I'm coming up on two weeks of aspartame-freedom. It is not quite awesome, but definitely getting there. So, a few things that sort of helped me get to this point:
1. Don't try to give up caffeine entirely, or at least don't do it cold turkey. (Especially those of you with demanding lives-- ahem, Erin.) Trying to limit this over time is a good idea, though. I'm not a medical expert nor do I have extensive experience in medical research, but I do know what it's like to get headaches, and I'm certain that caffeine plays a role.
2. Find some tasty alternatives. I really like pop/soda, and the unique mouth-feel of carbonation is probably part of what drew me in to the DC beast in the first place. I like those Izze drinks-- they have a lot of juice in them, no high-fructose corn syrup, and only one ingredient that gave me any pause. (It says "natural flavor", so who the F knows that that actually is.) I found a great microbrew root beer called Virgil's. It's DELICIOUS, and the ingredient list is agreeable. Of course, it has sugar in it, but it's actual sugar, not some frankensugar. [By the way, I need to get a pet and name it "Frankensugar". Good note to self.] The flavor profile is pretty complex, too, so it's more satisfying, enjoyable, whatever. You won't want to drink bottles and bottles of it, like you could/would with Diet Coke. Some other things I like: unsweetened iced tea, maybe with a little juice added in, iced coffee with some vanilla soy milk, or really good ice-cold beer (my two current favorites are Atwater's D-Light, a kolsch-style beer-- whatever that means-- and Warsteiner Dunkel).
The articles that urge replacing DC with water are bogus-- water doesn't get the job done, or at least it doesn't for me quite yet. But when you're detoxing from anything, I've read that it's a good idea to drink plenty of it. I follow that advice, but water isn't a replacement per se.
3. Have some ibuprofen on hand. I had insane headaches BUT when I first began the detox, I was also abstaining from caffeine. (BFF Katie nixed this idea in favor of a slow step-down. I think her words were "You don't need to suffer". God bless BFF Katie.) There was one point where I took one extra-strength acetaminophen in addition to two ibuprofen tablets, and that seemed to work. This seems extreme and sort of an unnecessary, but BFF Katie insists that the two can be used together.
I hope these tips help. It got significantly easier after day 4, and then again after maybe a week. It's just the initial few days that suck. Not impossible, not torture, just some regular-grade suckage. And if you get tripped up or tempted or whatever, just keep in mind how awful DC really is for you. There are a ton of websites that attest to it, some of which actually rely on hard science.
Best wishes!
Dana, thanks for the advice and encouragement. How interesting that I opened CNN.com this morning and found this little nugget-- hope you can work the link. If not, just look for "diet soda" on Cnn.:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.cnn.com/2011/HEALTH/03/01/diet.soda.health/index.html?eref=mrss_igoogle_cnn#