Alas, an experience in 2009 or so with a Schatzki ring and the endoscopy & dilation to suppress it pretty much eliminated my consumption of carbonated beverages. Alcohol in any form holds no power over me, I simply have no interest in it. But give me a two-liter bottle of Coke, Pepsi, RC or Jolt cola and you will find it empty very soon.
I had to look up “Schatzki ring”. Ick. That sounds
very unpleasant.
(Incidentally, everything I listed, other than my gripe about the very existence of spiked Hires — which I refuse to touch — is all non-alcoholic.)
I grew up in the household of an (abusive) alcoholic. Surviving that taught me very early to not keep alcohol in my home. There are two, limited exceptions: if I host a supper and the guest brings a bottle of wine to pair with the meal I’m cooking, to be shared and consumed entirely with the meal; or, the one time in a year — typically on a provincial, federal, or American presidential election night — when I pick up a couple (as in, exactly two cans) of apple ciders on the day of. That’s it.
One holiday about a decade ago, I was gifted a bottle of single-malt whisky (one aged as old as a teenager). That was… awkward. I promptly brought the bottle with me, as a guest, to a subsequent holiday gathering a couple of days later, hosted by a different circle of people and volunteered to leave the just-opened bottle with them (to which they expressed no objection at all).
In my case, I just strive to keep the home a dry place, given long memory of that parent’s clandestine alcoholism and frequent display of “everyday alcohol” to normalize its presence before us, the kids. It was a messed up environment.
At the worst, I could devour a 24-can pack of soda within a day and a half. Now, this side of 50 (53) my body can barely tolerate one a day. So, I have turned to iced tea as my alternative and try not to think about or buy soda at all. When you get to the point that Coke or Pepsi begins to taste like cold medicine you know you crossed the line a while back.
Indeed! My palate now find colas to be syrupy-sweet (and that’s the case when it’s not packed with glucose-fructose or HFCS!). I can’t have a soft drink, like Coke, without some kind of food to counter the sweetness. Suddenly, it’s begun to make sense how the birth of colas occurred in the same place where cough syrup would get prepared and sold!
I now have what I feel is an intolerance for HFCS (High Fructose Corn Syrup) and it will do me in now most of the time.
Yup. HFCS is nasty, nasty stuff. Best avoided, where possible.
The avoidance of glucose-fructose and HFCS is why, I think, I still have a soft spot for the root/birch/maple/spruce beers I do: all share the same, common sweetening ingredient of sugar cane; the carbonation for root beer also tends to be less powerful so than for colas or canned sparkling waters (such La Croix or Mendota Springs, the latter of which has never been sold in Canada).
One of the consequences of my years of soda addiction is the twice daily taking of 20mg of Omeprazol (Prilosec) which I have been on since 2009. Without it, I risk the acid from my stomach once again burning my throat and causing another Schatzki Ring. I'd rather not.
Yikes.
Totally understandable.
