Growing up, my family drank some soft drinks, but limited our intake far more than other families around us. I have a distinct memory of going to a restaurant, our whole family ordering milk, and the waitress commenting how we must be a health-nut family. I was so embarrassed because I felt that drinking soft drinks was what normal or even cool people did. At a younger age I understood that soft drinks were unhealthy, but I did not see any correlation between the people who drank soft drinks and their health. The athletic kids didn't avoid sugary drinks so there was a disconnect between what I "knew" and what I saw.
Through college and early adulthood I didn't binge on soft drinks, but I didn't hold back either. They were included in the lunch plan in the school cafeteria, they were a cheap treat at home, and I could get them free at work. In the years after college I gained quite a bit of weight, but I started very skinny and my vitals on my doctor visits in my twenties were always fine. So, why not get refills on my Coke or Pepsi when out to dinner?
I've already gone through a phase where I limited my soft drinks but still drank more than I should. I also went through a phase where I drank Diet Pepsi for a while. I never thought that I would be in my current state, though, where I might have a can of some soft drink every two weeks to a month. We don't even buy soft drinks in our house any more unless we're having company, which an earlier version of myself would have found insane.
In our office we get drinks stocked by what people want and actually drink. We used to fly through Coke, Pepsi, and root beer, but people in the office don't drink it in any volume any more. As of late this means that we get a lot of Le Croix and Diet Mt. Dew. I don't drink a lot of the La Croix and I don't even like regular Mt. Dew (let alone the diet version), however I have zero complaints about what is stocked because I wouldn't drink the regular soft drinks even if they were available.
These trends are occurring nationwide as well. Coke and Pepsi are relying more on their diet soft drinks and other alternatives to their traditional soft drinks to drive profit. This is odd to me because I grew up thinking of drinking soft drinks as the normal and cool thing to do, and now it's more cool to order flavored seltzer.
All of this is probably a good thing. Seltzer has to be more healthy than cola. I'm just struck by how things change for me and for society at large, over something as pervasive as what we regularly drink.
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