Last month, I began discussing the first of several new food habits that I've been working on. I've been introducing this in stages, rather than all at once. It's time for me to begin stage two, which I've progressively been implementing already, just at a lower degree.
In this stage, I will reduce my soda consumption by 90%.
Soda is a major source of the empty calories in my old dietary habits. I used to consume 2-3 cans each day, sometimes more on the weekends. I'd get myself jacked up on caffeine and sugar, and then when the inevitable crash came, I'd reach for another one. On average, I'd say that I would consume about 20 cans of soda per week. Even at 100 calories per 8 oz serving (according to Coke), well that's still 150 calories per can, and 3000 extra calories per week. That's a LOT of extra calories.
I'm dropping it down to 2 per week, at most.
Instead of soda, I've been drinking bottled water, and having some Vitamin Water after workouts. In the mornings (yeah, I used to drink soda in the morning), I've been drinking green tea, mixed with either lemonade or apple juice as a sweetener.
Additionally, my meat consumption has gone down significantly. Instead, I'm turning to soymilk for protein. I used to dislike the taste, but Kikkoman (yeah, the soy sauce folks) makes an outstanding soymilk. I usually have a glass with my lunch.
At restaurants, I've been ordering strawberry lemonade instead of soda, but I need to be careful since a lot of places accomplish this with syrups, which aren't really helping me with sugar content. I'll have one occasionally, but I'll be ordering water more often when I'm out. Might even save me a couple of bucks!
More on this later. I'm not done adding new habits yet.
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