this post was submitted on 14 Feb 2025
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I've realised that I'm a little too fond of fizzy drinks. It's not a severe addiction to the point of downing gallons, but I am drinking a 330ml can of Pepsi Max almost every day. Sometimes a little more.

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[โ€“] PurpleGameBoy@lemmy.zip 48 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

Drink fizzy water instead.

[โ€“] ocean@lemmy.selfhostcat.com 9 points 2 weeks ago

Co2 mod to a used sodastream is awesome

[โ€“] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 6 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)
[โ€“] scrubbles@poptalk.scrubbles.tech 5 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (2 children)

Whenever I see this "opinion" I think of how out of whack the person's taste buds must be. Fizzy waters are great, they just don't have sugar.

[โ€“] imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

Not everyone likes the taste of quinine it's super bitter bro

[โ€“] blackbrook@mander.xyz 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Tonic water has quinine. Seltzer doesn't.

[โ€“] imPastaSyndrome@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

And we're talking about fizzy water which could mean either

[โ€“] pupbiru@aussie.zone 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

tonic water is further from water than vitamin water is. fizzy water means exactly 1 thing: carbonated, plain water

[โ€“] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

๐Ÿคฎ

[โ€“] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 2 points 2 weeks ago

"you mean everyone doesn't have the same exact taste in things that i do!?"

[โ€“] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[โ€“] TachyonTele@lemm.ee 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[โ€“] Asafum@feddit.nl 6 points 2 weeks ago

Doesn't have to be! Add some flavor! I was always partial to adding a bit of pineapple juice.

[โ€“] adarza@lemmy.ca 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

tbh i don't think a single can in a day is all that much if your diet is otherwise reasonable and balanced.

do you think it's the bubbles or the 40-some mg of caffeine that gets you grabbing one every day?

[โ€“] ursakhiin 2 points 2 weeks ago

Also, Pepsi Max is a zero calorie drink, so 1 a day is hardly a lot. Three artificial sweeteners aren't the best for you, but OP shouldn't feel like they are ruining their health on that.

To this point, for me, it was all about the bubbles. So replacing with a seltzer water did wonders. Sometimes I still have a craving to pound bubbles real quick.

[โ€“] Hadriscus@lemm.ee 14 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[โ€“] makingStuffForFun@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

This is how I got off beer and wine during the week. Sip fizzy water. It's perfect. Replacing one habit with another.

[โ€“] Firipu@startrek.website 9 points 2 weeks ago

Swap to a 0 calorie version and just keep enjoying it? Fizzy drinks are a pretty harmless vice in the grand scheme of things. Hollow calories, so if you can replace it with a 0 calorie version, it would at least stop affecting your weight.

I know everyone is against artificial sweeteners. They won't kill you faster than microplastics, pollution, break pad dust, war, alcohol, smoking,...

Enjoy life! Enjoy a fizzy drink! I thoroughly enjoy my daily coke zero can.

[โ€“] That_Devil_Girl@lemmy.ml 7 points 2 weeks ago

Is it the sweetness that you're addicted to? The fizz itself maybe? There are drinks that are sweet yet not fizzy, and there are drinks that are fizzy yet not sweet. If you can find out, you can begin to substitute less unhealthy options. Then eventually quit entirely.

[โ€“] BehindTheBarrier@programming.dev 7 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

My solution to most things, make it a chore.

Like, if you don't buy it, you can't drink it. If you have it, put it in an inconvenient place so you you won't see it or bother getting it.

[โ€“] dingdongitsabear@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

hatred. just hatred and anger, fueled by seething rage that's there in a split-second, whenever you need it. when your synapses overflow with visions of screaming mongol hordes burning and pillaging through the C-suite of whatever corpo that's yanking your chain, the desire to gorge on crap you're conditioned to consume just fades away.

that works for anything. smoking. eating meat. you ex you can't stop thinking about. getting the new GPU. give it a burst of 30-45 seconds of white-hot fury and you don't want none of that, ever again.

in the words of the wise denpok singh: "hate in the hands of the enlightened can be a tool for great change".

[โ€“] geneva_convenience@lemmy.ml 6 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

BDS puts most of the big brand junkfood on the boycott list. Join the club.

[โ€“] poopsmith@lemmy.ml 4 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[โ€“] communism@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

The Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions movement, a Palestinian-led boycott of a small number of companies that are particularly heavily involved in Israeli apartheid and colonialism of Palestinians.

[โ€“] poopsmith@lemmy.ml 1 points 1 week ago (1 children)

This feels like a trick... BDSM?

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[โ€“] Anissem@lemmy.ml 5 points 2 weeks ago

I eventually switched over to sparkling water and now I find normal soda nearly undrinkable. Thereโ€™s lots of different brands with all types of flavors. Itโ€™s worth exploring.

[โ€“] Etterra@discuss.online 5 points 2 weeks ago

One can? Lightweight.

It costs ~$150 to build your own CO2 carbonation setup. After that, refills are pretty infrequent at ~$10. That gets you relatively unlimited sparkling water.

If you're jonesing for specific flavors, flavor powders, extracts, and raw sucralose in bulk on Amazon will run you around $20, or ~$100 total for a decent assortment. It'll pay for itself in like a year and the powders will last you awhile.

[โ€“] gila@lemm.ee 4 points 2 weeks ago

Switch to a caffeine-free version some of the time, then all of the time. For Pepsi Max this is only available in the 1.5L bottles where I am, so add in an extra step switching from cans to bottles (which should also reduce cost/waste).

Buy a nice reusable water bottle and ensure you have a clean, not-bad-tasting source of fresh water to fill it with (where I am this means bottled or filtered). Keep it filled and close to you at all times. Only use water in it.

Once you're comfortable with these adjustments, taper off the fizzy drink. If you're still having significant trouble or cravings, or substitute for something worse: just keep drinking the fizzies. It's one of the least harmful bad habits you could have, and depending on your circumstances might be a best case scenario

[โ€“] Azal@pawb.social 4 points 2 weeks ago

Okay, I had trouble getting off of sodas, and everyone suggested fizzy water instead, and they all tasted nasty, like maybe the water sat in the room with the fruit maybe.

But this is the only time I'll ever say good about Walmart, their walmart branded carbonated waters are 99 cents a liter and taste amazing. The Fuji Apple one is the one I usually get and it tastes like a fizzy apple soda but doesn't have sugar.

Since I avoid walmart like the plague, I've learned to just drink water now. Tap water is my go to. But these things are like my guilty pleasure, which is a far cry better than the sugar drinks imo.

[โ€“] spark947@lemm.ee 4 points 1 week ago

I love being a seltzer guy. Hop water is pretty good too.

[โ€“] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

that's disgusting dude. try soda water. fucks sake

[โ€“] apotheotic 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

Chat is it frowned upon to drink beverages

[โ€“] nutsack@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago) (1 children)

i don't know if it's frowned upon to drink that much sugary garbage every day but it should be

[โ€“] apotheotic 3 points 2 weeks ago (3 children)

Its not sugary - he said Pepsi Max. And even if it was, get your judgemental ass out of here. OP literally posted this trying to get advice how to break the habit.

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[โ€“] daytonah@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

I did it, it started with not buying them and not including in any ordering of food, delivery or in restaurants. Step 1 was to replace it with sparking water and mixing a spoon or two of raw fruit reduction (no aded sugars or anything) (my wife kept doing this, while i did the cold turkey method i just coud not be bothered by this) Step 2 completely replace to sparkling water only. (i kinda jumped on this, but sometimes used to use my wife's made fruit reduction, or sometimes she bought that from a local store, and sometimes i just felt fancy so, there is a method for a drink and here is how it goes.: Step 3: Fancy option / only for special occasons (lol). You buy the sparkling water in botles, (for the 250ml) you add a tea bag in it and turn them upside down, and put it back in the fridge. Then 20 mins later, you can add agave syrup if you want a bit or honey. You can also add mint leaves, and just throw them in the bottle you are going to consume 30 mins later or next day. Combine things like this, and then you have a fancy drink in the dridge whenever needed. (i never left the tea bags more than an hour in the bottoles, i would always get rid of the tea bag and put the bottle in my edc bag when leaving the house or something).

[โ€“] Strayce@lemmy.sdf.org 3 points 2 weeks ago* (last edited 2 weeks ago)

Depends on the reason and what you find most motivating. Addiction is tricky and it's rarely just one thing. Caffeine is physically addictive but there's also psych and lifestyle aspects to it.

If it's about the caffeine, try switching to coffee or tea. If you want to go cold turkey, caffeine withdrawal peaks at about three days with symptoms lessening to minimal after about nine.

If it's a convenience thing, try keeping a water bottle on you and just drink that. If you find water too boring or your local water tastes bad, try it carbonated and/or with a twist of lemon or other fruit. I'd suggest avoiding places where they serve it, but that's near impossible. You could take note of what situation you're in when you tend to do it, and try to rejig your routine around that. You could also not keep it in the house; it's a lot easier to not put it on the shopping list than resist the temptation when it's right there. Then there's health and money. Of course you know they're not great for you so I'm not going to harp on that, but you could try focusing on it more (but try to frame it in a positive way; not "ugh soda is bad", but rather "hey drinking water is good!"), or give yourself a goal to save up for purely with what you save on soda.

[โ€“] undefined@lemmy.hogru.ch 3 points 2 weeks ago

This is tough, because I used to be there but I kind of grew out of. I just started drinking tons of water all the time and now if when I get thirsty I just crave water.

I do drink two iced pour over coffees in the mornings though. They seem to keep me going for most the day caffeine-wise, so thatโ€™s helped a bunch too.

[โ€“] NauticalNoodle@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

That's not that much, also are you sure it's a "fizzy drink" addiction or instead a sugar/sweets addiction? You could try swapping out the pepsi max with an unsweetened fizzy water like Perrier or La Croix and then eventually transitioning to regular water from there, but i'm betting it's the sweetness you are craving.

[โ€“] christian@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago

Soda hits a spot that sugary drinks without the fizz don't. It's why sodas taste awful when they've gone flat. If I buy one of those prepackaged sweet teas I can't handle it, the sweetness is somehow overpowering for me. Same goes for most juices.

For me, sugar really brings out the flavor in things though. The sugar in a soda works to enhance the flavor, while the carbonation offsets the strength of the sugar. If I water down a soda with seltzer it's okay, but it's much more bland, so much less enjoyable. It really is the combination of the two that works here.

With that said, I am pretty picky with my sodas (much like everything else I'm eating or drinking, unfortunately). Anything I don't enjoy much more than water I'll turn down. I like colas and birch beers and cream sodas, not so much orange/grape soda or sprite.

[โ€“] poopsmith@lemmy.ml 3 points 2 weeks ago (2 children)

The comments here are fucking wild.

Outside of the caffeine, thereโ€™s nothing inherently special about a fizzy drink habit that would make it remarkable from other habits when it comes to giving it up. So a guide like https://www.health.harvard.edu/blog/how-to-break-a-bad-habit-202205022736 could be useful.

[โ€“] pupbiru@aussie.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)

thatโ€™s rather untrue. sugar is actually very addictive, and the quantity in soft drinks (they have additives that make them actually palatable - without theyโ€™d be so sweet you couldnโ€™t drink much) makes them particularly problematic

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[โ€“] vacuumfountain@startrek.website 1 points 2 weeks ago (1 children)
[โ€“] poopsmith@lemmy.ml 2 points 1 week ago

Talk? No. Type? Yes. (written from my Lappy 486)

[โ€“] SocialMediaRefugee@lemmy.ml 2 points 2 weeks ago

Sugar free seltzer

[โ€“] djsoren19@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 weeks ago

My trick? Have severe stomach issues requiring you to cut sodas out completely, and then just cut them out. I quit full cold turkey, no more caffeine, nothing but drinking water for at least a year, and then I started with a couple teas.

[โ€“] apotheotic 2 points 2 weeks ago

I had to stop drinking carbonated beverages and caffeinated beverages at the advice of my voice trainer - and I kicked the habit by getting some fruit juice concentrate and drinking that (diluted in water obviously) when I was craving a fizzy drink. It didn't take long for me to stop craving them entirely, honestly. If its the fizzy part you crave, then add it to sparkling water instead. Good luck stranger.

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