A new healthy habit

A week or so ago I posted that I was planning to introduce a healthy habit each week. Ambitiously, I started week one with 3 different healthy habits. I am prepared to give myself a C+ for my first week - okay but could do far better. My water consumption is now right where it should be. I am hit and miss with the hot water and lemon (somehow I just forget some days!) and my 2 & 5 needs more consistency. 

This week I need to continue to focus on those 2 habits but I am also on a mission of sorts to rid my life of diet coke. I have been trying to write this post for days now. It seems harder and harder to find the time - something to do with an almost 3.5 year old (who is soooo ready for kinder, but that's another story!) and an  8 month old who is going through a catnap phase. But this afternoon I have hit the jackpot (sort of). Tuesday afternoon is when my son has his swimming lesson. Normally we go as a family and whilst it is a bit of a rush to get us all there and then back home (right at dinner time), it is fun. But today I have been given a leave pass and it's just myself and my (currently) napping baby. There are lots of other things I should be doing, you understand but right now, finally getting to do this post seemed far more important than the 'shoulds'.

I had read various things about the pure evil that is diet coke (and most diet soft drinks) but it was when I decided that I needed a break that I started to read more about it in terms of it being an 'addiction' of sorts (check out this article if you're interested. Now I haven't been a huge drinker of the stuff - a glass or can (sometimes 2 cans) a day. But the fact that it was daily seemed a bit excessive to me. I found numerous blogs of people who had or were trying to kick the addiction. Article after article threw around words like addictive, brain cancer, aspartame. I decided when my last can ran out, I would have a break. I knew (from diet drink breaks in the past) that there would be headaches - I thought I'd got lucky this time when I got to the 24 hour mark and there was no headache. Unfortunately it kicked in at around 25 hours! What I wasn't prepared for was my grumpiness and lack of tolerance for pretty much anyone or anything. And if I was shocked by my snappiness, I certainly wasn't prepared for the persistent cravings. All of a sudden I would think of diet coke and I kid you not, it was like I could almost taste it and the overwhelming urge to drink some would have been almost impossible to resist if there had been any in the house.

It's been 12 days now and I'm pleased to say I haven't caved in yet. In the last 12 days I've lost 1kg but have done less exercise than usual and haven't changed my eating. There is evidence that suggests diet softdrinks can actually hamper weight loss and while I don't know if this is 100% true, the chance that it may be true is enough for me at this stage! 

While I'm on the topic of weight loss and getting healthy, I'd like to give a big shout out to my pal Tamar from triumphovertastebuds. She's on the road to health, fitness and some serious weight loss. 

Till next time xx