PledgeBank United States
I’ll do it, but only if you’ll help

Pledge “cakeproject”

"I will stop drinking sugary drinks for three months but only if 20 other people will do the same."

— Suw (contact)

Deadline to sign up by: 22^nd November 2006
27 people signed up (7 over target)

More details
A 1000ml box of Cranberry juice contains enough sugar to bake 1.17 cakes. A 500ml bottle of Coke has the same amount of sugar as half a cake.

I am promising to give up all sugary drinks, including fruit juices and cordials, for three months in order to improve my health. I do not include drinks that include alcohol, by the way, as one has to enjoy oneself once in a while and I think giving up alcohol would be a different pledge.

There's more reasoning and information on my blog, http://chocnvodka.blogware.com/blog/_arc...

Comments on this pledge

• Would this include "no added sugar" squash? I ask because I drink that all the time!
  Allan Lewis, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Well, I deliberately left it a bit vague so people could interpret it how they like. I would say that if the squash you have has no sugar in then it it wouldn't be something to give up, but 'no added sugar' is not the same as 'no sugar'. Ultimately, though, it's your call.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Hi Allan
  
  I could be wrong, but I suspect that if it's called Squash and it's got no added sugar, it probably contains artificial sweeteners which are potentially worse for your health than sugar, so maybe if you're going to sign up, you should give up the squash...
  
  Keep up the good work everyone!
  Isabel, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Just wondered why? I mean fair enough if you want to do it for yourself to be healthier, (although for just 3 months it's debateable whether there'll be any great benefit), but why rope other people into it?
  Kath, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• good luck with your pledge, it's a good start and you never know after 3 months you might never want another sugary drink. I gave up when i went to college and i only drink water now no alcohol either!! It's worth doing and you will feel so much better, sorry i can't join the pledge but i gave my sugar up a good while ago, just wanted to say good luck all
  Ruth Hall, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Kath, getting other people to join in is the whole point of Pledgebank. The idea is that it's easier for people to do things together than alone: by finding 20 people who will join me in giving up sugary drinks I'll feel indebted to them so I'll be more able to resist temptation.
  
  As for the health benefits, the longer I stick at this the more the health benefits will accrue. But 'giving up soft drinks forever' and 'giving up soft drinks for 3 months' are two very different propositions. The latter is much easier to do - it's an attainable goal. The former is daunting and so I'd be more likely to fail.
  
  My idea is to make small, incremental changes to my diet and exercise regime that will, over time, add up to a healthier life.
  
  Now, this might not be your bag, and that's fine. But the logic seems sound to me.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Ruth, thanks for your support! I doubt I'll ever give up alcohol, but if I could give up soft drinks permanently, that'd be good!!
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Fair enough I suppose, it just seems a bit frivolous when compared to some of the other pledges on here.
  Kath, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Count me and the band in.
  The very best of luck with your pledge
  Sir Arthur Grebe-Streebling, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Does everything everyone does have to be weighty? This pledge isn't going to change the world... it's not even going to affect many people. But does that mean it's not worth doing?
  
  It may be a small change, but it's an important thing for me and I think it's worth it.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Well, my name is there. Will be hard as that would mean no expresso for me since I put sugar in there. Also no fruitjuice as that contains natural sugar... which leaves, water?
  Gerard van Schip, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Water
  Tea
  Water with a dash of lemon
  
  Fruitjuice as sold is very sugary, but I see no reason why you couldn't just eat an orange or apple or whatever instead.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• http://chocnvodka.blogware.com/blog/_arc...
  
  My 'pledge successful' post.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• bye bye fruitopia, bye bye nestea :( *sigh ah what the hell...i've already quit coke years ago :S
  silverhavrn, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• bye bye nestea :|
  silverhavrn, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• End of week 1. So far so good. There've been time when I could have killed for a Coke, like now in fact, but I've managed to resist!
  
  http://chocnvodka.blogware.com/blog/_arc...
  
  How are you getting on?
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• umm.... 1000mL = 1 Liter. Who drinks one liter at a time?
  Nicholas Kirkpatrick, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• *cough*
  
  Er... me? I mean, not in one go, but I can easily get through a litre of juice in a day.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Ten days now, and I could just kill for a glass of apple juice...
  Noirin
  Noirin Plunkett, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Oh, I know, Noirin. I've been craving fruit juices and Coke something awful. I did find a squash that was 0.2g of sugar per glass, which doesn't seem too bad, but I think I am going to try to stick to fresh lemon juice in water instead.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• I sse you're all avoiding fruit juice which I always thought was healthy. Could someone please explain the problem with drinking pure fruit juice (as opposed to 'juice drink' which has sugar added.) I know the concentrated stuff isn't so good for you, but what's wrong with the unconcentrated? I know fruit contains natural sugars but i understood it was refined sugar that was the nasty. If someone could clear this up I'd be grateful!
  Isabel, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Isabel, the reason I included fruit juices is because the amount of sugar in the fruit juices I drink is astronomical and there is no way of telling how much of that is fruit sugar and how much is refined. I'm no expert in terms of how the body digests and metabolises fruit sugars over refined sugars, but if I gave up Coke but replaced that with sugary fruit drinks, well, that wouldn't really help me cut down on the amount of calories I'm ingesting through soft drinks.
  
  I'm not saying there's anything bad about fruit sugars, this isn't a value judgement, it's just for the sake of simplicity.
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• For some reason, the blog post link in the pledge is broken, and I have no idea why. This is the correct link to that article:
  
  http://chocnvodka.blogware.com/blog/_arc...
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Happy New Year pledgers! I hope your pledge is going well. I can happily say that I survived the festive season without breaking my pledge! Yay! Just another couple of months and we're done, although I think I will almost certainly continue drinking more tea and water-with-lemon once it's over, so permanent change has been achieved.
  
  Good luck with your pledge through January and February!
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!
• Congratulations! Today is 22nd February, which means we can all go back to drinking sugary drinks if we want to! I did manage to keep to my pledge, barring one rather awkward moment that I'll explain on my blog later today, so thank you for your support. I hope you made it through to the end too!
  Suw, 2 years ago. Abusive? Report it!