I switched out my daily Diet Coke for two weeks and DAMN I never knew my skin could look this good

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I switched out my daily Diet Coke for two weeks and DAMN I never knew my skin could look this good

I feel like a new woman

I like to think I eat pretty healthily. I mean, besides the massive order of waffle fries I devoured last night, but hey, I never said I was perfect. However, I will admit that I have one daily vice and that is Diet Coke.

Ugh, I know soda isn’t supposed to be that good for you and diet soda is apparently even worse but, I just cannot help myself around 3pm — I hit that wall of exhaustion and I craaaaave it. Like, I’m pretty sure I could write Shakespearean love sonnets about the way I feel about Diet Coke. I won’t, but I def could.

An expert opinion

So I reached out to Dietitian Maria Bella to find out how bad Diet Coke actually was. She told babe that there are definitely some potential negatives that can come from drinking diet sodas. There’s the fairly obvious stuff like tooth decay. She explained that giving up Diet Coke could be damaging to your kidneys, plus drinking non-carbonated beverages will decrease bloating. I constantly complain about being bloated so…maybe it’s time to cut back?

So in the interest of my health and wellbeing, and to get my mom off my back, I decided to give UP all soda (including mixed into drinks – help!) for two weeks and see if I could survive.

Hint Water is a great soda alternative because it has zero calories, zero diet sweeteners, and zero preservatives, and with over 25 flavors to choose from, you’re bound to find a favorite (or seven).

Week one

It was time to cut myself off. I’m not gonna lie, Monday and Tuesday were rough. At 3pm like clockwork, I found myself reaching for the soda can that wasn’t there. I missed it so much. I was going through a brutal breakup….with a beverage.

I literally tried everything under the sun to replace my beloved soda. We’re talking coffee (sorry, it tastes awful to me), tea (not that exciting), and even water (meh).

On Wednesday and Thursday, I stayed away from Diet Coke still, but it was out of sheer determination. My roommates had a running bet on whether or not I’d make it the full two weeks without caving.

Things went from not great to flat out bad after I went out on Friday night. I was beyond hungover and a little carbonation was my usual cure. My roommate went out to grab us our usual morning-after cures, but somehow even in my weakened state I resisted the temptation for something flavored….and had a plain water instead. Blah.

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Week two

I wasn’t going to be able to keep this up for long without something to take Diet Coke’s place. So while I was buying lunch on Tuesday, I decided to give hint water a try so I could still sip on something fun, but that would be infinitely healthier than my old fav. I grabbed a blackberry flavor, and it was pretty yummy. I’m into the light flavor and I immediately felt like I was making the right choice for myself.

I was staying strong on Thursday. I actually noticed I wasn’t as bloated anymore (thank god coz it’s bikini season). Staying away from sugary drinks had even made my skin seem less inflamed and my breakouts were on the way out. I was wearing less makeup to cover it up so my skin felt even better.

The icing on the cake was my energy. I didn’t have that fall-off-a-cliff-from-exhaustion moment happening every afternoon. Don’t get me wrong, I’m still a tired mess who can always use a few more hours in bed, but I wasn’t hitting that wall anymore.

I even cut Diet Coke out of my nights out. It’s hard to find mixed drinks that aren’t high in sugar, but I decided to stick with beverages of a clearer variety. This summer, I’m all about the spiked seltzers and vodka sodas. The Diet Coke for my hangover on Friday morning (happy hours are forever the best and worst) was swapped out for a nice, cool bottle of hint water.

hint water is vegan, gluten-free, and Kosher! Click here to find out more about the yummiest flavored water out there!

In the end, I made it through and didn’t have a Diet Coke for two whole weeks. I was pretty proud of myself. The most shocking part was, I had promised myself I could have one in celebration if I stuck to the plan, but I honestly didn’t even really want one. *gasp*

I really do feel healthier and like this was a positive change for me. TBH, I don’t know if I’ll end up going back to sipping on that Diet Coke again. So for a while, when it comes to my daily drink of choice, I’m gonna stick with hint water.

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