The Soda Situation - Succulent Drinks w/o the Sweets?

Ticron asks: "Like most of you, my job and lifestyle revolves around drinking lots and lots of caffeine - usually in the form of soda. I've been trying to cut back on my sugar intake lately, and am interested in what some of you drink that isn't loaded down with the sweet stuff. Diet drinks have little to no flavor, and fruit punches have almost (sometimes more!) sugar than sodas themselves. Is there anything out there that maintains the convenience of a canned drink, but without all the sugar?"

Comments

If first you don't succeed...

[davevt5]

I write this as a suck down the sweet sweet taste of Diet Dr. Pepper. Did you know it tastes more like regular Dr. Pepper? I'm sure you have heard that, and from the sounds of it, you don't agree. I tried diet sodas on and off but, like you, I found them repulsive. Then with nothing else in the house (other than water, YUK!) I committed to finishing the case of diet that I bought. By the time I finished consuming it I honestly couldn't tell it was diet. It was as if a switch in my head went off. Ever since then regular sodas syrupy and too sweet. So, while I cannot recommend an alternative, I do encourage you to give it another try. And if you're like me, you'll stop consuming 1/2 your daily caloric intake from soft drinks. (8 sodas X 110 calories each = poking new notches in belt)

Bonus, it does/n't cause cancer! FDA Reviewing Italian Aspartame Study

Re:If first you don't succeed...

[daviddennis]

I'm not sure why this is, but I found that after swapping regular soda for diet, I had a slight reduction in my weight but it didn't last. I guess my body found some way to compensate for it, perhaps by eating more of other things.

But I did hear that soft drinks in general tend to lead to bloating. Someone more knowledgeable than I should take that ball and run with it.

I think overall, with a sedentary lifestyle and compulsive urges to snack, the programmer fight against obesity is a pretty difficult one, unless there is some positive incentive (like a girl) involved.

However, it's interesting to note that I lost huge amounts of weight - about half of my total fat - when I vacationed in the Philippines for three weeks. Smaller food portions and having a temporary girlfriend who cared about me and wanted me to lose weight really helped. Her secret was that she did it in an affectionate and teasing way, which I responded to, instead of the usual punitive reaction of Americans. This is why there are so many men looking for Filipina wives!

Another interesting fact is that to manufacturer soft drinks down to a price, they cheap out on the ingredients, so a "Coke Light" in the Philippines, while ostensibly the same product as a "Diet Coke" in the US, actually tastes quite a bit different, even a little strange. This probably helped curb my soft drink appetite.

I think, then, that developing interests outside of the computing realm might actually be the best way to lose weight. Anything that takes you away from the desk and too-available snack foods is probably a good thing.

Until I return to the Philippines in November, I plan to take up boating, with the hopes that it will get me out on the water and more keen to do things away from the computer and the snack jar. We'll see how well it works.

After November, well, two months of doing what I did in the Philippines should have me down to fighting trim. That sure will be strange, but I know the Filipinas will appreciate it.

D

Re:If first you don't succeed...

[Leibel]

Why don't you try drinking a case worth of water and see if it's still yuk by the end of it? You may be surprised. After all, you were with the diet soft drink :)

Re:If first you don't succeed...

[tverbeek]

I remember trying beer and thinking it tasted disgusting. I got used to it. :)

Have you tried actually quitting the fructose sludge? Doing the old side-by-side taste test is a good way to pick which one you like better, but this is about something bigger: your waistline (and perhaps the health of your pancreas). If someone wants to get rid of a major source of empty calories, they have to at least try committing to it.

uhhh

[viperstyx]

how bout coffee...

Re:uhhh

[pbhj]

>>> "How bout... nothing?"

Sounds like you're probably dehydrated. You should take on about 30-50 ml per kg of fluid per day to maintain hydration levels. So, 70 kg -> 2.8 litres, admittedly some of that can come from foodstuffs (cucumber is nearly all water for example).

In answer to your question ... I think the tea drinking habit is a socialising / work avoidance tactic. One can't sit for 8 hours working without dying of boredom, making a hot drink is accepted as reason to leave your desk / station. It's unfortunate that a mass addiction to caffeine is the result.

Water

[BobPaul]

I know, it doesn't fit the requirements capture (being tasteless) but I would highly recommend water. Tap, preferably because it's cheap, but bottled is good too. If you can get used to it you'll save a bundle and it's a lot healther (and generally more refreshing.)

Otherwise, my favorite beverage is milk, but that's not very convienient.

Give it up. Honestly

[Toveling]

Giving up soda (really, caffeine in general) is really a great thing. You feel better overall, and your waking hours feel much more... Awake. But, I'd also suggest tea. No sugar at all. Iced tea is really refreshing, and you get your caffeine (if you want, unlike sodas there is no taste sacrifice for decafe).

Re:Give it up. Honestly

[MrResistor]

Excellent points have been made by all the previous respondants, I'll just add that even the carbonation is bad for you: it strips calcium from your body.

I made the switch to water a few years back, and while it took a little bit to get used to, after a couple of weeks I felt much better, was more productive, and had a couple more dollars left in my pocket at the end of every day. I didn't notice a drop in my weight, but I never really paid much attention to that anyway (IMO it's a poor measure of "health", which is what really matters.)

Re:There is a saying I go by.

[hackstraw]

I actually like Crystal Light Orange drink and lemon drink. They are fairly sweet tasting, but the sugar intake isn't so bad. They also come in neat single services that you can put in bottled water.

I'm curious what the infatuation is with at least Americans and hummingbird types of refreshment.

2 or 3 generations ago, soft drinks were more like a luxury or occasional beverage. Children used to drink more milk than soda.

Now, it seems like these void of nutrition, unhealthy, and weight/diabetes creating drinks are required to be at our side during waking hours.

I believe that even diet drinks cause weight gain due to the change in metabolism due to the body's perception of their actually being real sweet (fructose or sucrose) content in there. (Its common perception to give the diet drink to fat people and a regular drink to a thin person.)

Believe it or not, your body is thirsty for water, not a hummingbird solution.

Sweets are appealing because a few years ago, sweet fruits were those that were at the peak of their ripeness and had the most nutrients in them. Now, sweets are meaningless and unhealthy.