Baby Steps

I’ve had a love affair with Diet Coke for as long as I remember. A 2 liter a day or 8-10 cans a day is not unusual for me. And for a while, I’ve worn my addiction with pride. It’s just one of my little quirks. What’s funny is that everyone I know with an eating disorder has the same addiction.

But now I’m starting to rethink this whole thing. For a couple of reasons, really. For one, my five and nine year olds have taken to stealing sips when they think I’m not looking. Apparently the whole “Do as I say and not as I do” is not an effective parenting technique.

And while I’ve been reluctant to actually look at the real dangers of what I’m guzzling (we’ll ignore the environmental impact for now), research clearly shows connections between aspartame and depression, fatigue, weight gain, lupus, osteoporosis and teeth problems. Sigh.

I’ve committed to making baby steps to have a healthier lifestyle. One of my goals is to let go of my addiction to Diet Coke. It’s a process, and right now it involves switching a few drinks a day over to Zevia, a more natural carbonated drink without the artificial sweetener. I’m not paid to promote it, I promise, and the taste isn’t exactly the same, but it’s satisfying enough. Plus, there’s the whole giving up the toxic-chemicals-that-could-kill-me thing.

Maybe you don’t give a whit for Diet Coke, and if so, good for you. But maybe in your disordered eating pattern, you could do one thing different that would be a step in the right direction. What one thing can you do?