13 Ways To Stop Drinking Soda For Good

13 Ways To Stop Drinking Soda For Good 

You know soda's not exactly good for you -- but at the same time, it can be hard to resist. Its sweet taste, pleasant fizz and energizing jolt often seems like just what you need to wash down your dinner, get you through an afternoon slump or quench your thirst at the movies.

But the more soda you consume (regular or diet), the more hazardous your habit can become. And whether you're a six-pack-a-day drinker or an occasional soft-drink sipper, cutting back can likely have benefits for your weight and your overall health.

The biggest risk for regular soda drinkers is the excess calories, says Lona Sandon, RD, assistant professor of clinical nutrition at the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center. "The calories in regular soda are coming entirely from added sugar, and you're not getting any value in terms of vitamins or minerals, or even good quality carbohydrates," she says.

But soda may also be causing other types of harm. Studies have shown that its consumption is linked with tooth decay and diabetes, and it also seems to be bad for your bones. "It may have something to do with the phosphorus in soda, or it could be that people are drinking soda instead of other beverages -- like milk -- that have nutrients necessary for healthy bones," Sandon says.

Sugar-free sodas may not have any calories, but that doesn't mean they're any good for you. In fact, they may not even help you lose weight. (Research on this topic has been mixed, at best, but several studies have shown that diet soda drinkers are more likely to be overweight or obese than regular soda drinkers.)

Plus, diet drinks have many of the same health risks as regular soft drinks, including tooth decay and bone thinning, and they've also been linked to heart disease and depression in women. Switching to diet sodas may be a smart first step if you're trying to eliminate excess calories, says Sandon, but your best bet is to eventually give them up, too.

Here's how to make the transition easier.

Wean yourself off slowly.

That news may be enough to convince you that you should stop drinking soda, but it could still be easier said than done. "People really can become addicted to soda, so you have to be a realist and not an idealist," says nutritionist Stefanie Sacks, author of the forthcoming book What the Fork Are You Eating?. "I don't recommend going cold turkey; you need to wean yourself off, just like you would anything you've become dependent on."

If you typically drink multiple servings of soda a day, Sacks suggests first cutting back to one a day. Give that two weeks, then switch to three sodas a week. "It gives you a chance to adjust gradually, which should lead to real, sustainable change," says Sacks.

Mix it with water.

Sandon also recommends weaning yourself slowly off soda, and sometimes suggests that her clients start drinking half-soda, half-water. "You're automatically drinking less and hydrating and filling up with water, which is a good thing," she says.

But there's an added advantage, as well: "It cuts back on the sweetness you get from soda, which is one of the things people get really used to. If you're drinking less sugar, your taste buds will change and soon you won't need that sweetness anymore."

Do the exercise math.

Another way to quantify the calories you're drinking is by thinking about how much exercise it would take to burn them off. In a 2014 Johns Hopkins University study, researchers placed signs in corner stores stating that a 20-ounce bottle of soda would take 5 miles of walking or 50 minutes of jogging to burn off.

These "advertisements" worked: When teenager customers saw these signs, they were more likely to buy a smaller soda, a water, or no drink at all. "When you explain calories in an easily understandable way such as how many miles of walking needed to burn them off, you can encourage behavior change,” said the study authors.

Switch to unsweetened tea.

Need that jolt of caffeine to wake up in the morning? If you're not a coffee drinker, Sandon suggests sipping on unsweetened iced tea instead. "It can be just as refreshing, and there are real health benefits to drinking the phytochemicals in tea," she says.

If you don't like the taste of plain tea, mix in some lemon, mint, or a small amount of sugar or artificial sweetener -- at least during your transition-from-soda phase. The important thing is that you're aware of, and in charge of, exactly what's going into your drink and how much is added.