Rehabilitation of a Coke Addict

Khoi

21 years ago

As vices go, an addiction to Coca-Cola is pretty timid stuff, which may be the reason I developed one so easily. Because of the long hours we work at Behavior, it was only natural that we decided to carry on the dot-com era tradition of stocking our fridge with dozens of bright red cans of Coke. It became a habit for me to drink at least one or two cans of it during the workday, then go home and drink a half-liter more with dinner and another half-liter while I worked on my computer late into the night. It was a nasty habit and I knew it, but I swear Coke tastes so damn good, and I found it incredibly difficult to convince myself to cut it out.

Recovery

Conscience — not the moral kind, but the kind that worries about my expanding waistline and long-term health — eventually got the better of me, and two weeks ago I resolved to go cold turkey. For the first few days, I was beset with nagging headaches that would build up progressively over the course of each day, as my body adjusted itself to the realization that it was being deprived of that singular combination of cheap fizz, sugar rush and caffeine buzz. By nighttime, the headaches were too insistent to ignore, and I worried that I was simply displacing a soft drink addiction with an addiction to Advil.

Above: Coca-Cola is “Delicious and Refreshing.” Lady, I believe you.

The headaches are gone now, so I think I’m ‘recovered.’ I’ve heard that reformed cigarette and drug addicts sometimes benefit from a renewed clarity of the senses once they’ve gone clean, but I have to admit, I’ve had no such experience. Beyond the personal satisfaction to be found in knowing that I’m consuming one less of an infinite number of processed food products that are continually destroying my body, there’s really no upside. I miss Coke, and there’s not a meal that goes by that I don’t think about buying, pouring or ordering a a tall glass of it for myself.