How I did it: The more I learned about health consequences, environmental impact, and the billion dollar industry itself, the more I wanted to quit drinking soda for good. I'm now trying to take better care of my teeth because I have realized there is no guarantee that I will always have them, and I was shocked to learn that drinking soda regularly can alter the chemical composition of your saliva (as in, even when youre not drinking soda) which of course eats away at the enamel, even if you do brush your teeth a lot. And I am pretty certain my constant acid stomach is partly due to the rivers of diet soda I used to consume and which more than likely had eaten away some of the lining of my stomach, leaving me with a painful ulcer and a trip to the emergency room. All of these factors combined made it pretty easy.

Lessons & tips: I forced myself to constantly think of the negatives. I imagined what it does to my body and the planet. There were times I really wanted it, and I would let myself drink a few sips and ask myself what is so great about this? Does it really taste good? And it didn't, the more and more I thought about it, it didn't.

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Feb 15, 2010, 06:24PM PST | 1 comment | 3 cheers