If soda was your "thing," could you give it up?

We've got one friend formerly obsessed with cola and another devoted to the diet version.

Recently, the former gave up all sodas cold turkey in a dramatic show of solidarity with her body.

This initially concerned me because, as much as we applaud anyone doing something to bolster his or her health, the stories we've heard of people weaning themselves off soft drinks are not pleasant. Often the headaches and jitters are compared with legitimately serious withdrawal symptoms.

Of course, that's a bit hyperbolic, but we were still curious how and if she would stick with it.

That was two months ago and she seems to be doing fine. Life after soda is refreshing, she says, and swears she sleeps better.

Our other friend would never follow in her footsteps.

"I will never not drink it," she's been known to say of diet soda. "It's my thing."

The "thing" being the one vice that we're all allowed to have - though its unclear when, and by whom, that rule was decided on. In her mind, if you don't fill your lungs with tar or kill your brain cells searching for another kind of high, then drinking liquid calories mixed with teeth-rotting elixir should be given a pass.

We're avid coffee drinkers here at MEvBLOG and shouldn't cast any stones in this particular debate, except we'll lob this one. Coffee lacks high fructose corn syrup. Putting a heaping helping of that - the equivalent to about 10 teaspoons of sugar in every 12 ounce can - every day will take its toll quicker than caffeine.

Therefore, we'll stick with our alertness-increasing-yet-slow-acting addiction, thank you very much.

Diet soda isn't really any healthier of a daily treat, because there's almost nothing natural in it. Drinking it is like pouring synthetic chemicals in your mouth.

A personal trainer once said that if someone is filling themselves with something unnatural that doesn't do anything for them, there's no room left for the good stuff that actually helps.

We relayed this to our still-soda-drinking friend.

She shrugged and repeated, "It's just my thing." Meanwhile our non-soda-drinking friend is thing-less and doing just fine.

What's your "thing?" Could you give it up?