I quit Diet Coke. I’ve been clean for 2 months with one lapse, where I tried to save calories at the bar and went for a Bacardi and diet. I couldn’t even finish it and have been off the sauce (the cola, that is) ever since.

Basically I have come to the conclusion that diet soda isn’t that great for you. Yes, it gives you a caffeine buzz, but there’s something I respect more about coffee and tea. I also read Skinny Bitch and the scare tactics got to me. But as I tried to keep myself from running around all jittery, I realized that leaving caffeine is a lot like ending a serious relationship. Except it can actually help stop the formation of an ulcer instead of causing it.

I’m down to one cup of coffee a day. It’s trickiest when you need little pick-me-up to get through the work day, but some things have definitely helped me transition: Read More »

Days as a Freshman: 50

Mood: Nervous

“Grace! Hey, come here! Have you heard?”

Sitting down next to Crystal and Naima, I set my plate of salad, tuna, and french fries on the table and pretended that I hadn’t eaten the same thing yesterday, the day before, and the day before that.

“I thought maybe you would have heard something…” Naima stirred her bowl of chocolate ice cream and chocolate sprinkles forcefully, whipping the whole thing into a soupy mess. Somehow, Naima could eat ice cream with every meal and never gain a stray pound.

“Heard what?” I looked down at my water glass before taking a swallow. Inspecting before drinking became a habit after finding a stray piece of someone else’s hair a few weeks before.

“The whole soccer team thing, idiot!” Crystal looked at me like I had two heads, and both of them were being stupid. “Last night, at their Thirsy Thursday party? People are saying a girl was assaulted.”

I stopped eating, my fork poised with nowhere to go. “At the soccer house?”

“Who knows what’s really true,” her appetite still in tact, Naima scooped a watery glob of ice cream into her mouth before continuing, “but people are totally talking about how this freshman maybe got rufied and woke up naked in one of the guys’s beds.” Read More »