FIZZZZZ....

Soda.

There's just something about the hiss when opening a bottle of soda.  The pop when you snap open a can.  The fizz as it fills the cup with those sparkling little bubbles of carbonation.  The tickle on your nose as you take that first sip.  Brilliance.  I wish I'd imagined it and marketed it.  Instead, I'm part of the statistic. 

"Research shows that over the last 30 years Americans consumed 278 more calories per day [by drinking soda]..."  (New Research Shows Direct Link Between Soda and Obesity)

When one works for a sparkling beverage company, that number of calories goes up exponentially.  Especially when there is a free soda fountain in their break room and when one is addicted to the effervescent liquid it is impossible to pass that fountain.  I stop.  I fill my glass with ice.  I fight the urge but there's an invisible force that pulls my hand, then body, over to the fountain machine.  I tell myself, I'll just push the water button.  I set the glass under the nozzle.  I decide.  I pause a moment. 
Maybe.
This time I'll pick water. 
This time I'll overcome the urge. 
I cringe at first as I watch the brown cap of bubbles creep up to the top of my glass.
Then I dunk my nose into my glass. 
Aaaaaaaaaaah. 

CRAP.  I did it again.  I let it beat me.


Is this how a cigarette smoker feels? Is this how an alcoholic feels?
ARGH!

I once went a complete year without a single soda.  It boggles my mind to even imagine it now.  I don't know how I did it.  I don't know if, perhaps, it was the little smiley face stickers my sister added to my bathroom mirror each day I went without one or if it was just that I had a little more will power during that year.  I certainly was less stressed during that period of time, is that the magic key?

 

I'm not sure what it is.  All I know is, I have to get a handle on this again.  I KNOW this is what is keeping me from losing weight.  Not only is there too much sugar, because face it, I'm NOT drinking the DIET soda, eww, but there is also the sodium.  I can't afford that in my life.  At this point my blood pressure is high and my sugar levels are border line.  I HAVE TO DO SOMETHING.  That something is quit drinking soda.  It's obvious that I can't just drink one a day.  I've tried that.  I fail.  I have to go off this thing cold turkey.  

Wish me luck.