Coca-cola

Question
Hi! I'm an 18 year old female HS track runner. I run 25-30 miles per week. I eat a pretty well balanced diet, and only drink sugary drinks on rare occasions. I do not drink any sort of coffee or tea at all. My problem is that I sometimes get intense cravings for Coca-cola after a workout. I only crave coke, never anything else, despite the fact that I almost never drink soda. What could be a reason for these cravings? Thanks!

Answer
Hi Dev,

Sounds like you are in great shape and doing the right things :)

The simple answer is, Coca-cola rewards the pleasure center in your brain. There's no way to really tell whether it's because it's thirst-quenching, sweet, or contains caffeine. Many people find drinks like this to be "addictive" because they experience strong cravings, and the more they drink the more they want it.
To make it worse, if you often give in to that craving after a workout, your brain will start to connect the actions [work out ends] + [time for coke] and you will continue to have that urge to drink coke after a work out. Similar to [movie = popcorn] or [baseball game = hot dogs] or [finishing dinner = dessert], the brain just learns to connect these actions and then expect them, whether you want to crave them or not!

It's not harmful to have a coke once in a while, so it's not a problem to have a coke after a workout; just be aware that the more you do it, the harder it might be to stop if you would like to stop one day.

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