// goals for 2006.quit_caffeine_&_sweetener

	o	I am a soda addict and therefore both caffeine- and NutraSweet-dependent. This needs to stop, both because of the health risks in high doses—and believe me, mine are high doses; caffeine, though, also because I don’t particularly enjoy suffering a thorough migraine when, at the height of my addiction, I can’t go eight hours without a dose.
	o	At one point I had all but eliminated it from my diet altogether, but that fell apart as soon as I began work again and came to rely on the morning dose to get myself through early morning training. But doing this again shouldn’t be so hard now that I’m on flex schedule and am not required to show up at work until 9:30.
	o	The NutraSweet, however, is an entirely different matter. When I gave up caffeine, the principal help was diet juice drink—the little tubs of zero calorie Crystal Light rip-off from Wal-Mart or Big Lots. But that shit is loaded with artificial sweetener, which, again, in the quantity I drink, cannot be healthy in any way.
	o	Besides, when I actually take the time to consider my options, a glass of ice-cold water tastes better to me than soda or fake-juice anyway. So if I would just concentrate a bit this one should not be entirely undoable.
	o	By December 31, 2006, I will have weaned myself entirely off of drinks containing caffeine and NutraSweet.

Week Oz. Caffeine Oz. Sweetener Oz. Both Total 1 0 122 64 186 2 12 144 150 306 3 0 212 44 256 4 0 172 112 284 5 0 90 172 262 6 16 106 196 318 7 12 212 72 296 8 0 222 44 266 9 0 200 44 244 10 16 158 64 238 11 0 128 92 220 12 8 48 191 247 13 0 112 148 260 14 0 140 92 232 15 32 28 160 220 16 0 0 104 104 17 0 32 72 104

05.01.06 Update: Rather than monitoring and trying to lower this one drink by drink, choice by choice, I cut it cold each week with a limit. These first couple of weeks: 60 ounces. That means three bottles of soda during the week and I'm done. I'm drinking one right now. This also means no 'diet' juices and caffeine-free diet colas, no coffee or caffeinated tea after those 60 ounces are used for the week. In a couple of weeks, it goes down to 40 ounces, then 20. I have my fingers crossed that I'll have rid myself of the caffeine headaches by then, or this will be a painful process. The last two weeks' entries on the graph show the promising results of this, so hopefully I can keep it up. 03.22.06 Update: Still not going great. Because of all the fun of fighting with Brian for two months, I'm getting no sleep and coming to rely more and more on a morning caffeine jolt to get me through the day. I'm still drinking just as much water, so at least I'm not moving backward on that good habit, but all in all, I'm not impressed with my lack of movement forward. I mean, my best week was the first one for god's sake. My second best was the last one, though, so here's hoping it's the start of a trend. 02.19.06 Update: This one isn't going too well, comparitively. By the strict numbers, not only am I still drinking way too much caffeinated and artificially sweetened drinks, but I also seem to be drinking more than I was to begin with. I'm not too concerned, though, as the major leap that isn't shown here is that for every 20 ounces of soda/zero-calorie juice I drink a day at work, I then drink forty to sixty ounces of water. Hopefully once this new, healthier addiction kicks in, I will discontinue the need for the other and these numbers will start to fall.

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