*Kicking my addiction - health warnings!*

Hello, my name is Roo and I'm a diet soda addict. Yes, that's right. It seems pretty sad that I have an addiction to diet soda but I've recently come to terms with my addiction and I have finally conquered it.

It started around the age of 13 when I was even more obsessed by my weight than I had been previously. I was always the 'fat kid' and a couple of people went out of their way to make sure I knew it, not that I didn't already I mean I see myself everyday. When I initially started calorie counting I found the 'wonders' of diet soda. A immediate burst of energy, sweetness and filling for around 2kcal a glass, I remember thinking to myself this was even freaking better than meal replacement shakes! So for breakfast I would drink a glass of diet soda, at break time would follow another diet soda, lunch time would be a diet soda with some form of food, dinner would consist of a diet soda and another other form of fluid intake would be a diet soda. Are you getting where I'm going? Literally everything I drank was diet soda and I often replaced my meals with it too. Thinking about it now this is really disgusting but even up to a few weeks ago I was doing the same. I got to a point where I was drinking diet soda and nothing else. No other form of liquid passed my lips, that's right people, NO WATER!

At this point I would be shouting "well just stop drinking it, what the hell?" But it was far too late, it had become an addiction. The more I drank then more I wanted. I was suffering from violent head aches, mood swings and bloating but I just couldn't seem to stop drinking it. It got to a point where I was drinking at least £25 worth of diet soda a week.

Then one day it just twigged. I had to kick this habit. I was enduring so many negative responses from the diet soda that I just couldn't understand why I drank it. I have tried cutting down on the amount I consumed hundreds of times and so I knew the only way I was going to kick it was by going cold turkey. The first few days were the worst as I was literally having withdrawal systems but I stuck with it knowing it was for the best. Its been a couple of weeks since my cold turkey days and I have since drank four cans of diet soda (not all in one day) and to be honest I can't understand what the fuss was all about. I now much prefer to drink ice cold water.

I'm still in shock over my sudden transformation from diet soda addict to the occasional drinker and I can definitely feel and see a lot of benefits of my new love for water. My skin is much clearer, I am not bloated, I don't have my diet soda fueled mood swings and I definitely have saved a few pounds in my pocket.

If your like me and know you have an addiction to diet soda or you know that you drink a lot of it check out this website I found regarding diet soda addiction. http://www.dietdrinkaddiction.com/diet-coke-side-effects/
Although I wouldn't suggest swapping one drink to another the site does show that diet soda can be an addiction for some people.
Some of the comments on this side I can relate to which imprints it into my head even more that diet soda is not the way. Here are a few:

• Mood swings
• Hair loss
• Lack of concentration
• Fatigue
• Change in taste buds
• Migraines

I am now an advocate for drinking good old H2O, who would have thought it? Definitely not me!