Well...it finally happened. I found out I'm too old to eat crap.

OK, I knew that already, but a series of body "crashes" and finally some chest pains gave me the wake up call. I went to the doctor and he told me I mildly sprained my oblique. my blood pressure is also 129/110 from what I remember.

I don't eat that bad in my mind EXCEPT I HAVE to find a substitute for Mt. Dew.I can drink up to 64 oz of Mt Dew in EIGHT HOURS. God, the sugar, the empty calories the caffeine. Gotta be my first priority. Past that, it is a matter of my snacking habits and cutting out utter crap (I'm a cheetos addict).

I hear ya Dave. I've been delaying a physical because I don't wantto hear the results.
Good Luck man.

Steve"Broken"Avery

Totally hear ya, man. I don't have a sweet tooth and favor healthy foods over junk, but the wife constantly brings the shit in the house.

BUT...

How the hell did you pull an oblique? Turned 45 degrees while picking something up or something?

I was badly traumatised the day I discovered I could no longer eat two three-course restaurant meals in a day without my stomach rebelling. It happens to us all.

You sure you got that BP right? 129/110 is only a 19 mm Hg pulse pressure. If you have a diastolic that high you got more problems than just the diet...

Nah, I'm not too sure about the BP, but it is the first time EVER anyone has said my BP is a little too high. Not much more humbling than a 23 year old nurses assistant talking to you about your health.

As far as the oblique: I was a letter carrier for nine years, carrying up to 35 pounds of mail over my left shoulder daily. Now I lift up to 70 pounds of boxes onto conveyor belts. Ironically, I've been walking around lately doing union work so I figure it may be an old injury just exacerbated by stress (and the urge to choke something.)

Dave "bundle of nerves" Roswell.

I have your Mountain Dew substitute. There's a natural soda company that does an all natural, diet "Mountain Zevia"...sweetened with stevia so it's zero calorie and 55mg caffeine. It's more expensive than Mountain Dew, $1.25 a can or so.

You probably won't like it at first... But give it a full six Pack and you'll get a taste for it.

I liked Mountain Dew but now I find it disgusting.

I only drink still water and - if I need caffeine - mate tea.

Yeah, you should really thInk twice about drinkIng something with wood resin and brominated vegetable oil in it...not to mention that it's mostly high fructose corn syrup and miscellaneous chemicals.

One of the only modern cases of brominosis in medical literature outside of mining communities was some british programmer that really like Code Red. Like four 2 liters a day. Yeah.

Mountain Dew is like this huge problem in rural Appalchia...not kidding. Kids, adults, everybody are strangely addicted to it. I saw this documentary about a dentist working in Tennessee/Kentuckyand there's a big problem with kids' teeth rotting out because people give it to toddlers . It's also huge with meth addicts.

When I was in Phoenix once I placed a can of Mountain Dew in the hotel fridge. Apparently all of the desert city's cooling devices, not just the air conditioning, run at very low temperatures. The fridge was set to such a particular level, that about half of the fluid in the can of Mountain Dew froze, the other half stayed liquid. So I first drank the liquid half and then waited for the other half to melt, which I also drank. Both halves separated tasted awfully disgusting. During the whole three weeks of our US trip I consumed at least one can of Mountain Dew daily, in addition to other junk food (Caramello bars were a favourite) and fast food at least every other day. At the end of the three weeks I had gained 10 kg (22 lbs). If I had grown up in the USA I would be obese now.

Moving to fancy expensive soda with natural sugar, etc was one of the best things I've done for taste and nastiness factor. I still drink normal soda if I get soda at dinner, but at home it's Blue Sky, Natural Brew, etc.

First world problems and solutions and all that. Schweig probably has the right move, which is just move to drinking water.

I will never give up drinking 2 pots of coffee per day. Never.

Michael Barnes wrote: Mountain Dew is like this huge problem in rural Appalchia...not kidding. Kids, adults, everybody are strangely addicted to it. I saw this documentary about a dentist working in Tennessee/Kentuckyand there's a big problem with kids' teeth rotting out because people give it to toddlers . It's also huge with meth addicts.

I can believe that. In Chicago, it's Green River...THE sugariest drink I may have ever had...gave me major dental issues that.

I am looking for a way to wean myself of the Dew. I've already tried switching straight to water, which doesn't work. Club soda and lime is working a little, but I'm looking for alternatives and will give some of what you guys have suggested a try and let you know what happens. Ultimately, I want to lose about 30-40 lbs over the next year.