How to Quit Drinking Soft Drinks

Giving up soft drinks is beneficial for your waistline, teeth, budget and overall health. Costing an average of 80 cents a soda, the typical 12-oz. serving adds about 155 calories to your daily intake. Even drinking diet soda isn't much healthier for you. High in sodium and artificial sweeteners, diet sodas still put strain on your kidneys, alter your blood sugar levels and eat away tooth enamel. Give up these drinks, one step at a time.

Things You'll Need

• Water
• Reusable water bottle
• Herbal tea bags
• Lemons and limes

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Instructions

• 1

  Write down every soft drink you consume for one week, noting at what time of day you drink it. At the end of seven days, add up the number of drinks.

• 2

  Look at the number of drinks and when you had them. Recall whether there were other choices available to you at the time. Keep all this data on hand---you'll want to refer to it later if you feel like falling off the wagon.

• 3

  Water quenches your thirst

  On the first day you begin your new, soda-free lifestyle, fill up your water bottle with water and tuck some herbal tea bags into your purse or briefcase. These ready choices will help when you want a soft drink.

• 4

  A cup of tea can be a nice midday pick-me-up.

  Drink water all day long, even if you're not particularly thirsty. If it tastes bland to you at first, squeeze a little lemon or lime juice into it. If you tire of water halfway through the day, brew some herbal tea for a change.

• 5

  Find other "treat" drinks when water and tea just won't cut it. Avoid high-sugar drinks, such as fruit juice or fattening coffee drinks. Pick up options such as green vegetable juices, seltzer water (add your own lemon or lime) or low-sugar yogurt smoothies.

• 6

  Weigh yourself after two weeks.

  Weigh yourself after two weeks of your soda-free lifestyle. Take out your sheet of soda data that you made earlier in your journey, and note how many calories you've cut and how much money you've not spent.

• 7

  Continue with water, tea and other drink alternatives for another two to three weeks. Within four weeks, your cravings for soft drinks will decrease dramatically, and you'll begin to automatically crave and reach for water and healthier options when you're thirsty.