Russell’s Real Lives

Russell Hemmings Real Lives

Diet Soda Addiction Conquered...


It was great to be back in the UK for a swift visit this week. I was there primarily to work with a Freedom From Fear of Flying client, but it also gave me a space to check in with a few of my other UK clients to see how they were doing. One of whom is a wonderful lady called Claire Ayton.

A couple of years ago Claire came to see me with a serious problem; she was addicted to drinking diet soda. Unbelievably, when I first met her she was consuming four litres every single day and had been for the past ten years! That means she had already drunk an astonishing 14,600 litres of the stuff.

Headaches, low energy and weight gain were making her feel miserable. In fact, when Claire had first started drinking diet soda, she had done so because she thought it would help her control her weight. However, her addiction to the aspartame found in diet drinks had caused her to crave other high sugar foods and she had ended up 20 kilos heavier.

Using my specialist hypnosis techniques, I was able to help Claire break free of her addiction for good. Her lifestyle had also become very sedentary. Because she was so tired from her addiction, she had slipped into a routine of sitting on the sofa watching TV and eating junk. To bring about real change in her life, I knew I had to help her tackle this too using one-to-one coaching.

Now she’s a healthy weight, she exercises regularly and the best thing of all is that now she sticks to water and has completely kicked her addiction into touch. It was great to find out that she’s still on track and living a healthy life…

“I don’t know why, but I actually never thought I had an addiction until I went to see Russell. Despite the strange looks I used to get in the supermarket when people would see my trolley high with bottle upon bottle of diet soda, I just thought that was normal for me. I didn’t put two and two together and make four, I just kept visiting my doctor, because I felt so dreadfully lethargic and kept developing dreadful headaches, which was affecting my work and home life. I actually went to see Russell, because I was at the end of my tether with my health issues. He’s incredibly thorough with his questions about lifestyle and when I casually revealed how much diet soda I drank a day everything made sense to him!”

"I’m so grateful I went to see him. It really has changed my life for the better. I’ve lost weight, I feel energized, the headaches have gone and he’s taught me how to live a healthy life that fits in with my own life. I love exercise now and he’s shown me how incorporate it into my daily routine without it being a big deal or too onerous. But the best thing is, I couldn’t even bear the thought of putting another diet drink to my lips, let alone tasting it. That’s what the hypnosis has done for me. It completely changed the way I think and put me off soda for good! – Thank you Russell."


Russell helped Claire overcome her addiction to sugary drinks, and he can help you too. Please call to discover how.

Russell Hemmings is a world renowned life coach and hypnotherapist working with clients on a range of issues from his bases in Dubai and the UK.

Back to Russell’s Real Lives