This past week or so I decided to give up soda, or pop if you prefer. I felt like I was drinking it too frequently and my younger daughter always gives me grief about it at restaurants so clearly I must have been. Plus, how can I set a healthy example for my daughters if I'm making crappy choices like drinking soda (or beer) everytime we eat out. You'll notice I haven't give up beer (yet) but that might be in the works. We'll see how I do with this soda thing.
Honestly, I don't think it will be that difficult. There aren't many soda's I like and the few that I do seem to have a bad impact on my digestive system and I end up regretting the decision to drink them anyway. The tricky thing is the water here tastes bad. I mean really really bad. It is palatable if I put lemon in it but typically when the waiter brings a refill they don't bring additional lemon so my second or third cup ends up tasting nasty.
I actually picked an awkward week to stop drinking soda. On monday I went to a local calzone joint and I burnt the roof of my mouth worse than I've ever burnt it before. It still hurts and it's thursday afternoon! Sure, I could drink water all the time but it doesn't do a whole lot to get my cylinders firing so in the morning I'll often drink a nice hot tea (earl gray latte to be exact). I just started making my own latte's last week but, after burning my mouth I can't drink anything that is hotter than lukewarm. That just leaves me with water and, quite frankly, it just isn't that inspiring all the time. For instance, right now - I'm sleepy and really need some kind of kick in the ass. Well, a brisk glass of cold water just isn't cutting it. Oh well, c'est la vie. At least next week my mouth should feel fine and I can retreat to tea again.
I guess I should expand on the beer part of this post too. I don't see me cutting it out of my life completely; I like the taste, I enjoy making it with my friends, and I like finding and trying new beers to much to totally just excorcize the beverage completely. However, I am going to cut back - specifically I'm going to stop having it when we eat out. I might still have a drink on occassion when I'm out with friends, but for a while it was becoming my drink of choice when we ate out - that's going to stop. I am also going to cut back on how much I drink at home; I am not sure I'm setting a very healthy example for my daughters in terms of defining a good relationship to have with alchohol in general. I really don't want my daughters growing up thinking I'm some kind of drunk and I especially don't want either of them to end up with alcohol problems.
So there you have it - a sort of early October new years resolution. Good bye soda pop good bye.