I was raised drinking soda as the default... water was never something we'd willingly drink. In middle school I noticed that every day I'd get home from school with a splitting headache and I'd take a couple of aspirin and wash it down with a Coke and the headache would go away. My parents realized that it was likely caffeine withdrawal... so instead of cutting out soda, they started getting me caffeine free soda.

It wasn't until my older brother was in his late 30s and experienced kidney failure and required a transplant that I realized I needed to make a change. I switched over to water and unsweet tea as my defaults. Even after his transplant my brother still would only drink soda... he didn't survive Covid. And today my mom routinely has kidney issues but still refuses to drink water.

Everyone in my family, except for me, has diabetes and kidney issues. I'm sure my 30+ years of daily soda drinking will catch up to me, but I do credit cutting soda out of my diet as having a major positive impact on my overall health.