The Spirit of Giving

Not to be confused with The Season of Giving. This month's theme is Giving (up). OK, I can contribute: recently I gave up drinking soda of any kind, as well as using artificial sweetener. Regarding the first -- it helps to know that I was a heavy soda drinker, mostly because of my affinity for Rum and Pepsi drinks. But I constantly felt bloated and "heavy" whenever I drank soda, so I thought I'd try to kick it for New Year's, and lo and behold, I did it. Cold Turkey. Don't know what I did or how I did it, but it's done. And I'm surprised that I don't have any cravings for it like I used to (years back when I would give it up for Lent). By the way, I don't feel "heavy" as much as I used to, and I'm sure it's good for me to not drink the crap anymore, so I heartily recommend it. As for the the artificial sweetener: same MO, heard it was bad for you, and I don't use sweetener that much, so I decided to eliminate it from daily use. I still drink Aquafina fruit waters, and they do have Splenda in them, but I'm not drinking much of it, plus I wanted to kick the practice of adding artificial sweetener to my coffee and such, and I did. It's all part of the plan to drop 30 pounds by July 4th...hope it works.