I recently received my December issue of Health magazine, and as usual, skimmed through the whole magazine before I read each individual article. Under the "Healthy Body and Mind" section, my eyes caught the attention of a small boxed questionnaire: "Do I have a drinking problem?" Of course I was intrigued because if I replaced alcohol with my Diet Pepsi/Coke fetish, it could well apply.
Well, to find out for yourself, ask yourself these 4 questions:
1. Have I ever felt I should cut down on my drinking? Sometimes. When I realized that drinking a Diet Pepsi/Coke right before bed helps me fall asleep, I've thought maybe I need to cut back... It does NOTHING to keep me awake. Or now that my children love it more than Sprite! Ouch.
2. Have people annoyed me by criticizing my drinking? Well, no, not until my younger brother criticized me for drinking two full large Diet Cokes from McD's in a sitting...Hey it's better than the regular version.
3. Have I ever felt bad or guilty about my drinking? Does going to Harmon's multiple times during the week when they have their 5 for $12 sale on the 12 packs and I get cash out so that Darrin doesn't know how many times I went to stock up count???
4. Have I ever had a drink first thing in the morning to steady my nerves or to get ride of a hangover? Most definitely!!!!!
Editor's note-As much as I rationalize my drinking problem (diet cola that is), I do believe that there could be a lot worse things I could be drinking. I figure, as long as I can remain sane, healthy, and there for my children, hey, what's a couple of diet Pepsi's a day to get me through. (Also, I do make sure that I get 8-10 glasses of water throughout the day as well.) According to the article, if you answer "yes" to two or more questions, you should get help. For those of you: "Cheers!"
