Our addiction to caffeine and sugar

Status
Not open for further replies.

Mid

That one harlot
Original poster
FOLKLORE MEMBER
Posting Speed
  1. 1-3 posts per week
  2. One post per week
Writing Levels
  1. Adaptable
Preferred Character Gender
  1. No Preferences
Genres
Fantasy, medieval.
HellI everyone, I am addicted to pepsi. I have been drinking it for a very long time and was introduced to it as a child. I've tried to quit, many times and have experienced withdrawal symptoms from moodiness to headaches to nausea and so on. I probably drink a 1 liter a day and I am very aware of it and hope one day...I can get out of that habit because I really hate it.

My friend asked me once what do I think about a person who gives their kid a cup of black coffee and I said I'm not really sure if that's a good idea because giving someone caffeine at a young age is not good for us in the long run. Personally, I would rather give them herbal tea that has no caffeine or sugar. I pointed to my niece who has been given things like soda, frap, starbucks coffee who I was concerned about...as she was only a year and a half at the time. Of course, she disagreed on the fact that she wasn't giving her son sugar and we just agreed to respect each other's viewpoints.

So, what are your thoughts on giving kids sugary drinks? Or caffeine products? Do you try to substitute soda with apple juice (which is still very sugary)? Are there any ways to better implement diets? Has anyone ever wondered why healthy products are so much more expensive then junk? Anything else?
 
Give them nothing but water. Tell them all of the effects of diabetes. Better yet; show them.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mid
Whether or not you give children sugary drinks, they will get their hands on them. They're fucking everywhere. Even most juice is super duper high in sugar and will send them into a nutso frenzy. The fact of the matter is added sugar is almost unavoidable unless you make strict dietary habits for yourself.

Therefore, teach them how to make delicious healthy stuff and hope for the best. There's really not much else you can do, because they're individual people, who will grow up, and make their own individual decisions. If you shelter them away from sugar now they'll just get their hands on it later. Still, you should be able to monitor what you buy and bring into the house. The more sugary crap is present, the greater the temptation will be for them.

Also, unpopular opinion puffin: Of all the addictions in the world, caffeine is the least harmful and easiest to break away from. Drink water for two weeks and be prepared for headaches for a while. Done. If you want to get a healthier caffeine fix than a litre of pepsi a day though, go with tea. Tea is good for you and has plenty of caffeine in it, which will resolve the craving. As for the sugar cravings, you really shouldn't be ingesting that much sugar a day, ever, for any reason, and no matter how painful the cravings get, you should quit. There is no other piece of advice I can offer you (or children) that is medically sound, unfortunately. Consequences of one's actions and all that jazz.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Seba, Hana and Mid
Whether or not you give children sugary drinks, they will get their hands on them. They're fucking everywhere. Even most juice is super duper high in sugar and will send them into a nutso frenzy. The fact of the matter is added sugar is almost unavoidable unless you make strict dietary habits for yourself.

Therefore, teach them how to make delicious healthy stuff and hope for the best. There's really not much else you can do, because they're individual people, who will grow up, and make their own individual decisions. If you shelter them away from sugar now they'll just get their hands on it later. Still, you should be able to monitor what you buy and bring into the house. The more sugary crap is present, the greater the temptation will be for them.

Also, unpopular opinion puffin: Of all the addictions in the world, caffeine is the least harmful and easiest to break away from. Drink water for two weeks and be prepared for headaches for a while. Done. If you want to get a healthier caffeine fix than a litre of pepsi a day though, go with tea. Tea is good for you and has plenty of caffeine in it, which will resolve the craving. As for the sugar cravings, you really shouldn't be ingesting that much sugar a day, ever, for any reason, and no matter how painful the cravings get, you should quit. There is no other piece of advice I can offer you (or children) that is medically sound, unfortunately. Consequences of one's actions and all that jazz.

I actually drink tea with no sugar. I usually go for one's without caffeine 8D and it wasn't about me. Topic came up in a school I was working in hence the sharing, just adding personal experience for my personal thoughts on it. ^___^
 
  • Like
Reactions: Brovo
Give them nothing but water. Tell them all of the effects of diabetes. Better yet; show them.
200


I drank pop (Soda for you weird Yanks) for as long as I can remember and I didn't turn into a lumbering lardass with diabetes and cardiovascular illness. That's largely because I, and my family, always treated it as a treat rather than a dietary staple, kind of like how I only had ice cream once a week for TV night with my family.

As for caffeine, I dunno. I'm not addicted to it, but I do love energy drinks because of the flavour, but I don't get cravings for them any more or less than other foods or drinks if I go a while without them. I don't really have an addictive personality.
 
Educate the children on the health options.
But after that let them decide if they truly care or not.

I've never been one to try to force diets on people unless their's an immediate medical need (medicene, allergies, recovering etc.)
 
Eh... I never had any caffeine as a kid, and only started drinking it within the past couple years (out of choice, not because my parents never let me have any or anything), aaaand thanks to a mess of some other factors... I actually fell into a semi-serious caffeine addiction not too long ago, which was painful to get out of for a number of reasons, and I still feel the need to be really careful about how much caffeine I drink in order to avoid falling into a rut like that again, so... I feel like it's kind of important to remember that caffeine is a drug, and should be used responsibly. I understand that it's far from the most harmful drug out there, but... still, it can be addictive and all that.

That said, just letting a kid drink soda probably isn't a huge deal, especially if they're just drinking it because they enjoy the taste of soda and not because they're trying to use caffeine specifically for its effects. (Being someone who never liked soda, nor coffee, tea, or really any other common caffeinated drink, and therefore did only ever use caffeine for awakeness and that sort of thing, I realize I'm a bit of an unusual case, so... yeah, keep that in mind.) That said, yeah, I think a kid can handle being exposed to some caffeine at a young age, so long as they don't appear to be becoming dependent on it (in fact, you could argue that they probably won't grow up to have the same problems as me, in that case, so... yeah).

As for sugar, there's really no way to avoid it, and I don't see why people lose their heads over it so easily, anyway. I mean, yeah, I can understand why you'd want a kid to eat healthily, but never letting them have any sugary drinks is... kind of ridiculous, imo. I just don't see the need for it. Everything in moderation, right? Besides, sugar isn't exactly a drug, so I don't have the same concerns about it as I do with caffeine. Kids and adults alike will eat sugary things because they taste good, not because they want to increase their alertness, running the risk of becoming addicted as they seek that same alertness day after day. :P
 
  • Like
Reactions: Gwazi Magnum
I remember buying up all the coke zero when I was in China. In the two stores nearest to our apartments, they literally didn't have any for 2 weeks. One of those for over a month. Granted they were small stores and I didn't drink even near a litre a day, but still. I thought that was funny.

That said I never experienced withdrawal symptoms and can fairly easily fight cravings. Even if I make coffee a habit at workdays I can easily go without as well. Most sugars I pretty much can't have, so I learned to cook and bake. Well I already knew how to, I just had more excuses to do so now.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Mid
SODA ADDICTION IS THE WORST. THE FUCKING WORST. @____@

I used to drink like... 6 cans of soda a day. .__.; It took me YEARS to break off that habit and cut out most of my soda.

And then like a MORON I started buying and keeping soda in the house for others. And you think "Oh, I'll just have one." and then you snowball. @___@

I am back to fighting the sugar cravings again. c___c It's easy enough to not buy the soda or sugary snacks. But during the day I get the NEED FOR SWEET and this murderous psycho takes over and all I can think about is donuts or drowning a baby for a coke. @_____@
 
  • Love
Reactions: Mid
SODA ADDICTION IS THE WORST. THE FUCKING WORST. @____@

I used to drink like... 6 cans of soda a day. .__.; It took me YEARS to break off that habit and cut out most of my soda.

And then like a MORON I started buying and keeping soda in the house for others. And you think "Oh, I'll just have one." and then you snowball. @___@

I am back to fighting the sugar cravings again. c___c It's easy enough to not buy the soda or sugary snacks. But during the day I get the NEED FOR SWEET and this murderous psycho takes over and all I can think about is donuts or drowning a baby for a coke. @_____@

White tea helps with those sugar cravings! Add some honey if you need the sweetness but I like this brand of white tea I got from trader Joe's. It's like white tea and pomegranate or something, tastes really good and sweet with no sugar.

Also a tea spoon of coconut oil is like magical omo...but I AGREE WITH EVERYTHING YOU SAID.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Windsong
Status
Not open for further replies.