Things you don’t expect to happen in your 30s: lattes are the new Pepsi

Dude, this is an actual thing? So wrong.

 I’ve given up pop. Yes, again. I do this every so often, but I always go back to it. I just love the stuff, but I’m slowly learning to accept how bad it really is for my health. I would usually drink diet, which is calorie-free and nutritionally void, but the growing research that suggests aspartame induces the same physiological response that sugar does (insulin production, fat storage) makes sense to me. Also, all that cancer in the lab rats is disconcerting. Not that I’d ever drink enough to reach those levels, but still. And yes, I myself have used the argument that “everything gives you cancer” which is probably true, but if I eliminate one source then maybe I’ll get less cancer? Whatever, I’m giving up pop and you can’t stop me.   

 I’m going on six weeks and I don’t miss it. I think this is in part because I gave it up at the same time that I embarked on a caffeine-free experiment. For 5 weeks (arbitrarily picked) I didn’t have any coffee, tea, or pop. I find that I missed the coffee and tea way more than I missed the pop. I think lattes are my new Pepsi. I attempted this because someone I know was raving about how they stopped drinking coffee and they felt so awesome because of it. I felt no different after 5 weeks. I think they were a heavy coffee drinker beforehand. I’m more of a 5-cups-a-week person as opposed to a 5-cups-a-day person. I don’t think my average daily caffeine intake affects me enough for me to notice a difference in its absence. Long story short, I’m back on coffee and tea. I’m still off the pop, though. 

My apologies to anyone who read this post thinking it might be interesting.