December 16, 2012 - Week 2

The Demon... Diet Coke!

I’ve never, ever liked regular soda.  I never liked the taste, not even as a kid, but diet sodas… I love ‘em!  Don’t know why?  Don’t know what part of the magical chemical of elixirs it is that floats my boat, but… I love them!!!  I also can’t drink coffee or tea for 3 reasons, 1. They cause HUGE bouts of Acid Reflux on me, 2. The caffeine in both will keep me awake for close to 30 hours, just on one cup and 3. A terrible flat line happens that makes me moody and cranky…well, worse than usual.

I started working nightshift as a 9-1-1Operator in 1992 and have been working that job and living the “shift worker” lifestyle ever since.   I started to drink large amounts of Diet Coke to try and keep me awake.  I would work from 11pm to 7am on the nightshift.  The initial large Diet Coke from McDonalds would keep me awake for a few hours, but to stay up I’d have drink at least 2 or 3 more cans through the night. 

In 1997 I started Grad School in New York City and would commute into Manhattan when my shift was over.  I would take a short nap and then get on the train to Penn Station.  I would be in school from 10am to 5pm, commute home, take another nap and go back to work from 11-7.  Two of those years, a few months out of the year, I would also direct High School Theater.

THE DIET COKE WAS FLOWING!!!!

I sat down and added it up one day and figured out that I was drinking 72 ounces of Diet Coke a day.  I would also supplement that caffeine with Reeses Peanut Butter Cups.  That was my power rush, a big Diet Coke and a pack of Reeses.  I don’t know what they put in the stuff, but a rush would come over my body.  I’ve never done Crack or Cocaine, but I always imagined that this is what it would be like!  I started to call Diet Coke, “Junkie Juice”!  I was hooked.

Honestly, back in New Jersey, I had really good partners that would let me sleep when it was slow, but when I came to Cali, well, there is no sleeping here!  I had to stay awake.  Every shift I would work would start with a large Diet Coke from McDonalds.  Morning shift it was Diet Coke and an egg sandwich, Afternoon Shift meant a lunch before walking in the door that included numerous Diet Cokes and Night Shift meant stopping at the Drive Thru and getting a large D.C. to go!  Sometimes I would order the food from one place and would go to McDonalds just to buy the Diet Coke.

Pretty soon, I was looking for the McDonalds Diet Coke during my off time.  I would go to restaurants with the intention of pounding three Diet Cokes for the rush of it, way before the food even got to the table!

I tried several times to switch to Iced Tea and Green Tea… fat chance… there was and still is nothing like the rush of a McDonalds Diet Coke!!!!  I don’t know what it is and can’t find proof of it online.  I read somewhere that it was all purely psychological, but I don’t believe that!  I really believe it’s a physical addiction like heroin or opium, but I can’t prove it.

Don’t know why, but Diet Coke from McDonalds taste better than any other Diet Coke on the market.  I’m not talking about other brands; this ain’t Diet Pepsi!  I’m talking about, but the Diet Coke from the fountains taste better at McDonalds than any other version being sold on the market, not cans, bottle or other restaurants!

A friend once told me it was because McDonalds made a deal with Coke to use double the amount of syrup in the mixture of all their products.  Other friends agreed and some said they could confirm that, but… NOT TRUE, possibly an Urban Myth. 

After reading several articles online, the truth be told, I’m not crazy!  McDonalds Diet Coke and all their soda products taste better for several reasons. 

Mickey Dees uses the best equipment and routine maintenance programs to maintain the equipment.

Basically, the water is first run through carbon filters and then put through a reverse osmosis system, so the water is filtered twice through a very high-end filtration system.

McDonalds also uses insulated tubing that is run from the back refrigeration unit all the way to the front and drive through units. The soda water is constantly recirculated though this frigid tubing system so it can remain between 33-38 degrees at all times.

Keeping this water chilled is critical in maintaining superior CO2 levels.  This makes better soda water, ultimately making a crisper soda. The CO2 carbonators themselves are actually submerged in ice water.  That guarantees that the average temperature of the soda coming out of the fountain at McDonald's is 36 degrees. Management is trained to check temperatures and calibration settings. Even the syrup lines are bundled with the soda lines to chill the syrup.  McDonald's also sells a VERY high volume of soda. This means the syrup does not sit around for very long.

I’ve never been addicted to anything, but I was addicted and still can be addicted to Diet Coke!

Over the last 3 years, I have tried to quit Diet Coke and was pretty good for a month or two, but always gave in when I had to do a nightshift or a double or some other excuse.  A month ago I quit cold turkey.  I don’t even crave it this time because I’ve read so much on it and was prepared for the withdraw symptoms I get.  What others have described as symptoms of a “heroin addiction”, I found myself with the same at times that started with “fiending” for Diet Coke on my days off, while lying in my bed watching TV, out at movies or even in bars and clubs… I had to have my fix of “JUNKIE JUICE!”

This time there was something else that motivated me and is still motivating me… FEAR!!!

The last few years I have had a slightly elevated blood pressure.  Nothing alarming, but something that my Doctor had noticed and was starting to treat with a low dose Statin.  The B.P. was back to normal as long as I took the meds.  Then a friend at work, a man in his 60’s who is still part of the Air Force Reserve told me how he was up for his yearly physical for the Reserves and his Blood Pressure was a little higher than it should be, so he did some research and read that there was a study out there that tested nightshift nurses who drink coffee versus nightshift nurses who drink Diet Coke.  The Diet Coke nurses had higher blood pressure reads and once they got them off the Diet Coke, blood pressures went back to normal!!!

So this is what my co-worker told me and I have to believe him because amongst many reasons, he’s the only guy I’ve ever met that has been SCUD missiled twice and lived through it!  Two times his camp was hit by SCUDS during Desert Storm… and well…he cut out the D.C. and his B.P. went back down to normal.

NOW… I’ve looked for this study of Nurses and Coffee VS Diet Coke, but I can’t find it anywhere!!!  The only thing I have found that might support this theory and phantom study is this article that talked about the Gardener Study out of Columbia University.

“The researchers found that people who reported drinking diet soda on a daily basis had a 43 percent higher risk of having a vascular event than people who didn't drink any soda, even when accounting for conditions like high blood pressure and diabetes.

However, researchers did find that people who tended to drink diet soda more occasionally -- between six a week and once a month -- and people who drank regular soda didn't have the increased risk of a vascular event.

Study researcher Hannah Gardener warned that more research is needed, but said in a statement that the "results suggest a potential association between daily diet soft drink consumption and vascular outcomes. However, the mechanisms by which soft drinks may affect vascular events are unclear." Gardener previously presented her findings last year at the International Stroke Conference.”

So, I took all this to heart and when the doc put me a small amount of B.P. pills, I started to change my diet.  Cook home and not out, so there was less salt in my food, worked out more and drank more water, all with the hope of losing weight and knocking down my Blood Pressure numbers.  Seeing the Doctor once a month to make sure nothing went wrong and still all that and numbers didn’t drop!

I then went on to research some more… and found this…

Here are 6 more reasons to give up diet soda:

1. It messes with your skin. Diet Coke lowers your pH levels, which can cause acne, and zap you of radiance. We need a high level of alkalinity for our bodies to be healthy and expressed in our glowing complexion, explains Dr. Jeanette Graf, author of Stop Aging, Start Living: The Revolutionary 2-Week pH Diet. As Dr. Graf told us recently, “If there’s one thing you should never consume, it’s soda. Soda is an extreme acid-forming substance which will lower your pH level dramatically.”

2. It alters your mood. The mood-food connection is ever-rising, and Aspartame in Diet Coke can really do a doozey on those with anxiety, depression, and bipolar disorder. Aspartame is also on an EPA list of potentially dangerous chemicals contributing to neurotoxicity, right under Arsenic. So that’s kind of saying it could alter your brain, too.

3. Weight gain and belly fat. Ironically, we actually gain weight from Diet Coke. In two studies conducted by the School of Medicine at The University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, those “who said they consumed two or more diet sodas a day, experienced waist circumference increases that were 500 percent greater than those of non-users.”

4. It causes diabetes and heart disease. When waist circumference (belly fat) increases, this contributes to diabetes and heart disease, which a 2010 study in the Journal of General Internal Medicine confirmed.

5. It makes your kidneys sluggish. Diet soda may interfere with the kidneys, found the Harvard Nurse’s Study, which reported a 30% drop in kidney function with just two servings of diet soda each day.

6. Aspartame’s been linked to cancer. A lot. Aspartame is “generally recognized as safe” by the FDA while substantial data has shown its link to cancer. The Center for Science in the Public Interest (CSPI) cautions against Aspartame because it’s poorly tested, and contains three well-recognized neurotoxins. Aspartame was found to increase cancer risk if exposure begins in the womb, reported a study at the Cesare Maltoni Cancer Research Center. And various studies have linked lymphoma and tumors in rats. And beware the BPA of cans and caramel coloring, reports Grist.

Then about a month ago I remembered the story my co-worker had told me and went cold turkey off of the demon, Diet Coke.  My Blood Pressure check this week with the Doc… so much lower!!!  Now I have to take my Blood Pressure twice a day and record the numbers for the next three months.  If the numbers stay the same the Doctor will start to take me off the BP meds.

I beat the DEMON!

Well… one of my demons… and all I want to say is…

“Hi, my name is Tom Cavanaugh and I’m a Diet Coke addict, thirty-one days clean.”

 *** STARTED USING A NEW SCALE THIS WEEK SO IT ACTUALLY SHOWS A WEIGHT GAIN OF 9.4 LBS, BUT THERE WAS A TOTAL WEIGHT LOSS OF 4LBS ***

Weekly Report for week of December 10, 2012

Daily Summary
	Budget	Food	Exer.	Net	+/-	Weight
Dec-10-12	1,845	1,181	-	1,181	-664	255.2
Dec-11-12	1,845	1,094	-	1,094	-751	-
Dec-12-12	1,863	804	724	79	-1,784	258
Dec-13-12	1,863	-	409	-409	-	-
Dec-14-12	-	-	-	-	-	-
Dec-15-12	1,904	1,210	711	499	-1,405	264.2
Dec-16-12	1,908	1,477	-	1,477	-431	264.8
7,306 calories under for the week
1,844 exercise calories burned this week
Gained 9.6 pounds this week

 

Nutrients
	Sug (g)
Dec-10-12	5*
Dec-11-12	10
Dec-12-12	28
Dec-13-12	-
Dec-14-12	-
Dec-15-12	28
Dec-16-12	41*
Totals	112
Daily Avg	16

BELOW ARE WORKOUT PICS FROM FRIDAY THE 14TH ON TOP OF THE 6TH FLOOR OF A PARKING STRUCTURE IN THE WEST SAN FERNANDO VALLEY