Monday, July 09, 2007

Shaking a bad habit, or at least trying!

Seven months into my last pregnancy, I began to crave Cherry Cokes from Sonic (sweet nectar of the gods!). My developing fetus was bombarded with food coloring, carbonation and caffeine every afternoon for the duration of her stay in my womb! In fact, by the time she was born I was so addicted that the first thing I asked for on my way out of the hospital was a Cherry Coke from Sonic. And so the trend has continued. Granted, I can't afford my Sonic Cherry Coke habit, so I settle for Coke Classic in cans here at home. It gets me the caffeine and it still tastes pretty good. It has been an integral factor in my motivation to work on home improvement projects! I wasn't always like this. In fact, before that craving kicked in, I very rarely drank carbonated beverages of any sort. I'm usually more of a tea, water and milk kinda girl! But I am now in the grips of a full blown Coke addiction and I need to shake it... BAD!

Saturday afternoon was my last Cherry Coke at Sonic. I savored every last little drop! Needless to say, the rest of Saturday was fine. I had my good afternoon buzz and life was swell. Then Sunday afternoon came around and that old familiar feeling hit. The need for a good caffeine rush! I was out running some errands and thought, well, it wouldn't hurt anything if I just grabbed a coke out of the cooler at Lowe's and drank it while finishing up my business. They only had Gatorade and water. You know, if I had just bought the water, life might not have sucked as bad, but I was pouting. On the way home I had to stop at Walgreens so I figured I'd pick up a cold one while I was there. Imagine my dismay when I found that the Coke cooler had only Vanilla Coke, Diet Vanilla Coke and Diet Cherry Coke. I'm sorry, but I'm a purist, I will only consume a flavored coke if it is a flavored FOUNTAIN coke, these imposters in a can just won't do! So I left without a coke. It seems I was not destined to consume a Coke yesterday, some weird karmic quirk to keep me on the wagon. Once I got home I was on the edge! I wanted that coke so bad I could hardly stand it! And if my craving wasn't bad enough, my hubby went out to the garage fridge and cracked open a Diet Coke in the other room. I heard the tab pop and I all but lost my freakin' mind! When I yelled at him, he smiled, held up his Diet Coke to offer me "cheers" and then said I was more than welcome to help myself to a Diet Coke. Curse that EVIL, EVIL man!

So, I made it through the afternoon and last night. I am fine now as I have just downed an ENORMOUS cup of English Tea. But I am dreading the afternoon. I better make a pitcher of iced tea (my methadone for caffeine addiction!), it's not as satisfying, but I'm hoping it will get me through the day. I figure if I can make it a week without a coke, I'm home free! Unfortunately, my poor little boy will be going through withdrawals with me, as addicted as I am to Cherry Coke, he is to oceanwater and Cherry Limeades! So if you see a frazzled mom with a twitching eye and a deranged 5 y.o., just stand back and try not to get in the way, we can't take responsibility for our actions at this time!

4 comments:

past prime said...

If you can remember back that far, there used to be a TV show starring Danny Thomas (Marlo is his daughter). It was sponsored by Folger's coffee. When Folger's came out with decaffeinated coffee, they wanted him to advertise it on the show. He told them that he drank coffee with caffeine and even had a cup at night before bedtime and slept like a baby. To him, caffeine was nothing. It is the same with me. In the Air Force, I would have cup after cup of coffee and want to nap a lot of the time. I still drink caffeinated coffee in large amounts and have no misgivings or physical disabilities. It is something I cannot understand. Even Daren has problems with caffeine making him very nervous. I guess it is in the genes.

Little Mama said...

It's really not the caffeine I have a problem with. I like the boost in the afternoons, however, it is the other nasty stuff they have in cokes specifically. Caffeine in coffee or tea for is so much less noxious. I just got used to the sugar, the carbonation, the flavor. I still want the caffeine, but just in a less toxic form.

Ginny said...

I had a friend who was severely addicted to diet coke. I always wondered what they put in that stuff that was so addictive. I don't think it was the caffeine per say, but could be wrong.

Sean Wright said...

I drink close to 2 litres a day of coke zero. I have tried kicking the caffine addiction it worked for several months then I fell off the wagon.