Hannibal Lecter. Lady Macbeth. Lord Voldemort. Count Olaf. Medusa. Sauron. Do these names sound familiar to you? Yes, they’re some of the greatest villains in literature!

We love protagonists. And these villains? We dislike them—even hate them! For obvious reasons.

But sometimes, a bad guy comes along who we actually come to love.

Like A Christmas Carol’s Ebenezer Scrooge.

There’s just something about him that makes us feel for him, and even, at times, root for him. Every person he has ever loved has left him. You want him to have a happy ending. And I for one can’t get enough of him.

Scrooge is essentially a bad guy—but I love him. 

This is exactly how I—and probably most people—feel about soda. Soda’s bad for us. It’s a baddie. A villain. A mischief-maker. A rogue. A—you get my drift.

But we love it—and for one reason or another, we just can’t get enough of it.

It’s nothing but sugar and calories without nutrition. It sets your blood sugar up on a roller coaster ride, which tanks your energy levels, puts your cravings on overdrive, and results in overeating. It’s chock-full of nasty chemicals and artificial sweeteners, which screws with your gut health and causes increased belly fat, high cholesterol, and rise in blood sugar. It even ruins your teeth. (And yes, diet soda, I am referring to you too!)

Alright, now that I’ve hopefully and appropriately smashed your soda illusions to smithereens, let’s talk about why we love it so much.

If it’s so bad for us, why do we continue to drink soda?

Why do we keep going back to the one thing that’s not good for us—just like a bad romance?

There are so many theories and studies as to why we can’t get enough of soda. And these talk about physiological dependence on sugar and caffeine, psychological addiction, and emotional eating. But I’m not going into that. (Way too complicated for my simple mind.)

To me, the reason why we still keep drinking soda even when it’s an absolute villain to our body is simple.

It feels good.

It’s cool. It feels refreshing. It tastes good. So how do we break free from this pretty powerful adversary?

Let’s take a look at 5 simple steps to help you kick the soda pop habit.

1. Go cold turkey.

And I mean frosty. Frozen. Many people think it’s better to wean yourself off the habit. Kill the habit slowly. I’m not one of them.

The thing is, going slow requires you to make two difficult and separate decisions. First, you have to decide to reduce your soda consumption and make some progress with it. Then you have to make another difficult decision down the road to completely stop drinking soda altogether.

Those are two highly challenging decisions to make. And twice as tough. I mean, making one decision is hard enough. How much more difficult would it be to have to make two?

So many things can happen between the time you decide to reduce your soda consumption to the time you have to totally stop doing it. You could even end up changing your mind altogether! That’s one good plan down the drain.

Whereas if you go cold turkey, you only need to make one decision. It becomes much simpler. All or nothing.

2. Water first

When you get the urge to drink soda, fill up a huge glass of ice water and drink it. More often than not, people drink soda because they're thirsty (or at times, even bored). Instead of grabbing a bottle or can of soda, try water first. Chances are, you’ll quench your thirst (or boredom!) with a cool glass of water. Make a habit of carrying a bottle of water with you when you’re out of the house; that way, you wouldn’t be tempted to “stray.”

3. Juice up!

To break a bad habit, you have to create better ones.

It’s time to go get yourself a juicer. You don’t have to get the top-of-the-line, most expensive one out there as there are a lot of cheaper options in the market today. Just start juicing.

Not only is it a far healthier option than soda, but it also tastes as cool, as refreshing, and as good as any soda you can buy. Not to mention, it will help curb your unhealthy cravings for soda!

If, for some reason, juicing up is not for you, consider adding fruits to your water, instead. There are plenty of natural alternatives to choose from! Squeezing a lime or lemon, then dropping slices in the water jazzes up your drink. Slices of apple, cucumber, or orange work well too! Check out this link for more ways to spice up your water! http://filterbutler.com/blog/10-ways-spice-water-life/

4. How about a DIY soda?

Yep, it can be done!  And it’s incredibly easy to do. With seltzer!

Try mixing seltzer and fruit juice at a ratio of 3:1. If you’re not into fruity stuff, try combining seltzer water with creamy coffee. Or adding honey and vanilla extract to seltzer water for that timelessly flavorful cream soda.

5. Do it. Right now.

Yoda had it right. “Do or do not. There is no try.” 

If you don’t choose to do it now, it’s unlikely you’ll ever successfully make it happen in the future. Make that decision! Start from now onwards—you know you need to do it! Don’t delay.

And once you’ve broken free of your soda habit, don’t ever go back. You’ve made such an effort to shake off the habit—don’t waste it by going right back to where you were before.

No one said it’s going to be easy. It’s probably going to suck big time. But it’s well worth it. Your health is well worth it. 

While you’re on the road to great health, don’t forget to stop over a crowd of health supplements. At Havasu Nutrition, each of these supplements is far healthier for you than any soda.

Give them a try here and let me know what you think!