Saturday, 11 June 2011

• I'm Addicted to Coke

  I am a very tiny person.  I’m 5’1 (and a quarter) and about 110 pounds.  Two years ago, I started to put on a lot of weight.  I gained about 22 pounds and, because I was always so small, it really showed. 

  I actually received a lot of compliments.  My family and friends liked that I had a little meat on my bones.  My doctor said I looked healthier.  Even my boyfriend was beside himself with excitement because my chest, thighs and behind grew, practically overnight.  Everyone was happy…except for me.

  I hated the weight I had gained.  After weeks of looking at myself in the mirror with disgust, I finally decided I had to do something about it.  I knew joining a gym would be useless, because gym memberships have never been used in the past.  I simply despise exercise, and I knew my hatred for any sort of physical exertion would overcome my willingness to better myself.  Therefore, I chose to change my diet.  I’ve heard that diet counts for more than exercise, anyway (I really did!).

  I gave up the one thing I loved most in the world – Coca Cola.  Up until about a year ago, I consumed Coke like it was water.  I would drink almost four cans of the stuff a day, cherishing it, appreciating it, loving it.  When others ordered alcohol, I stuck to my beloved Coke.  I couldn’t be happier with our relationship – until it stabbed me in the back.

  When I couldn’t understand why I was on my way to heffer territory, my boyfriend and I sat down and figured out that I was consuming almost 600 calories a day from Coke.  That’s 4,200 calories a week, and 16,800 calories a month – in beverages alone.  Not okay.  A can of Diet Coke, however, only has 1.3 calories.  Yeah, I’m sticking with the Diet stuff.

  I had to do this cold turkey.  Like a long-time smoker who literally cannot just have one cigarette a week, I quit drinking Coke all at once.  I had tried this once before, years ago, and decided to simply cut back.  My “one cup at dinner” quickly turned into a throwing-in-of-the-towel completely.  This time, I smartened up and rid my entire house of it.

  My boyfriend has always drank Diet Coke.  I have always referred to it as poison.  Whenever a waiter brought us our drinks when we'd go out to restaurants, I was always given the diet, and he was given the regular.  Not occasionally, not sometimes…always.

  And now I have crossed over to the other side.  The, perhaps-not-healthier-but-skinnier-nonetheless side.  Yes I, Jennifer, am an avid orderer and drinker of Diet Coke.

  I have heard a lot of controversy about Diet Coke (hell, I used to spread the word about it before I contradicted myself and switched over).  To make it taste less gross, Diet Coke has a sweetener called Aspartame.  To this day, anti-Aspartame fighters wonder (loudly) if the FDA should have ever approved it.  I read that this particular sweetener is 200 times sweeter than table sugar.  That’s a huge number, right there. 

  Advocates campaigning for Aspartame to be removed from foods and beverages argue that there is a connection between the sweetener and brain tumors, brain legions, and lymphoma.  The FDA, however, shoots down these accusations.  Officials describe Aspartame as "one of the most thoroughly tested and studied food additives the agency has ever approved" and its safety as "clear cut."  My cousin’s boyfriend, who is a doctor completing his residency to become a brain surgeon, told me that I have a greater risk of having a stroke if I drink Diet Coke. But he's just a brain surgeon. It's not like he's a rocket scientist or anything.
  

  My friend, Steve, who received his degree in Health, told me that Diet Coke is not really diet, at all.  Apparently it produces an increase in insulin, blocking the breakdown of fat, and causing your body to store this unrecognizable new sugar as fat.

  I’m not going to tell anyone what to drink.  All I know is, with a tweak to my diet (Diet Coke, 2% milk, and no more morning bagels), I shed my unwanted fat.  I don’t see what Steve is talking about.  The whole stroke thing, however, that’s pretty freaking scary.  I’m just going to hope that the FDA knows what they’re talking about and keeps me safe.

  Do you love Coca Cola, or something equally as fattening but delicious? Did you have to give it up? Do you ever try to lose weight by eating or drinking something that people say isn't good for you?

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