Notice: Diet_cola Anonymous Meeting Network

In another thread, I made reference to my Diet cola addiction.

I soon found out that many other flashaholics are similarly cross-addicted ... to both flashlights and cola (which I call pop!).

As you know, cross addictions are often harder to cure than single addictions (ask any Betty Ford graduate).

In the other thread, some nay-sayers started down the "aspartame (Nutrasweet) is going to kill you" route. Others countered "only if you drink 12 cans a day."

Well, guys, I'm here to tell you that on a good day, 12 cans is a mere drop in my consumption bucket ... and speaking of buckets ... would I have to count the countless times I stop at gas stations to refill my 44 ounces refill cup each day?

I love diet pop! And I don't plan on giving it up until they pry my dead cold fingers off that ice-cold can!

Oh sure, some of you sissy pop-drinkers might want to form a Diet_cola Anonymous Meeting Network (DAMN).

But, I don't plan on attending a DAMN meeting, ok?

That's just the way it is.

I drink two cans of pop before I even get out of bed in the morning! My lovely and loving wife brings them to me when she gets up to let the dog out.

I've been addicted to pop since the earliest days of computer programming, when connected via primative modems, I stayed up for days on end with other DOS programming junkies trying to perfect each snippet of code.

Now, I know, Windows programmers now prefer double Latte's and other women's drinks.

But, give me a frosty, foaming diet cola. I savor pop like fine wine, swirling a sip over my tongue, feeling the bubbles.

If you are of a like mind, please respond with details of how you enjoy your cross addiction to flashlights and diet pop.

If you are going to try to rain on my diet pop parade, please don't post.

I'm not going to any DAMN meeting, ok?

I guess it's time to come out of the closet... I'm addicted to Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale. And if I can find the Diet Cranberry Ginger Ale, I snatch it off the shelf as if it's going to be made illegal tomorrow. (the cranberry ginger ale is great with vodka... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif )... But I digress... I've tried the other diet pops and none of them as inspired me to go out and buy more. But diet ginger ale... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon23.gif I limit myself to two a day. One has to be before I go to bed. I fill my giant CocaCola glass with ice and then pour in one can of diet ginger ale and take it to bed with me as I watch Letterman.

Hey... I quit smoking... I gotta have something evil in my life... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

It's not diet, but I've been known to drive to Tennesse (from Michigan) just to pick up a few cases of Cherry Sundrop.

For those of you unfamiliar with this lovely soda and can't find it at the grocery store, it's basically like Squirt with grenadine, only caffinated.

D.D.P. baby! I have cut back to 3-4 a week over the last year. I get a 64oz iced tea delivered to my office every day (unsweet)

Sasha, I also have a Ginger Ale problem /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I actually prefer the raspberry to the cranberry, but I'll drink that too. My absolute favorite flavor was their "Dry Grape Ginger-ale" it was awesome. But I can't find it anywhere anymore /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/frown.gif

I drink the full sugared variety though, even with my sedentary computer programmers lifestyle I can't force myself to drink diet pop. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

4 to 8 cans of diet coke a day

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James S said:
I drink the full sugared variety though, even with my sedentary computer programmers lifestyle I can't force myself to drink diet pop. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

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Same here! I can't stand the Nutrasweet taste... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/thumbsdown.gif

I drink Squirt whenever I get the urge for something fizzy & caffeine-free or when I need to wash down the Pringles. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/grin.gif
Otherwise I drink Folgers coffee with milk, Minute Made products, Hawaiian Punch, and big-*** bottles of V8, with the occasional drinkage of Moutain Dew, Pepsi, and Pepsi Blue. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif

I too can't stand the taste of Nutrasweet or saccharin.
The only "sugar free" or diet pop I can hack is Fresca. /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif

Oooo, you're making me thirsty, I also love Squirt! I haven't had any in a long time though... Perhaps a trip to the grocery store today. I don't eat prigles anymore, too bad for me, but I do get a can for long car trips /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

I love the spicy hot V8 juice. It's quite yummy. I need some more of that too.

I can't drink Moutain Dew anymore at all though. I have a very strong imprint from using it to stay awake in college. So I get sick and halve flashbacks to all-nighters when I drink it...

I used to be a Diet Dr. Pepper drinker, until I discovered Diet Cherry Coke!

Very nice.

However, I used to suck back many many of those a day, now I have 2-3 a week.

Sasha, the diet cranberry ginger ale and vodka sounds good! I am on the wagon for 3 months (self imposed, trying to loose some weight - still have 2 months to go), and I am already planning my "first drink"!

For you caffeine lovers, check this out:


WATER JOE!
http://www.waterjoe.com/main.html

Good Stuff! Tastes EXACTLY like regular bottled water, but has caffeine in it. Absolutely NO bitter taste at all, tastes like any other good quality bottled water.

AND, if you need even MORE CAFFEINE,


That's right, caffeine SOAP!

If you want Mints, gum, drinks, soap, and probably anything else that has caffeine, check out thinkgeek:
http://www.thinkgeek.com/caffeine/

They have no less then 37 different products with caffeine!

I used to make Cuban coffee (like espresso, with a different flavor. Usually Cubans drink a shot of it with a bloody teaspoon of sugar!) with water joe and drink 8 shots of it or so at a time. Do that for long enough and you can see through time!

Cuban Coffee made WITH Water Joe?

See through time is RIGHT!

I remember a recipie for hacker coffe which was to warm jolt cola in a pan and then add freeze dried espresso to it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

Personally though, I don't think I could handle that. I've been cutting down on my intake of it. Not for any real reason, but now when I do go out and sip a venti espresso, it really heightens my awareness. When I was doing it every day it did nothing for me anymore.

Same with me.

Years ago, in college and just after, I drank MANY DIET COKES a day, just to feel normal. Drinking more, gave me the jitters, but did not wake me up.

I stopped, cold turkey, and for one week, I could have fallen asleep at the drop of a hat.

Ever since then,(15-20 years or so) a cup of coffee or whatever DOES wake me up, but no jittering!

>>One has to be before I go to bed

Sasha, my wife has to have a diet ginger ale before bed too! Says it helps her sleep!

I'll take a diet 7-up or two at bedtime.

Interesting.

I've grown up with the theory that ginger ale helps to settle the stomach. Don't know if that's true today with all of the artificial this and that in everything but I know that yes, I do sleep better if I've had my diet ginger ale... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

I try not to drink any more than 2 cokes a day (during the week anyway) or I don't sleep well at night. Of course having a 5 month old in the house is the equivalent of drinking 10 Cokes (good bye full nights rest). So seeing as I'm not getting sleep anyway, I might as well start drinking a few more to help me get through the day.

Side note: For anyone who can travel across the border, you need to try Coke made in Canada. We still use good old fashioned sugar as a sweetener, not the "High fructose corn syrup and/or sucrose" that you find down there. You'll get to taste what the original Coke (bottled variety of course) was like before high sugar prices forced Coke to switch. You can really taste the difference.

colas. brothers and sisters! i speak of the demon drink! yay-ah. "Listen. The sound of Coke. Mmm. Dark and bubbly." [1] pray with me! pray for more flavors of cola! cherry! lemon! lime! yay-ah. CHOCOLATE.
[1]Eric roberts as "becker" in _the coca cola kid")
http://origin.mgm.com/title_clip.do?title_star=COCACOLA

well, that last one, back when they had soda fountains in the old fashioned way, people were into mixing stuff. my mom did this as a child. put a squirt of herseys (or other) chocolate syrup into a coke. divine.

after getting up to 285 lbs, and getting down back to 199 and putting on some muscle since then, i don't drink the devlish sugar stuff, esp cornsyrup *ESP* the most evil HFCS (HIGH Fructose Corn Syrup). no sir-eee bob. i'm an avid Atkinite now (Dr Atkins). oh yeah. fit as a fiddle.

but i still love colas and soda and bubbles and sweet. which means, alas, diet products with aspartame/nutrasweet, sodium saccharin, and splenda/sucralose.

i confess. i drink gallons of the stuff. colas. when it's not colas, it's kool-aid without the sugar added (just packets and water, like Ghod intended), and iced tea (no sugar), and sugar free redbull and ... yeah man.

regionalisms:
in texas, apparently, they ask you if you "want a coke". when you say "yes", they ask "what kind?" and they mean, would would like a pepsi coke, an orange coke, a rootbeer coke... seems coke is conflated to mean any kinda of bubbly soda stuff.

in the east coast (mostly), you get: pop, tonic, soda.

i've heard a couple others, but i can't recall them.

hmmmm, cola...

[ QUOTE ]
James S said:
I remember a recipie for hacker coffe which was to warm jolt cola in a pan and then add freeze dried espresso to it /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/wink.gif

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That sounds positively YUCKY!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/icon15.gif
I'd rather just pop some No-Doz or Viviran and be done with it!!! /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif
Jolt cola by itself has a bitter taste to it (the caffeine?) but I couldn't imagine heating that crap in a pot and adding espresso to it to boot.
:yucky: :ick: :ralf_in_a_toliet: :ralf_in_a_urinator: :ralf_in_a_sink: :ralf_in_a_garbage_can:

[ QUOTE ]
Sasha said:
I've grown up with the theory that ginger ale helps to settle the stomach. Don't know if that's true today with all of the artificial this and that in everything but I know that yes, I do sleep better if I've had my diet ginger ale... /ubbthreads/images/graemlins/sleepy.gif

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We had to add Ginger Ale and Diet ginger Ale to our patient Menus at St. Luke's in Houston, because of this popular belief. There is no real evidence to confirm or deny this, but this is a general belief.