Yes, I am a yoga teacher and I drink coke. Not just coke, but Diet Coke or Coke Zero. And I don’t mean Pepsi. Pepsi is disgusting. Absolutely disgusting. Call the yoga police, call the vegetarian sheriff, Lord forbid I ingest aspartame. Lock me up and make me do hundreds of chatarunga’s, I don’t care. I drink Diet Coke in my Jack and Cokes. Bartender’s look at me weird but I don’t care, just make me my darn drink that will take eight dollars out of my pocket. Just make sure it is a double.
You may ask, “Why does she drink Diet Coke? Obviously she knows the horrible things it does to you. I mean just look at what it does to a toilet basin” or “She is gonna get cancer because it has aspartame in it. Doesn’t she know what it did to those rats?”. I have one thing to say, I don’t care. Want to know why I drink Diet Coke? Want to know why I drink Coke Zero?
It is because for many, many, many years I deprived myself. I had no form of carbonated soda drink. Soda was the devil (and please read that in a Southern accent). Growing up soft drinks were the occasional drink, and were viewed as treats or special occasions, like they should. At birthday parties or get together’s they were ok. But they were not to replace water and enjoyed in moderation. As I grew older and grew into my eating disorder, the less and less I consumed them. They were no longer a treat or a special occasion beverage. Melvin said no and what Melvin says goes. For years I deprived myself. I would sometimes want a Diet Coke, or even a REAL Coke. But Melvin said NO! I would be at a party and want a drink, but no I had to have water. Water, coffee, and green tea was all I could have. No enjoyment there. I couldn’t even have a fun coffee drink (different story, next time).
Eventually as I began to recover I started to enjoy what foods I could have, ones that weren’t derailed by my long list of food allergies. Diet/Zero Coke was one of them. If I wanted one, I would have one. If I was out at a party and didn’t want an adult beverage and there was Coke by goodness I was having a Coke Zero. I enjoyed that Coke. I go to bars and order my double Jack and Diet Coke with pride. I go to the drive through (gasp) and get a LARGE Coke, sometimes with a french fry! I even took a Diet Coke into my yoga teacher training on multiple occasions, and I wasn’t kicked out or forced to do hundred’s of chatarunga’s. I have a Coke Zero/Diet a few times a month. Why? Having a Coke reminds me of how far I have come in my recovery.
Maybe one day I will actually drink a real, cane sugar filled Coke. Probably not, but who knows. Each dollar I spend on Coke is a dollar over Melvin. So excuse me as I go take a swig of my Coke Zero. Mmm…bubbles.
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