Replace Soda With What?

[Glongpre]

The strange thing? It gives me more gas than carbonated drinks.

The internet told me that drinking water activates your digestive system to start doing work, so after you drink water it makes you feel like you should take a shit.
And that is my experience with it so far. I always drink a 600-700 mL when I wake up to hydrate, and also so my body thinks it is time to poop. Because not having to worry about pooping during the day is the best.

Do you know how many half empty bottles or cups of water have just sit next to me? It really is not for a lack of trying.

Be consistent for at least 2 weeks, and see how you feel. I bet you will feel better in general.
I basically drink only water now, with the occasional tea, or coffee.
I used to hate drinking water, because it only tasted good when I was dehydrated from sports. But I made it a habit to drink it more, and I feel way better.

 

[cthulhuspawn82]

What about those little bottles of "water flavorings"? Things like this.

http://www.makeitmio.com/?gclid=CM65o4_PvdECFUlNfgodwh4CZg&gclsrc=aw.ds
or this
http://www.margaritavillefoods.com/products.html?category=88

I wouldn't drink juice, it has calories. I dont drink calories.

 

[Mechamorph]

I can recommend some Asian style drinks like ice lemon tea (a somewhat different beast than that consumed in say, the Southern USA) or iced milo (chocolate flavoured drink). If you want something with little to no sugar, you can try barley water or chrysanthemum tea. Some companies sell these in cans or packets which make them more convenient than making them by the jug full.

 

[EternallyBored]

Is there anything wrong with those flavored club soda bottles? They basically taste like soda to me, and have 0 calories and sugar. I get that sugar is addictive, lord knows I can't refuse a piece of cake whenever our office has a birthday party, but people are right when they say it's really easy to overdo it on the sugar when it come to drinks whether you enjoy it or not, it might be something you have to build a habit for like quitting smoking, you gotta overcome that initial hurdle so your sense of taste can normalize, if unsweetened drinks taste that bad it might take some cold turkey quitting to get your body to reject liquids that don't have a metric asston of sugar in them.

I'm sort of guessing though, even in my teenage years when I downed Dr. pepper like it was going out of style, I still enjoyed a tall glass of unsweetened iced tea or plain water.

 

[gsilver]

I've been drinking a lot of peppermint tea recently. No caffeine and tastes really good.
Add a packet of sugar, if you have to. 4 grams and plenty sweet.

 

[Souplex]

I'm fond of tea.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Not picking on OP specifically, but I always find people who talk about how boring water is pretty funny. What a first world problem to have, that the most important substance to consume in the world that so many people go without every day is the thing you get all whiny about. But how can we live without our delicious processed sugar drinks?!!!

Yep, this. You guys can stop trying to wrap your heads around the riddle of the healthiest sugar drink, because there isn't one. You can drink water/tea or other zero sugar beverages, or you can just pick whatever sugar bomb tastes best to you and ride the sugar high all the way to heart disease, type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, and an ever expanding waistband.

If you absolutely love pops and fruit juices and cannot bear to be without them, have a little bit, now and then. Treat it like a dessert you have once or twice a week. You drink that shit with every meal and you're setting yourself up for some ugly surprises later in life.

Finally some decent advice. When it comes down to it, even fruit juices that have no added sugar are still full of... you guessed it, sugar. Because fruit.

Everything in moderation as Guppy says above. I indulge in an occasional glass of apple cider or soda but that just can't be your main source of hydration. Mix some lemon or lime juice in with your water and suck it up buttercup. Sometimes a little personal responsibility and self control is the only real prescription.

If you're willing to ignore the effects of artificial sweeteners you might want to try V8 Diet Splash. It's a pretty sweet fruit juice but it has 10 calories.

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Is there anything wrong with those flavored club soda bottles? They basically taste like soda to me, and have 0 calories and sugar.

It depends. If you're buying simple seltzer/soda water with the ingredient list saying just "carbonated water, natural flavors" then you're all good. A lot of bottled carbonated water though isn't seltzer/soda and is labeled flavored water. These usually have a longer ingredient list that has things like aspartame and ascorbic acid. They have a much stronger flavor but it's due to artificial sweeteners.

 

[EternallyBored]

Is there anything wrong with those flavored club soda bottles? They basically taste like soda to me, and have 0 calories and sugar.

It depends. If you're buying simple seltzer/soda water with the ingredient list saying just "carbonated water, natural flavors" then you're all good. A lot of bottled carbonated water though isn't seltzer/soda and is labeled flavored water. These usually have a longer ingredient list that has things like aspartame and ascorbic acid. They have a much stronger flavor but it's due to artificial sweeteners.

True enough, although aspartame is better than regular sugar if you are trying to avoid weight gain, but then you might as well just be drinking diet soda I guess. The flavored club soda is usually in the alcohol aisle at the stores I go to as they sell it as a mixer, by itself I find it's pretty good if you are looking for the fizz of soda without the calories and sugar. Saelune said he wasn't drinking it for the fizz, but for other people trying to cut back on sugary soda drinks I find it helps.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

True enough, although aspartame is better than regular sugar if you are trying to avoid weight gain, but then you might as well just be drinking diet soda I guess. The flavored club soda is usually in the alcohol aisle at the stores I go to as they sell it as a mixer, by itself I find it's pretty good if you are looking for the fizz of soda without the calories and sugar. Saelune said he wasn't drinking it for the fizz, but for other people trying to cut back on sugary soda drinks I find it helps.

Yeah I love carbonated water. It's a nice "special" drink for when I want something with a little pizazz to accompany meals and what not. I don't think anyone wants their entirely daily allowance of water to be carbonated, but here and there is perfectly fine. As long as one follow's Jumbo Palace's advice and makes sure they're drinking carbonated water, and not some other kind of artificially sweetened garbage. I think the jury is still out on whether or not sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose stimulate insulin secretion. Some say yes, some say not so much. If yes, then consumption of large amounts of artificial sweeteners is still going to have long term complications for your endocrine system and will likely influence weight gain.

 

[the December King]

I think the jury is still out on whether or not sweeteners like aspartame and sucralose stimulate insulin secretion. Some say yes, some say not so much. If yes, then consumption of large amounts of artificial sweeteners is still going to have long term complications for your endocrine system and will likely influence weight gain.

I find aspartame has a distinct taste to it and cannot abide it, as well.

 

[BloatedGuppy]

I find aspartame has a distinct taste to it and cannot abide it, as well.

Personally it aggravates the shit out of my stomach, so I stay away from it as well. I used Stevia when I made some coconut flour muffins. That was OK. Some people find it tastes a bit odd.

 

[TechNoFear]

Do you know how many half empty bottles or cups of water have just sit next to me? It really is not for a lack of trying.

Keep trying to switch to water, it takes a while to retrain your taste buds but IME eventually you get used to it.

I also switched to skim milk and now full cream milk tastes weird, too thick and creamy.