Possible replacements for diet soft drinks?

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I'm absoloutely awful with diet coke/pepsi, and I drink way too much of it. I know how bad it is for me, but I just need to drink something other than water (I like water, but drinking nothing BUT would be boring) and I don't get hungry as much as I do thirsty, so I need to have something to drink. I've tried getting fizzy water then combining it with different juices but I can always taste the fizzy water "first" and don't get anything from the fruit juices Does anyone have any suggestions?

what about still water (that's the correct word for water without bubbles?)
mix with lemon juice or whatever
fruit juices
vegetable juices like tomato, carrot (I hate the taste, but maybe you like them)

greyh I used to be like you at your age. I wouldn't drink any liquid except soft drink or alcohol. But getting older I got a lot more health conscious and now I basically only live on water and milk and the occasional juice when I am at home. I save a lot of money that way too. When I eat subway I buy Powerade (an energy drink in Australia) and I drink soft drink when I'm offered it at a friends house or the occasional McValue meal at Maccas.

So I'd say if you are healthy don't worry too much your addiction might disappear over time and worry about it later. In the meantime just substitute the occaasional soft drink glass with water. If you dont think you're that healthy then I'd consider a lifestyle change, not just what you drink but your diet and exercise, etc.

When you drink water, are you drinking spring water. Tastes better, squeeze some fresh lemon in it. At a restaurant you can ask for fresh lemon wedge with your water.

Lemonade: FRESH! (not bottled or preserved) lemon juice with water, sweetened with xylitol (a fruit concentrate that neither increases your blood sugar nor makes you acidic, like soda does) or agave nector/syrup.

Hot or iced teas: Herbal teas, hot or cold, sweetened, again, with xylitol or agave syrup. Get all kinds of flavors and try different ones for iced tea. Peppermint and ginger are especially good for you.

Make tea with grated ginger and drink hot, add xylitol or agave syrup as desired, and chill if you want. Could add a squeeze of lemon too.

Iced "coffee": Teechino, a very rich coffee substitute, you can make chilled.

I don't know if natural sparkling waters are as bad as soda. Let me know if you find out. The main problem with soda is that it is extremely acidifying. If you cannot resist drinking it, then make sure you have planty of vegetables, salads, greens, lemon and grapeftuit (strangely, these metabolize as alkaline), berries, almonds, avocado, watermelon, yams, acorn squash. (Search the internet for alkalinizing foods).

Good luck.

I don't like fruit juices so much because (1. bottle they're preserved, which requires cooking them and makes them acidic), but even fresh they are concentrated and therefore high glycemic (raise your blood sugar quick, as does soda). Lemonade is ok, because you're usually adding water to dilute it.

Vegetable juices are a little better, but don't taste too good unless you use the high glycemic ones like carrot and beet, which raises your blood sugar too fast.

Water is good for your system and body.

Pressé is nice, it's just like sparkling water with juice but you can't taste the water - posh but nice.

Can you find a cordial? You can get some pretty basic organic ones these days that when combined with sparkling water are very close to a normal soda.

Organic ginger beer?

Make smoothies! Get a blender or one of those sticks with the spinning blades at the bottom, and in a jug put:
2 bananas
orange juice
apple juice
and whatever else you want to add. I'd recommend pineapples/pineapple juice, passionfruit, mango purée, coconut milk, berries of varying kinds (blueberries and raspberries are great), and if you want to make it super good add spirulina powder (it makes it very green and slimy looking but is very good for you and tastes great) or ground flaxseeds.

Then just whizz it up and drink it. You can use literally any kind of fruit and soft vegetable like tomatoes, salad greens etc to make any combination of smoothies. Just experiment with them until you come up with something you like. It's fun getting creative and they're very quick and easy.

Iced tea might be worth a try.

L.

Fizzy water used to be kind of weird tasting to me too. But at that point I was drinking a lot of soda (real soda, with high fructose corn syrup)

eventually after I started to get cavities again I dropped sugar soda altogether cold turkey. I don't drink diet because nutrasweet tastes weird to me and that's all they sell in diet soda around here.

I tried fizzy water again after a while and it tasted a lot better. My theory is that when you just load up your tongue with sugar soda all the time (or diet soda, I guess) nothing else tastes really right anymore.

Plus, now fruit tastes a lot sweeter and I find I only need one packet of sugar in iced tea.

Oh, and I suggest iced tea also. If you don't like iced tea that comes prepackaged (a lot of it tastes pretty awful and is just as sweet as soda) just buy regular tea and try brewing it yourself - you can adjust the strength and the taste is usually a lot better.

I too recognise the aversion to soda substitutes. However I have beaten the soda cravings by simply not wanting sugar or poison (almost all artificial sweeteners are hazardous to human health) in my body. I drink water only (no soda, no milk, no juice), and if I want something sweet, I go for the real thing - raw fruit.

Ice water has a distinctly different taste than regular cold water. I actually get cravings now for ice water, often drinking it down quickly and then going for multiple refills of it even though I'm not thirsty.

Teas (white, red, black, green, yerba mate, etc.)
coffee
instant drink
sports drinks (G2)
milk
vegetable drinks
fresh squeezed juice

Water
VitaminWater
Any type of bottled water

I suggest tea, there are thousands of types of teas out there all I can say is get your rear in gear you got lots of teas to try.


By the way I would suggest you try Mayan cocoa spice by "Yogi Tea", add a little milk two packets of splenda yum yum.

^I'd give the same advice, except the Splenda(Sucratose) sweetener, go with real sugar or fructose instead.

I mostly drink water and tea. I'll occasionally have a soda, juice, or what we call a slushie/icee which is basically finely crushed ice with a flavored syrup.

I am diabetic and was drinking to much diet coke, so I started drinking green chinese tea, I drink alot of Gun Powder tea, which is very strong, and jasmine tea which has a lighter taste, it has a little caffeine, but it sure beats drinking anything with aspertame in it, artificial sweeteners do nothing for weight loss, and in fact may contribute to obesity.

I don't drink soda. It's really bad for you so you're wise to want to quit.

I drink distilled water (it has a much better taste than tap water), fruit herbal teas, and juice. But I drink LOTS of water... I bet once you get in the habit you might enjoy it. I used to dislike drinking water.

You could also buy a juicer and try things like fresh carrot juice and fresh apple juice... it tastes nothing like the grocery store stuff. It's really amazing tasting, and good for you!