How To Quit Your Sugary Drink Habit

Do you enjoy a nice, cool, refreshing soda more often than you'd like to admit? Do energy drinks help you combat that late-afternoon productivity slump at work, or do they make you feel better after you're done at the gym? In light of this new study, those sugary drinks may not sound all that good any more. The fact is, however, that sugar is quite addictive. The following tips should make it easier for you to switch to healthier beverages, such as plain water, unsweatened green tea, or home-made pure fruit juice. 

Think Of Your Sugary Drink Habit As A Serious Addiction

Or at least an addiction with potentially serious consequences — you don't want to be a statistic in the next study on this topic, do you? We know smoking, alcoholism, and ndrug use can kill. We also know that both overeating and starving ourselves can have very serious side effects, in the long term. Yet, if you have a sugary drink habit, you probably think of it as just a little guilty pleasure. As this study showed all too clearly, heavy sugary drink consumption can indeed kill you, just like cigarettes or alcohol. The good news, however, is that giving up your soda or energy drink habit is going to be a whole lot easier than quitting either of those two. Yes, you'll probably go throygh a mild form of physical and mental withdrawal, but soon you'll feel better, and look better.

Think Of The Money You'll Save

Sugary drinks are hardly cheap, and American households spent a whopping $14.3 billion on them in 2013 alone. Every time you want a sugary drink, put the money you would have spent aside, and see what the total comes to at the end of the week or at the end of the month. This advie is often given to smokers who are in the process of quitting, but it will work for soda addicts all the same.

Sit Down And Calculate How Many Of Your Calories Come From Sugary Drinks

This one speaks for itself. You need to look at how many sodas, energy drinks, and ice teas you tend to drink every day, on average. Then, look up how many calories the specific drinks you regularly consume contain, and add up the total. You may just be shocked. Are you overweight? In that case, quitting your sugary drink habit will make the pounds melt away if you really drink a lot, without even doing anything else, like exercising or dieting. 

READ Doctors Warn About Energy Drink Risks, But Americans Are Chugging Them Like Never Before

If you are not overweight but are, in fact, using energy drinks and sodas as a convenient way to replace meals and still get the energy you need, you are also doing very serious damage to your health. Commit to eating well instead of grabbing energy drinks, and you will start noticing you have a lot more energy very quickly.