I’m gonna’ go for it.

I’m going to quit diet pop. And real pop for that matter, although the last time I took a swig of regular pop was probably to wash down the spaghetti-O’s I was eating hungover at noon on a Thursday in my freshman dorm room circa 2001.

You’ve been there.

At any rate, after all your encouraging comments and ideas (half POM juice/half sparkling water? Love it!) I decided that it could most definitely be done.

That still didn’t make my 2pm slump any easier. The craving came like clockwork around 2:18 this afternoon. I wanted that ice-cold can of Diet Mt. Dew in the mini fridge just steps away from my desk so bad I could literally taste it.

"This is insane! I can’t just stop cold turkey!" I tried to reason as I got up out of my chair to snag the freezing cold can out of the fridge. But then, I stopped.

"Really, Kristin? REALLY?!" My conscience shouted at me. "You can’t go ONE afternoon without pop?"

Eek. Shame face. Of course I could!

A mug of Trader Joe’s Vanilla Cinnamon Black Tea (the only tea I like, but only available around Christmas – dislike!) came to my rescue and heroically curbed the craving…this time.

The road is going to be hard, and temptations will be around every corner, but I’m pretty good about doing something once I’ve set my mind to it. Plus I know that quitting diet pop has more benefits then just nixing artificial sweeteners. Like that friend in Jr. High your mother warned you to stay away from, diet pop leads me to crave and/or want to make bad food choices every single time I drink it, especially at night after dinner. One sip and I’m searching for something salty. Two sips and I’m making single-serve cookie dough. It oddly triggers something in my brain to go get junk food. Not cool!

Now, I’m a realist and shouldn’t say that I’m quitting diet pop for good. I’ll probably treat myself to one or two on the weekends – and I guess this is all easy for me to say after one measly day – but you’ve got to start somewhere, and I believe that even small changes in life can make a big difference. Who knows, maybe not drinking pop during the week will cut my cravings so that I won’t even want one on the weekend!? One can only hope.

SO – thanks for sharing your thoughts and opinions on the matter. I’ll keep you posted on my progress, setbacks and successes. Whee!

In other news, tonight I made super-quick dinner utilizing one of my new, very-favorite things: Pretzel Bread!

I’ve bought pretzel bread from my local grocery store before but, unlike their meh/slightly soft/mostly hard pretzel bread, Trader Joes’ pretzel bread is uber-soft, doughy and salty. It’s basically a Super Pretzel in loaf form. Boom.

Except there’s no preservatives and it’s $0.99. Hello!

I cut a loaf in half to make two Turkey Cheddar & Canadian Bacon Pretzel Bread Sandwiches. I started by layering on smoked deli turkey,

lean Canadian Bacon,

and cheddar cheese,

then broiled the sandwich until everything was warm, melty and gooey.

Insanity!

  

One bite and I knew. I knew this was the sandwich to compare all future sandwiches to.

The pretzel bread was warm & doughy, and the turkey, cheese and Canadian bacon absolutely melted together. It was soooo good!!!

When thinking about the sandwich this weekend while meal planning, I was trying to think about what would make it pop. Bacon, obviously, came to mind, but it’s already incorporated into two of the four meals I have planned this week. My rings became tighter at the mere thought.

The thin crust Hawaiian Pizza Ben and I enjoyed on Saturday night actually sparked the idea to replace the bacon with Canadian Bacon! Lean, light on salt and high on protein. And super tasty, to boot.

 

I also wanted to try and figure out a way to steam these babies a la Chicago Bagel Authority and the General Store in Valley Junction (local peeps – if you haven’t tried them – Go. Now. Run!) but couldn’t figure a way to do it without soggifiying the bread. Luckily the broiler did a fabu job of warming, melting and softening the flavorful ‘wich.

Served with steamed broccoli on the side, because it’s Ben’s favorite. Quick: do you know what your significant other’s favorite vegetable is?

Yum, yum, yum. Ben and I were mmm’ing during the entire meal!

Tonight I am rewarding a tough workout this afternoon (30-20-10 workout using this routine for the treadmill portion and alternating each minute between 70 & 90 steps a minute during the stair step machine portion – made it fly!) with some No-Bake Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls while enjoying The Bachelor. Oh. Yes. Recipe and photos (of the PB balls not The Bachelor) to come tomorrow!!

Have a good one!

~~~~~

Do you typically have an after dinner/before bed snack? Salty or sweet? It is usually the same thing?

I’ve been snarfing Trader Joe’s mini crispy chocolate chip cookies like it’s my job lately!