It’s A Can Of Chemicals
Family, friends, and longtime readers know that I’ve struggled for decades with addiction to Diet Coke. Recent consultation with a behavioral psychologist has provided me with a powerful tool that is helping the process of defeating this addiction. After talking about it, looking at it from many sides, figuring out how I feel about it, and every other possible therapy session approach, we have finally hit upon one useful tool.
Call it what it is.
It’s a can of chemicals. It isn’t Diet Coke with a pretty bottle and stylish logo. It’s a can of chemicals that are doing bad things to me. Carbonated water, check, regular non-carbonated water is infinitely better. Caramel color, check, look at the color of your dumps with and without the caramel color. Aspartame, check, now we are on to the real culprit. Put a mentos in a bottle of regular carbonated water and it fizzes up a little bit. Put a mentos in a 2L of diet coke and it will shoot up 10-15 feet. Mythbusters tried this and isolated the aspartame as the culprit. Spend a few minutes looking up what aspartame is. It’s a horrible horrible chemical. Phosphoric acid, check, it’s an acid in a body that does better without the introduction of extra acid. Potassium benzoate (to protect taste), check, another chemical we don’t need. Natural flavors, okay, but how were they extracted and put into the can of chemicals. Citric acid, check, more acid. Caffeine, check, on its own, a little caffeine improves a lot of things, but in a can of chemicals its sole role is to addict you to the aspartame and other chemicals. You drink more and more, while getting more and more thirsty because you need more water than is in the can of chemicals to flush the nasty chemicals out of your system.
It’s a can of chemicals, and it’s ruled me for too long. I got addicted to the caffeine and aspartame, and along with other reasons, gained a LOT of weight. Removing the can of chemicals still isn’t easy, but calling it what it is provides the opportunity to derail the habit of reaching for the can of chemicals. When you see me, remind me it’s a can of chemicals.
Now, to figure out what to call C12H22O11 in the form of Hagen Daz and its equivalents.
I wonder what tomorrow’s WOD will be…
