I was a kid when I started drinking Coca Cola a lot and was in my late teens when I more or less stopped it.
There were a couple of reasons, but my teeth completely decaying and being in a really really orange to almost red zone in terms of enamel made me think seriously about stopping the drink -- to be fair Red Bull was doing a lot more.
Here is how I stopped it (in order of effectiveness):
1 Replacement. I happened to love tea and found out that green tea does amazing things to your teeth: nothing! And that's a hard feat to accomplish for any drink. I fell in love with green tea because I quite liked the taste and it was healthy.
2 Negative Associations. I demonized cola. When I'd drink it I'd picture myself getting a barrel of acid which would go down my troath and would completely burn my esophagus (the thing that pulls stuff to your stomach when you swallow). I would then be unable to eat and die of hunger. It wasn't a pleasant fantasy, but that form of demonization made me feel I wasn't drinking Coca Cola but pure acid.
3 Being lenient. Sometimes I can't shake the craving, I think I have it once per month. Very rarely I drink it, but in most cases I get myself to drink something like orange juice through a straw. One time this happened so much that I'd drink a glass of orange juice through a straw per day. When this happens, I tend to focus more on drinking green tea and the fact that orange juice is also acid, that works quite well.
I feel that I have it under control, especially with Coca Cola since the taste completely changed for me after fighting it so hard, and it tastes less good.
I was a kid when I started drinking Coca Cola a lot and was in my late teens when I more or less stopped it.
There were a couple of reasons, but my teeth completely decaying and being in a really really orange to almost red zone in terms of enamel made me think seriously about stopping the drink -- to be fair Red Bull was doing a lot more.
Here is how I stopped it (in order of effectiveness):
1 Replacement. I happened to love tea and found out that green tea does amazing things to your teeth: nothing! And that's a hard feat to accomplish for any drink. I fell in love with green tea because I quite liked the taste and it was healthy.
2 Negative Associations. I demonized cola. When I'd drink it I'd picture myself getting a barrel of acid which would go down my troath and would completely burn my esophagus (the thing that pulls stuff to your stomach when you swallow). I would then be unable to eat and die of hunger. It wasn't a pleasant fantasy, but that form of demonization made me feel I wasn't drinking Coca Cola but pure acid.
3 Being lenient. Sometimes I can't shake the craving, I think I have it once per month. Very rarely I drink it, but in most cases I get myself to drink something like orange juice through a straw. One time this happened so much that I'd drink a glass of orange juice through a straw per day. When this happens, I tend to focus more on drinking green tea and the fact that orange juice is also acid, that works quite well.
I feel that I have it under control, especially with Coca Cola since the taste completely changed for me after fighting it so hard, and it tastes less good.