MY HEALTH KICK - A STRICT NO COKE DIET

Coke. It's a delicious b*tch, isn't it?
There was a time that I would drink it a lot and I mean a lot - probably 2 or 3 cans a day every day. I know, it is really bad. But that was last year, and I had just come back from University for the Christmas holidays. My mum had brought a family pack of cans of coke and I took it upon myself to finish the pack. It was safe to say that I felt like utter rubbish! I had no energy, I couldn't be bothered to do anything and felt groggy all the time! And I was always in a bad mood.  It didn't take me long to realise that it was the coke which was making me change.

If you think about it, coke is used to rot things - if you put a penny in a glass of coke overnight, it comes out clean, and if you empty a bottle of coke down the toilet it takes the stains of it - it made me think that if it is doing that to a penny or a toilet, what is it doing to me when I drink it? We all know that coke isn't good for you, but having my normally chirpy personality changed into misery wasn't a good sign.

That led to my new years resolution: cut out the coke. I had a 'dry' January and I didn't drink one sip of coke throughout the whole month and I cut down the amount of fizzy drinks I was drinking. This is going to sound extremely cheesy but I felt fabulous. I had a lot more energy and I could feel that grogginess leaving my body every day. I basically just drank juice and water for the whole month (except from the occasional night out which called for an Archers and lemonade - still no coke though) and it did me the world of good!

When it got to February, I would allowed myself to drink coke again every now and again, but there was some part of me that just didn't feel the desire to start drinking it again. I got through three quarters of February before I had my first coke of the year.

Since then, I barely drink coke. I only drink it when I'm going on a night out (I can't resist a dissarano and coke!) or if I'm at a restaurant, and even then I usually get a lemon and lime or something similar. I am drinking juice and squash a lot more since, as well as a glass of water every day (I think 8 glasses of water is going a bit too far). Thinking about how one drink can affect me so much has made me think about everything else that can make me feel that little bit more better. I am eating a lot more fruit and am trying to cut down on the chocolate (this bit is very hard!). I know you're probably thinking "what the hell is she blabbing on about, it's only coke", but try it. If you drink coke and other fizzy drinks more than you drink water and juice, cut it out for a week or two and I promise you that you will see the difference!