Get Addicted. Oh, and Go Red.

Once upon a time, a young girl named Katherine up and went to college. The land of dining hall buffets proved to be a worthy opponent for this former athlete ... the dining hall won Round 1 in the Fall, sadly. Beyond the new-found biscuits n' gravy and peanut butter sandwiches for three meals a day, however (and vastly increased trips to the campus gym, haha), a great discovery loomed.

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Endless and free Diet Coke.
Oh my word.

I was not a huge soda drinker in high school. It wasn't until those wonderful soda fountains in school did I become what most of my Georgia Tech friends will remember me as -- a complete, 100% tried-and-true Diet Coke addict.

It was actually quite an easy transition from normal person to DC Addict, mind you. We spent a lot of social time in the dining halls with friends after classes (darn you, Freshman 15!) and so many, many refills were had, as were to-go cups. I was waking up for 8am classes and jolting myself with a DC and oatmeal. When I was working the early morning orientation sessions, I had a clipboard in one hand and a DC in the other as early as 5:15AM. Moving off campus just increased my need; soon I was that girl doing the Buy 3-Get 1 Free deals of DC cases at the store. I learned to have other sodas on hand for when friends came over, just in case (gasp) they didn't actually prefer DC themselves.

When I got into the adult world, I was forced to scale back. For one, sodas weren't free any longer. Refills meant a trip to the food courts downstairs, easily a 15-minute venture when I often didn't have a minute to spare. Spare change isn't often found in my wallet, either, so the vending machines saved their sodas for others. I got down to one or two sodas per day, and life was good. Withdrawl headaches shrank, as did the jitters (seriously, this stuff is crack). I was a normal person again.

Enter today's office: they offer, get this, free soda. I am have no chance. I have already (accidentally) increased back up to 3 a day, including one first thing in the mornings. I got a withdrawl headache today for the first time in months. But here's the catch -- I want to regulate it this time. I don't want to give it up completely like some of you (crazy people) might suggest, because an ice-cold Diet Coke is almost heavenly for a person watching what they eat. It is zero points of a total splurge. If I can keep it to 3 a day, I might have a chance, and can still enjoy the little treat to myself.

Otherwise, watch out. Because no-DC-Katherine is not a really fun version of me to bump into.

This post is really, really (really) loosely tied to the fact that tomorrow, Friday 2/4, is Go Red for Women Day, an awareness campaign for heart disease. Diet Coke has been a big supporter of the movement for a number of years, and their logo on the can today jolted my inspiration :) So remember your red tomorrow and wear it proud! And sip some DC while you are at it, haha.