what is is abotu soda specifically

[Zoe Girl]

Okay I am almost ready to tackle the next health thing, diet soda. And I have tried this before and I know there is something about soda that I am just not seeing.

For background I quit smoking. I had smoked on and off for a couple years during this high stress time and partially because my girls both started smoking at 15. It took awhile to get rid of it but I went through a process of mindfully smoking, purposefully paying attention to not just the bad aspects but the enjoyable ones as well. Then I saw my triggers and addressed the ones I could. Some of them were really outside events causing trauma and my way to deal with that. In any case now it is soda. It really needs to go.

Here is the thing, it seems the caffeine in diet soda enters the body in a mroe effective way than any other drink or food. I can have a headache and drink hot or cold tea, even take excedrin which has caffeine, but then one small amount of deit coke and the headache starts to lift more more quickly. The same with afternoon sleepiness, all the other forms of getting energized compared to a soda are really different,

Any knowledge about this. What the heck is it about putting caffeine in a fizzy drink that makes it work like this?

[Rosemary]

Maybe it is mostly related to the mental reward you feel from soda, which you probably enjoy more than those other things? (Don't discount this factor. I suggest it because I notice the huge mental reward I get from particular foods. By mental reward, I mean how the ingredients in that soda change the activity in your brain.)
As for the headache, from what I've read, caffeine is most effective for headache relief when it is consumed rarely and only for that purpose. Excedrin will probably take at least an hour to be effective because it has to dissolve first.
For afternoon sleepiness - consider changing what you eat for lunch and/or getting exercise at lunch time (just a quick walk, if possible). When I used to eat sandwiches, pasta, rice-based lunches, I always had afternoon sleepiness. Since going to salads I have high energy all the time (I don't use caffeine).

[Tussiemussies]

Maybe you are having caffeine withdrawl? Usually headaches are a part of that I believe. Since you switched to diet soda after smoking, you body most likely is still addicted to caffeine. Good luck with this.:)

[ApatheticNoMore]

Okay I am almost ready to tackle the next health thing, diet soda. And I have tried this before and I know there is something about soda that I am just not seeing.

Here is the thing, it seems the caffeine in diet soda enters the body in a mroe effective way than any other drink or food. I can have a headache and drink hot or cold tea, even take excedrin which has caffeine, but then one small amount of deit coke and the headache starts to lift more more quickly.

I think some sodas are higher caffeine than tea (we're talking black tea right, because I think most are higher caffeine than green tea but the very caffeinated sodas may surpass black tea - they are unlikely to surpass regular coffee though).


The same with afternoon sleepiness, all the other forms of getting energized compared to a soda are really different,

Any knowledge about this. What the heck is it about putting caffeine in a fizzy drink that makes it work like this?

I do know the feeling although it's been over a decade since I've touched the stuff. Maybe they still have cocaine :). Coke IS still made from cocaine flavorings, it's really true, although all the psycho-active substances are supposedly removed, I wonder though some must sneak through ... just a tiny dosage .... :) All the recipes are utterly proprietary you don't know what they are putting in them. Other than that there could be a bit of a sugar high with the regular sodas, I'd always crash from soda really hard also. I had the least energy ever then really, drinking 5 cokes a day in adolescence, trying to get energy, but it would produce a good high, a great mental stimulation (hey easier to achieve in those days :~)) and a terrible crash! With the diet sodas, well I don't know, I never touched the things, I never trusted them and they always tasted totally vile as well. But you might want to research if the aspartame has withdrawal symptoms, it wouldn't surprise me, it's nasty stuff, possibly psychoactive in it's own right. Besides having their own toxicities, artificial sweetnerse also act much like sugar themselves I think, you can't fool the body so easily, if it tastes sweet it prepares for a sugar infusion.

[Miss Cellane]

Here are the caffeine amounts in some drinks:

Coffee--95-200 mg in 8 oz
Black tea--14-61 mg in 8 oz
Green tea--24-40 mg in 8 oz
Coke--30-35 mg in 12 oz

I usually drink black tea with no milk or sugar. When I drink a Coke, which isn't very often, the effects are immediate--a huge burst of energy that lasts for a while. I've always thought it was the combination of caffeine and sugar that causes the energy rush. Plus the bubbles. I read somewhere that an alcoholic drink mixed with soda water carries the alcohol into the bloodstream more quickly than the same drink mixed with plain water. If that's true, maybe the same thing is happening with the soda?

[Dhiana]

I totally agree with ApatheticNoMore! It's been almost two months since my last Dt. Coke. All my life I've been trying to kick the Dt. Coke habit and truly believe at this point that there is cocaine in it. Nothing else satisfies the craving like a Dt. Coke. No tea, no Dt. Pepsi can do it. It's specific to Dt. Coke.

I know I will permanently kick the habit this time, I refuse to send any more money to the Drug Dealer named Coca-Cola, Inc.!

[Mrs-M]

I have the WORST love/hate relationship with soda! I used to drink it daily (years ago), but have since weaned myself from that habit, however, I still occasionally get a craving for soda, and when I do, I usually fight it for as long as I can, then, usually, the craving wins over. If you can simply cutback, that would be a grand step.

P.S. Congratulations on quitting smoking ZG! I quite +/- 3 years ago, and haven't looked back. Not so much as a single cigarette.

[CathyA]

Sometimes I swear they sneak something else into caffeinated sodas........like cocaine? Just kidding.
Some of us are excruciatingly sensitive to caffeine. In your case (and mine), our blood vessels really respond to the constriction that the caffeine causes, and that's why it takes the headache away.
I used to have daily migraines and was on a migraine forum. Some people would laugh at Exedrine's ads about taking away migraines, since it didn't work for them. But for some of us, it was a life-saving drug!
Maybe you're too young to remember when kids would take an aspirin and a coke to get a buzz. And that's why a number of pain meds include caffeine. they both sort of accentuate each other.

I don't think its anything to do with the fizziness........maybe just the fact that its liquid and liquids get absorbed much more quickly than say a pill.
But caffeine IS a drug. It not only takes away my headaches (if I use it moderation), but also gives me a reason to live.......at least for a few hours. :)

[Zoe Girl]

Okay well last night I did nto get very far on my quitting soda, it was an 'enriched coke' night (rum and coke). Too many people issues this week with kids in my programs and staff and, well not my usual way to deal with it but I have my records of the last month of eating and exercise so I could see it was okay for a night off the strictness.

Today i am bringing my lunch and a can of diet coke since that is much less than a bottle of soda or if I got lunch out.

[CathyA]

I sort of view it like a drug......or a vitamin, that just helps us. I know some people would find that outrageous.......but its alot cheaper than a prescription med and alot cheaper. My problem is that I only like the classic coke and that's way too much sugar.
If you can be happy with one coke a day, I would say don't worry about it.
My problem is that for me, its sort of like Lay's potato chips........I can't have just one! And it really stimulates my appetite too, which isn't good.
Good luck in trying to find the best thing for you!