An Enormous Change

I really can't believe I'm saying this... but I actually gave up soda 5 days ago. Any of my family and friends that know me will be in SHOCK! I think I've had a soda every day of my life except when I was drinking from a bottle. Some of my great childhood memories are going to 7-11 and getting big gulps with my mom. I even use to send my brother Danny to the local grocery store and have him bring me big soda's with ice in a cup when I lived near him and he was in high school. Clint would take our car to work, so I'd call Danny when he'd get home from school and tell him to bring me a drink. If I drank alcohol, I'd be an alcoholic for sure! So- I went to a friends for lunch the other day and she was teaching a class on nutrition. I wasn't planning on giving up my stress reliever, my best friend in a can... but I came away from the lunch knowing that I had to try and eat healthier and pass it along to my family. So this week I've been trying to make healthier choices- which has been pretty hard since I'm also trying to give up on anything with artificial sweeteners, so really all diet stuff is out. I'm not a water lover, but I'm chugging it down anyway. I even tried herbal pomegranate tea... uggg. I even sprinkled ground flaxseed on Allison's cereal this morning. I thought for sure she wouldn't even notice because it's so small and pretty much invisible. She did. Finally, after telling her it was her imagination a dozen times, I said, "OK- it's healthy for you and you won't even taste it" and so she went and ate it down. LOL Of course, when I made biscuits with wheat flour and substituted apple sauce for the oil, my kids refused to even try them. You REALLY can't even taste the applesauce at all! It's a great sub for any recipe with oil. So- that's my challenge right now.

So- I'm 5 days down now... and I'm doing okay.

Here's an update from my dad...

Dear Readers: As Kate’s father, I plead guilty to having hooked her on soft drinks from an early age. She has no responsibility for her addiction, nor her propensity for seeking out the larger 64 ounce cups rather than the 6 ounce “social” serving. However, I have passed this gene down from my Norwegian grandmother who always placed a Pepsi bottle (long before the cans arrived) at my bedside before I was five. It is a family addiction and I am proud of my daughter for finally reaching the stage where she can attend Rehab and say, “Hi, I’m Kate and I have a problem.”

I will make it my goal to return to her residence at the earliest opportunity and take her out to play golf, where she will once again succumb to my charms and take “just a wee sip” of my Pepsi. Diet Pepsi, hopefully.

Love, Dad.