Making bad choices! HELP

 I am making A LOT of bad food choices and drinking SODA!! Ugh, I am kicking myself in my ass telling myself that I have to smarten up! But for some reason I keep going back to the carbs and soda! I do eat my protein first and I don't drink and eat at the same time. I do exercise (3x a week at the gym plus trying to get into jogging). I am throwing myself a pity party here lol! I am part of OA and I do have a councelor (sp). I am not in any mood when I eat the carbs/soda I just like them. SO What I would like to know from you, my friends on OH, is how can I stop eating the carbs and soda? I have offically cut the soda out (as of today). So what can I replace the soda with? I cannot do anything with aspertame (sp) because it gives me really bad headaches! I need something with flavor because I cannot drink water all the time! Thank you in advance for you help and advice!

Hi Jeanine!

Good to hear from you!

I'm sorry to hear that you are struggling.  I know how that feels.  Soda...BAD.  Good for you for re-stopping it.  I LOVE soda.  I was (am?) addicted to it.  Badly.  I used to drink as much as 6-7 liters per day, so you can imagine, I know how it feels to crave that.  I'm 6.5 months past surgery...and the only thing I -crave- from before surgery?  Fountain soda.  Man.  What I wouldn't give for that...

So, establishing that I feel your pain!  :-)

Have you looked at those small individual-sized packets of Wyler's drink mixes?  Like Kool-Aid?  Crystal Light, and many many other brands.  They seem to be very popular right now, and can be found in all kinds of places.  Reny's, Hannaford, Shaw's, Ocean State Job Lots, even in plastic dispensers on the glass cooler doors in convenience stores (so when you buy a bottle of bottled water (please don't...so environmentally unfriendly!), you can buy that too and pour it into your bottled water for flavor.

I've gone a little overboard on those, and I have, oh, probably HUNDREDS of them, stashed around home, at my desk at work, in my glove box...they come in such a wide variety of flavors.  Peach Ice Tea, Peach Lemonade, Lemonade, Cherry, Grape, Lemon Iced Tea, Cran-Grape, etc...they are wonderful...

Also, the new stuff "Mio", which comes in a small plastic bottle, and you squirt a few drops in.  It's expensive ($3.99/bottle), but, you only need a few drops or a small squirt, and you can make it as strong, or as weak, as you like.  They have Strawberry, Mango, Pomegranate, etc...

Try one or two, see if you like it.  Then, if you do, stock-up when it's on sale...keep a wide variety of flavors...it helps with the boredom factor.

Give it a whirl, see what you think?

-David

I tell you that carb monster is not very nice is it. LOL  I am 6 months post op and doing well.  I wasn't much of a soda drinker before surgery so I haven't craved that too bad.  Once in a while it is a passing thought when I see my husband take a drink of his that I kind of crave the taste of pepsi and think I would like to have a sip but I just say no and move on.  Now as far as carbs go I am struggling with that because I have lost all of my weight and Dr. Toder has been concerned about me loosing too much now she has told me to be a snacker, wants me to add more calories and carbs into my diet.  She said my body is requiring me to eat little meals/snacks several times a day inorder for me to try and maintain my weight.  Now that being said I feel like that I am constantly having to put something in my mouth whether I am hungry or not.  I feel like that is sending me into bad habbits but she tells me it is what my body needs right now and if we need to nip it in the butt later on we will. I said easy for her to say because it will be me who has to fight those demons not her.  I wish I had a solution for you.  Just try and have some veg and some fruits on hand,  nuts(almonds) are a great source to snack on.  As for drinks do you like tea?  I can't drink stuff that has aspertime in it either.  Be careful the crystal light packets have that in it and a lot of the sugar free stuff will have that in it.  I do like truvia for my sugar subsitute.  Have you tried that yet?  I also don't mind vi****er have you tried that?  G2 is good tropicana 50 lemonade or orange juice is good in moderation.  Dieticians recommened that to me.  Also diet cranberry juice.  Not too bad.  I hope my suggestions have helped.  Good luck and we are here for you. 

 I think most of us  have  had to fight that demon.  But  you can do it.  Remember what i say about the rules.   It is hard for us to follow them all the time but we have to keep trying.   I got hooked on hard candy when i was driving.   I had to  just not buy them and now  after a few months it seems i am over it.   I  drink  greatfruit juice cut with water.  you can do  orange juice cut  50 50 or  25/75 if you need the flavor.   Juice has a lot of calories so you have to watch  how much you consume.  Remember  100 extra calories a day  is 10 pounds in a year.  

If you need to add some carbs then plan  them in  and  count the calories.   Soda will stretch the pouch if you  continue down that road.  I do hope you do not.  I also do vitamin zero water and i mix that  50/50     hope all our little   suggestions help.

take care and you can do it!!!!


Patty

micbrook is so right-we just need to keep trying.  I hate seeing the scale stop going down-I actually didn't notice it this summer because I was so busy-but know I am seeing it.  I feel that I am not making the best choices either.  I drink so much water a day- I hardly drink milk now.  I eat a lot of greek yogurt to get my calcium.  But the carbs are addicting.  i love bread and crackers- I think it is the crunch.  popcorn has been a good snack for me.  I feel like I am snacking a lot.    I do keep track of my calories a little better in the last few weeks.  It is amazing how they add up.

Have you tried some lemon or some oranges slices in your water?  I just drink it plain most of the time. 

Good luck and just keep a positive outlook---we will get there at some point.  The road is long.