabby mare if i didnt have my coffee. I think everything in moderation is fine. TTC is hard enough without having to give up things that we like so much. There are worse things to be adicted to that diet coke hun.



Wendy

 

[ChrissiK]

What's most annoying about the Diet Coke and its possible effect on fertility is that I got pregnant TWICE while drinking it - alas that was 10 years ago.

Plus my (most annoying) neighbor is also 38 and drinks over 2L a day and just had her 4th and 5th child in the last two years.

Not fair! Grumble...

 

[Wendyk07]

What's most annoying about the Diet Coke and its possible effect on fertility is that I got pregnant TWICE while drinking it - alas that was 10 years ago.

Plus my (most annoying) neighbor is also 38 and drinks over 2L a day and just had her 4th and 5th child in the last two years.

Not fair! Grumble...

I just think that the whole thing is NHS scare mongering. However did my mother or grandmother conceive without there vitamin and actimal. There are people that live to over 100 and had families without watching what they eat or drink and like you say you got pregnant before whilst drinking it. I'd love to know who comes up with all this stuff that you are not supposed to do.

My sister in law gave birth just over a week ago and the midwives and health visitor told her not to bath the baby more than once every 4 days because it can cause exema. What a lot of tosh imo. My DS needs a bath by lunchtime each day.

What will they come up with next? lol

Dont let it get to you. Continue as you are and fingers up to the good old NHS for coming up with such stupid and unfounded things that make us worry more than we should.

rant over LOL

 

[crystal443]

I never knew Aspartame was bad to be honest I've never been a Diet soda drinker but I was a huge Pepsi addict about 2L a day and I got pregnant 2 times but that was in my early twentie I'm now 36 and traded Pepsi for a glass of Sunkist with Dinner I do still have a cup of coffee or two during the day though. Don't stress too much..we weren't told not to give up caffiene by our RE at any point as long as we have it in moderation. I think smoking, alchohol, and drugs are on the list of no no's.

 

[velo]

What's most annoying about the Diet Coke and its possible effect on fertility is that I got pregnant TWICE while drinking it - alas that was 10 years ago.

Plus my (most annoying) neighbor is also 38 and drinks over 2L a day and just had her 4th and 5th child in the last two years.

Not fair! Grumble...

Sadly I think as we get older and less fertile we have less leeway and have to have more optimal conditions in order to get pg (with the exception of those annoying super-fertile women)

I don't have the book anymore to quote any exact numbers (borrowed from the library), but I was reading The Fertility Diet which was based on a study of 30,000 women that recorded all of their habits and tracked them over many years over which many TTC. I was surprised to read that soda was worse than alcohol or caffeine in its effects on TTC. I believe it took the soda drinkers something like twice as long.

Anyway its really difficult to be "perfect" and if doing so stresses you out, then I think its worse than what you were trying to avoid. All we can do is make small changes that hopefully improve our chances - so if for you its having say 25% less diet coke, then that's a positive change.

GL.

 

[Shelley71]

My problem was Diet Cherry Pepsi. I say "was" even though I just bought a 2L bottle of it yesterday. LOL

I used to drink between 20-40 ounces per day, but then when I started TTC, I stopped altogether. Then, when it was obvious that I wasn't Oing, and that having science intervene wasn't an option for my SO, I just said screw it and started having one every now and then. But, once this 2L is gone, I am cutting it out again.

I don't like regular soda, I actually WANT the DCP because it tastes soooo good. I used to laugh about aspartame being such an "evil" thing, because I thought it was a load of crap. But, as I've gotten older, I try to NEVER use the pink packets, and I really want to get away from DCP (*cries*). And, my fear of aspartame really has nothing to do with TTC - I'm more concerned with the links to cancer. But, the TTC issues just reinforce my fears.

I do agree with the PP about our mothers/grandmothers/great-grandmothers eating and drinking all kinds of bad things, but I think the HUGE difference in that, is that what they ate and drank was MUCH less chemically enhanced. They drank sweet tea with natural sugar, not aspartame. So, yeah, I agree that we get freaked about all the "bad" things we eat and drink, but it's because they are so much more chemically altered than the things our parents and grandparents had.

I'm more of the mind to eat the bad stuff that's more natural now than anything with chemical stuff. I am in NO way an organic eater though. I'd like to be, but I just have to take it one step at a time.

 

[mrsdh]

I agree Shelley71. Our grandmothers diets were more simplified and wholesome. Everything was cooked from scratch. Fertility then was not questioned for the over35s. Many children were born to older mums in times where extreme hardship was about. I think our fast forward society has a lot to answer for in regards to chemicals and problems with fertility etc.
As to caffeine, I went cold turkey and cut it all out. For nearly 2 weeks I had terrible headaches. I've also cut out all refined sugar products . No bfp but I feel so much healthier. It was one of the hardest things I've ever done but worth it. I'm now loving redbush tea and a lovely grain coffee called Caro. All caffeine and guilt free. Even if you greatly cut down I think that's better than nothing. Above all I would steer clear of aspartame.

 

[crystal443]

My problem was Diet Cherry Pepsi. I say "was" even though I just bought a 2L bottle of it yesterday. LOL

I used to drink between 20-40 ounces per day, but then when I started TTC, I stopped altogether. Then, when it was obvious that I wasn't Oing, and that having science intervene wasn't an option for my SO, I just said screw it and started having one every now and then. But, once this 2L is gone, I am cutting it out again.

I don't like regular soda, I actually WANT the DCP because it tastes soooo good. I used to laugh about aspartame being such an "evil" thing, because I thought it was a load of crap. But, as I've gotten older, I try to NEVER use the pink packets, and I really want to get away from DCP (*cries*). And, my fear of aspartame really has nothing to do with TTC - I'm more concerned with the links to cancer. But, the TTC issues just reinforce my fears.

I do agree with the PP about our mothers/grandmothers/great-grandmothers eating and drinking all kinds of bad things, but I think the HUGE difference in that, is that what they ate and drank was MUCH less chemically enhanced. They drank sweet tea with natural sugar, not aspartame. So, yeah, I agree that we get freaked about all the "bad" things we eat and drink, but it's because they are so much more chemically altered than the things our parents and grandparents had.

I'm more of the mind to eat the bad stuff that's more natural now than anything with chemical stuff. I am in NO way an organic eater though. I'd like to be, but I just have to take it one step at a time.

Very true there are way to many chemicals in what we put in our bodies and i do think it has a huge effect on women of all ages. My DH works in a school and two other women in his department are also going to be going for IVF both are in their twenties I also think we're in a society that wants everything right away and I feel my IVF clinic in particular uses this. Both women have been trying for a year and none of us were given the option of IUI only IVF. We all had numbers thrown at us and then told IVF was our best option and we've all been given the same "unexplained" diagnosis, what's worse is either continue naturally or we have to go with IVF. I just think it is chemicals but also who started allowing making a baby to become so profitable? Sad really but a sign of the times and sadly without treatment so many women wouldn't be mums.

 

[purplelou]

I didn't realise either that diet cola was so bad, I used to drink gallons of the stuff, and then some years ago switched to caffeine free diet cola and probably have a couple of glasses per day along with 4-6 cups of tea. I really need to look at this!

thanks Ladies xx

 

[dachsundmom]

I didn't realise either that diet cola was so bad, I used to drink gallons of the stuff, and then some years ago switched to caffeine free diet cola and probably have a couple of glasses per day along with 4-6 cups of tea. I really need to look at this!

thanks Ladies xx

Cutting down never hurts, but please don't stress yourself too much. TTC is hard enough. Take care of you, because being healthy will be the best for you in the long run; that is just as important as being healthy for your LO.