Don’t you hate it when Richard Simmons is right?

About ten years ago, I was taking a break in my highly stressful job as night crew stockperson at a major retail store.  This means I worked from 9pm to 7am — longer during the holiday season.  Richard Simmons was on David Letterman during this memorable break time.  Simmons revealed he lost ten pounds just by cutting all soda out of his diet.  Now, working a graveyard shift, I had to drink about three liters of caffeinated cola per day just to stay awake on the job.  Plus, I liked the taste.  I said, "Ah, Richard, what a sap!"

Ten years later, I bow to the wisdom of Richard Simmons. (I’d thought I’d be run over by aardvarks before I typed that).  Not only will you have less weight, you will less stress with less soda consumption.  You will also find that you will have more energy for dealing with what you need to get done.

What’s In A Name

In order to begin drinking less soda for less stress, you need to know what I’m talking about.  "Soda" is what I grew up calling the heavily sweetened carbonated beverages that are all around us.  In other parts of the world, this drink is called "soda pop", "pop", "fizzy drinks" and "soft drinks."  I am also including diet sodas in this bunch as well as any non-caffeinated carbonated drinks like root beer or orange soda.

I’m not saying all sodas should be banned.  I still drink a glass as a treat about once or twice a year.  But drinking three liters a day like I did a decade ago is NOT RECOMMENDED.  I was constantly tired, nervous, couldn’t stick to a task and wondered why I wasn’t getting much sleep.  I also have bad depression, which can cause all of those symptoms, but the soda seemed to intensify them.  This effect was not known when I was a child in the 1970’s, or else I doubt my parents would have let me drink the stuff.

Cold Turkey

Immediately after I typed "cold turkey", I suddenly realized that there is an alcoholic beverage called just that.  Please do NOT substitute alcohol for soda.  That is not the way to go about drinking less soda for less stress in your life.  Like alcohol, you will have some withdrawal symptoms — but not as bad as alcohol withdrawal.  You could curve off of the soda gradually, but eventually will come the day when you don’t drink any at all.  The withdrawal symptoms will be worse if the sodas you usually drink were caffeinated.

Like alcohol, soda puts on calories with no nutritional value whatsoever.  This makes you fat, which can lead to you experiencing even more stress.  They also really dehydrate your body, making you urinate more than your fluid intake.  Dehydration can also leave you tired, dazed, stressed and irritable. Here are some words of encouragement from others who want to drink less soda for less stress.

Drink water, herbal teas, fruit juices or milk instead.  Even powdered lemonade is better for you than soda.  It will take a month or more for the good effects to kick in, so stick with it.  You’ll be glad you did.  Hopefully, you won’t take nearly ten years to figure that out.

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