Wednesday, October 27, 2010

Good Bye, Fizzy Lover

I have to break up with Diet Pepsi. I don't want to. I love it. This isn't for me though, it's for Meg.

Diet Pepsi has always been there for me -- cold, crisp, bubbly, and slightly burny. I love the feel of a can in my hand. I love the sound the pop top makes when I open the first one of the day. I love swallowing the last sip of my first can, and chasing it immediately with the first sip of my second. I love unexpectedly discovering that the can is not as empty as I thought it was. I mourn when I discover the can is empty and I've had my two for the day. I feel a slight pain when I hear someone else open one after that.

I know, it's sick, but it's love.

I have tried to break up with Diet Pepsi before. I have tried to give it up for weight loss reasons. I have tried to give it up for brittle bone reasons. I have tried to give it up because on the rare (or not so rare) days that I have more than two, I end up having six and feeling like a cracked out squirrel. Most recently I tried to give it up because Nutrasweet may be linked to depression. Every time, though, I have come thirstily slinking back.

I gave Meg her first taste of the sweet, sweet nectar about two weeks ago. Like all Moms, I share most things with her. If I am eating or drinking something, she can have some. I figured she would taste the Diet Pepsi, and spit it out, since until that moment the thing she hated more than shots, or having her nose wiped, was carbonation. How wrong I was. There was something about the wonderfulness of the Pepsi though, coupled with it's low calorie magic, that overcame her aversion to bubbles. I looked into her eyes -- and saw the addiction being born. This afternoon was the last straw. I had gotten a Diet Pepsi at the store and pulled it out of the grocery bag to drink in the car. Meg, still sitting in the grocery cart, grabbed her pacifier out of her mouth, tossed it on the ground, and lurched for the bottle. She looked a little rabid.

So, now I have to let my beloved soda go. I don't know how I am going to do it. I just know I have to. After all, I can be fat, have bones that break in a strong wind, and deal with depression. Meg can't. She deserves better.

I hope she likes ice tea.

24 comments:

Anonymous said...

You won't be sorry! You also won't believe how gross it tastes once you haven't had any in awhile. You can do it!!!

Ash said...

like mother - like daughter. hope you succeed in your quest :)

Dr. Monkey Hussein Monkerstein said...

Pomegranate seltzer.

Scribe said...

Oh Libby. How I would mourn the loss. Diet Pepsi is the bomb, but I can see why you'd want to give it up. I have one pop a day but sometimes I think it's one too many given all the reports.

I do know a girl who beat a box of Coke cans with a shoe when she spied that lovely red box. She was only two and realized the treasure it contained.

Good luck, Libby. I'll be rooting for you and for Meg.

msprimadonna67 said...

Hubby kicked the habit a little over a year ago. He's a better man than I am, cuz that just made me think, "Hey--more Diet Pepsi for me!"

Deidra said...

Aww...Diet Pepsi is amazing...

Anonymous said...

It's difficult. I broke up with it almost two years ago. I sometimes want to write letters telling it I miss it....

Kim said...

Soon you will be meeting Diet Pepsi in the hall closet while your in-laws are eating turkey in the other room. Or in some seedy, dirty bathroom by a bus station...

MJenks said...

You don't have to give it up. You can just sneak it on the sly so that she doesn't know. Later in life, when she asks, you can just do the "What? No! Never!" game.

Me, You, or Ellie said...

One word: seltzer.

(Okay, another: unflavored).

Ellie

Samantha said...

Good luck to you.

Me, I have a serious Coke problem. The full-strength stuff. I get weak in the knees when I see one being poured into a glass.

And to this day, Jarrah calls it "spicy coffee." Because that's what I told her it is. How long can I keep the secret??

Jen said...

Oh, I know this one. I gave up coffee.

BugginWord said...

Oh how I still pine for that sweet, sweet nectar of the gods. But I have to admit I feel better without it. Most days.

Amanda said...

Quitters never win - but it does mean that your daughter can come join the real team - team Diet Coke. It tastes better than Diet Pepsi. Mmmm... aspartame!

VEG said...

I don't know man. I feel for you, really I do. I can't possibly be strong enough to break up with it. It's sometimes the only thing to look forward to in a mad day. And its bubbly burny sensation you mentioned? It's genius. I love it. I want it. I need it. It's my bitch.

But you? I applaud you.

justmakingourway said...

Isn't it crazy how fast they glom onto stuff you really don't want them to?

I'm trying to break up with Diet Coke right now. It's not going well.

G. B. Miller said...

Never!

I still need my weekly dose of Diet Pepsi (diabetic) if I am to survive the weekly onslaught of "intelligent" co-workers (state guv'ment).

But seriously, I can definitely understand your concerns about Meg getting hooked at such an early age to the carbonated fizz. Wish I never did that to my kids until they hit double digits in age, as opposed to doing at the tender age of 5.

Riot Kitty said...

I ended the love affair w/Diet Coke a couple of years ago...I had to cut way, way back on the caffeine. I have one a couple of times a month now. And LOVE it!

Anonymous said...

Blaaaaaaah, I really don't like the carbonation. I even let my beer sit and air for a few minutes before I'll drink it!

Duffmano said...

I too am saddened by my dependency on the cool dark drink of Satan. So saddened in fact that I sneak off behind my garage to dump it into my thirsty maw before the kids can see me and take me out with a full body tackle in order to steal it and drink from the forbidden plastic goblet themselves.

Granny Annie said...

Well I must brag that I never have been a pop drinker,not even diet soda. I'll stick to scotch:) LOL

Mandy_Fish said...

You would have to pry the Diet Root Beer from my cold dead hands.

Three Cats and a Baby said...

I figure I have a few months left before many things like that need to change....eek.

Daniel said...

What? No... you shouldn't have to give it up completely. Not that I'm endorsing that you keep drinking it. I personally can't stomach diet drinks... I need the full-fledged calories. Although, I should quick my carbonated beverages.

Just do what my mom did, and hide it in one of those 64oz 7-11 Plastic Travel Beverage Mugs. Tell everyone it's vodka. Just like my Mom used to do. I stopped trying to swipe drinks from her. Probably because she actually had her 64oz 7-11 Plastic Travel Beverage Mug filled with vodka. And iced tea.

"No, it's alright... the iced tea, it's a diuretic... so it makes the booze okay... they offset each other... somehow," she'd tell us.

Ah, Mom.