So… when I decided to do the vegan thing, there were three main concerns:
– my health
– planet health
– animal welfare
Number one, perhaps selfishly, was my health. So at the same time I went vegan, I also dropped Diet Coke.
And I was a big Diet Coke drinker. Every day. double super big ass gulp. Or whatever they call the 64 oz version. Of course, some of that was ice. A pretty good amount. But still. And normally I only had one… but there were some days when I had more than one.
And that’s too much.
Because it’s really just a big cup o’ chemicals. Not in sync with my whole foods outlook.
My routine had been ingrained, I was up every day… brush teeth, exercise (if it was an ex day), breakfast… stop by 7-eleven for a giant-ass diet coke. Even knew all the people there on a first name basis.. Very friendly… and kind of fun and social. People knew me as the Diet Coke guy.
I remember going in to 7-Eleven for a water… and “announcing” that I wasn’t going to be coming in for diet coke… the clerk said “sure, I know… look, we’ve got your cigarettes, your diet coke, your beer… we’ve got all the good stuff people need.” Or something like that. The beer, maybe. But I’ve never been a smoker… and the diet coke just had to go.
Why? Well, the studies on aspartame are frightening. The formaldehyde conversion is scary, too (if it’s on the shelf too long). And just the whole concept of consuming something that was canned or bottled or created in such a scientific way… just didn’t fit with me. And I didn’t want to “need” anything like that.
It was amazingly easy to quit. Even though I did it after a trip to Europe and had jet lag. Maybe that’s why it was easier? Maybe I wrote off the fatigue as jet lag… and by the time I was over that, I was over caffeine withdrawal? Who knows.
But the strange thing is… I was in the car a couple of weeks ago. Decided to stop and get a small Diet Coke. I don’t know why, just sounded good. Todd agreed. So we did. At McDonald’s… home of the best Diet Coke.
We got ’em… took a sip simultaneously… and looked at each other as if we’d ingested peacock poop.
It was nasty. We decided it was a “bad mix” … between the soda and the syrup. Happens sometimes.
So a week later, we tried it again. This time, from 7-Eleven.
It was even worse.
It’s uncanny to me that something that was so delicious, delightful, and even comforting to me… could become quite gross in just a few months.
I’m glad to say I didn’t replace it with coffee or tea, though a couple of times a month I will have a cup of hot tea (usually decaf, but if I’m feeling racy, I’ll have the high-test).
It’s helped me as I consider other food options. Because so much of what we eat… well, isn’t food. Take McDonald’s, for instance. You’ve seen SuperSize Me… I assume. So I won’t belabor the point. Parts from thousands of cows in a single Big Mac. Scary. But it’s a point well made, and taken to heart. Even though I haven’t eaten cows since 1996.
But I digress. I just don’t want something that processed, that far from the original FOOD it once was, in my body. Packaged “easy bake” foods at the store. Fifty ingredients on the labels. Too many. Tooooooo many.
And the ingredients in a can of diet coke? Waaaay too many. And for ALL THOSE CHEMICALS to add up to ZERO CALORIES – what’s the point?
Or wtf?
Wish I learned earlier, but glad I learned.