Cold Turkey

For the last ten years or so, a friend of mine has been with me practically every working day. A kindly Texan from Waco, he’s there in the morning when I first sit down at my desk, he usually joins me for lunch, and occasionally I see him at other times during the day.

His name is Dr Pepper. And yesterday, I said goodbye.

Oh, I’m sure we’ll still get together on the weekends, and maybe for dinner once in a while, but I have decided I have to quit my two-cans-a-day habit. I’ve tried before, but this time I have an alternative beverage: iced tea, synthesized from a cup of hot tea and a cup of ice. See, I don’t like hot tea without milk, and it’s a pain in the butt to keep fresh milk around… let’s just say it was a barrier.

The first thing I noticed after going cold turkey: I’m hungry all the time. Not only am I eliminating 80 grams of sugar from my daily diet, I also cut out the cubic meter of carbonation I used to ingest. As a result, I now begin thinking about lunch at 8:45 in the morning.

An unexpected benefit was that I had no trouble getting to sleep last night. Or to put it more accurately, I was IN A FREAKIN’ COMA BY 9:15! Still, a good night’s sleep is better than a sharp stick in the eye (unless that’s some sort of kinky sex thing…).

So far there has been no backsliding, although I did have a Pepper over the weekend. I don’t really miss its sweet, sweet nectar, the syrupy food of the gods… Er, I’ll be right back.