Any soda junkies out there?

Here's the problem(s). Two things make you gain weight, carbs and sugar. Doctors/Scientists have found that sugar is one of the few things that "cancer cells" can use as fuel to grow. In fact a machine (kind of like an x ray machine) was designed to track sugar in the human body and they found that they could give a patient 1/2 bar of Hersheys chocolate and within 15 minutes they could pin point the cancer cells because the cancer cells will "light up" basically because they use sugar as their main source of fuel. So, for that reason alone I would avoid sugar at all cost. Secondly, the human body (in the absence of sugar) will convert carbs into sugar. So even if you don't eat sugar your body can still convert carbs into sugar.
It's good that the OP is doing his best to avoid sugar but without sugar your body will crave "more" carbs to compensate. It's a struggle to say the least!!
Also, sugar causes inflammation in the human body, this has been accepted fact for a good long time. If you have any intestinal issues "sugar' is the worst thing you can eat.

There's a lot more to this story but I don't want to take away from the OP's efforts.

Cheers,
Treblig