Most people wake themselves up in the morning with a cup of coffee, but one woman has divided the internet with her preference for morning soda—and a lot of it.
Rebecca Gordon (@beccers_gordonn on TikTok) heads to the gas station at 6:50 a.m. each morning to collect 42 ounces of soda from a fountain machine into two insulated water bottles.
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Many TikTok users were shocked by the teacher's habit, though others resonated with the woman's early morning fizz quench. The viral video in which Gordon fills her cups with 1.24 liters of Diet Mountain Dew has amassed over 47,000 likes and has been shared over 2,000 times so far since being posted last week.
Gordon captioned her video, "Gas station runs before school give me motivation to get out of bed," and wrote in a text overlay, "This is the epitome of my morning every day at 6:50 a.m. Good ole 42 ounces of soda before heading to school."
@beccers_gordonn Gas station runs before school give me motivation to get out of bed @HYDROJUG @FITCRUNCH @Chevron @Mountain Dew #teacher #teachermorningroutine #gasstation #soda #teachersoftiktok
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The video begins with the cheerful teacher heading into the gas station with her cups and loading up with ice before heading to the soda fountain, where she fills one to the brim with Diet Mountain Dew.
After filling the cup, she adds a squirt of diet coconut syrup to the concoction, grabs a protein bar and then pays at the checkout before continuing her commute.
Many viewers were left bewildered by her wake-up call drink of choice.
One TikTok user said: "Drinking Mountain Dew at 7am is WILD."
Another questioned: "Soda in the morning?"
A nutritionist commented: "Cries in nutritionist."
Gordon defended her actions saying: "Sometimes coffee makes me feel bloated, but I guess drinking diet soda instead of coffee is like a crime!"
Despite seeming like an unusual habit, one TikToker shed light on why the woman's location might have shaped her habit.
Gordon confirmed in the comments section that she lives in Utah, and one commenter revealed she had completed a "deep dive" into Mormon culture, where drinking coffee, other hot drinks, caffeine, and alcohol is frowned upon. Though some soda contains caffeine, in 2012, the church tweaked the rules to allow the consumption of caffeine in cold drinks, according to the magazine Food Republic.
It is unclear if Gordon is Mormon.
Dirty soda is a Utah beverage phenomenon that peaked in popularity in December 2021 after pop star Olivia Rodrigo posted the drink, which consists of soda, coffee creamer, fruits, and syrup over ice.
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However, the normalization of heavy soda consumption has sparked the concerns of health experts.
Salt Lake City's local radio station KSL NewsRadio uncovered that 30.1 percent of Utah has prediabetes, and drinking full-fat soda is one of the main causes, according to Sara Faucett, a dietician nutritionist with Intermountain Health.
Newsweek reached out to Gordon for comment via email. We could not verify the details of the case.
Uncommon Knowledge
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
Newsweek is committed to challenging conventional wisdom and finding connections in the search for common ground.
