We have cut back on sugar in our household, also gluten and dairy, and I have had little to no allergies this year! We also splurge on some local honey.
I think artifical sweetners make you crave more sweetness because your body demands carbs and you instead give it chemicals. You are just fooling your tastebuds. I have heard artifical sweetners aggravate fibromyalga (sp?) so it may be possible those aches and pains you are feeling are from that diet soda.
I refuse to buy bottled water and hate having to buy and carry stuff "to drink". I have a Brita pitcher and refill water bottles. We also get 100% fruit juice and mix it half with water (it's the same exact thing as light.) I honestly am a stickler for buying things "to drink", for a country where everyone gets clean drinkable water piped into their homes we sure blow a lot of $$ on stuff "to drink". Of course, beer is a different story...
I don't recommend anyone try kicking their sugar habit in just one day, try cutting back here and there and hopefully you will find yourself craving it less.
We cut back how much sugar we put in our morning coffee or tea just by using a little less each day, and since we do no dairy we get vanilla soy or almond milk and it had a little sugar in it already.
All of this thread has discussed sugar in what we drink. How about what you eat? I am the person who "reads the lease" so I will read food labels and find a lot of stuff has one thing or another in it to sweeten it...