Tuesday, June 17, 2008

Trading one bad habit for another

Here is my confession. A few weeks ago I signed up for what I thought would be an easy challenge: Cutting back on my consumption of Diet Coke.

Drop a can? Sure, no problem. Except real life happened.

First came the 79-cent sodas at Speedway. So I swapped my cans for plastic - I sheepishly admit #5 plastic - cups each morning on the way to work. I justified it by saying I was spending less.

Then came the weekend, and a sale on (#1 plastic) 2-liters. At least I can recycle these, I justified to myself. Except I drink even more from plastic 2-liters than I do from cans, which are perfectly rationed.

And today, I not only hit up the 2-liter this morning, but driving back to the office, I grabbed a comfort cup of (caffeine free) Diet Coke. I'm down after learning my grandmother passed this morning, and I don't know what it is about an iced soda that makes it a comfort food of sorts for me.

What I'm trying to say is, I'm failing miserably at this little challenge. I would think baby steps of removing alumnimum can consumption from my habit wouldn't be difficult, but it has been. Does anyone have ideas on how to successfully cut back?

2 comments:

Chile said...

I'm so sorry to hear of your grandmother's passing. That's got to be hard and, of course, you're going to want to find comfort where you can.

However, I think you will find more success with the challenge if you go back to aluminum. Why? Because it's actually more environmentally responsible. The aluminum can be recycled over and over, coming back to market in the same form. The plastic is made from oil and cannot be reused in the same form. Now, if you're refilling the same cup over and over again, maybe that's okay, but you still have the problem of drinking too much.

Go back to the cans for the ease in limiting amount. And remember, the cost to your health is higher than the cost of the cans over plastic. As an incentive to decrease your consumption, I'll point out one health cost: soda helps strip calcium from your bones. Taking calcium pills or drinking milk will not offset this. You need to decrease the source of the problem.

Now, find a nice person to hug and cry on their shoulder over your grandmother. No, you can't lean on the soda machine and cry there. Find a real live person. Hugs!

Robbie said...

Thanks, Chile.

Yes, I came to a similar conclusion that cans are just better. Like you said, plastic doesn't become recycled plastic bottles, it becomes recycled plastic something else.

I'm going to let myself get a grip and then start gripping those Coke cans (ok, maybe a few less than before.)