Day 34 - Confession Time

As you may remember, our school had our Spring Break vacation about a week ago and I was traveling and "on the road" much of that time.  Up to that point, I had completely given up Diet Coke.  For some reason...don't know if it was for comfort, for stress relief, for ease of availability (we were at my parents' house where Diet Coke cans are constantly chilling in the fridge), or just moments of weakness...or perhaps a combination of them all...I started drinking Diet Coke again.

At first, it was only a can one afternoon...then, the next day I had probably three or four cans while we were working on the house.  By our return home, I was drinking them again...and have had at least one or two every day since.

It's not like I don't like water now...or unsweet iced tea...or herbal teas...or black coffee.  I like all those things.  There's just something about popping that top and taking that first sip out of the can that I love.  Yeah...I'm just a tad whack-a-doodle...I know.

One side of me says it could be so much worse.  I could be regressing back into Taco Bell bean burritos or Butterfinger candy bars or macaroni and cheese.  Heck, I could have an addiction that is truly harmful or illegal...alcohol, smoking, drugs.  I know it shouldn't be a big deal...but for some reason it is.

I think it goes back to the post I made about being scared of cheating or slipping.  The anal retentive/obsessive compulsive/perfectionist side of me says that I need to stay Paleo and not waiver.  I feel like it's that slippery slope thing...when I waiver a little bit, I am so afraid that all of the sudden I will be completely off the reservation and eating deep dish pizza and sharing a pitcher of beer with friends somewhere.  I don't want that to happen.  And the crazy part of my mind is telling me that allowing Diet Coke back into my life is the first step to letting that happen.

So, as of this minute, I am going to stop all the Diet Coke and go back to tea, coffee, and water.  If I am tempted, I plan to come back and read this list of ingredients -- carbonated water (the only thing healthy), caramel color, natural flavors (really???  natural???), phosphoric acid, potassium benzoate, aspartame, citric acid, acesulfame potassium, caffeine...and that alway present ominous warning on the can...contains phenylalanine.  I don't even know what that is...but if they are having to warn people about it, it can't be a good thing.  I would bet a pretty penny that our Paleolithic ancestors didn't drink phosphoric acid and aspartame, etc...

Not a sin, as far as confessions go....but I do feel like it needed to be said.

Thanks for listening/reading/responding...