Diet Coke bad...Aspartame bad, right? What do I drink then?

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

I dont have a weight problem, but I dont want to gain weight either.

I am addicted to DC, the caffeine would be a tough one to get away from.

I dont want to drink coffee or hot drinks, willing to drink teas bought in bottles at stores, but almost all have sugar and the few that dont have no artificial sweetener and arent tasty.

So ASPARTAME is the real bad one, right?

Sweet n Low doesnt have Aspartame, but I assume it is bad too.

I need caffeine and as little calories as possible and cold and I am not going to make it myself, have to buy it pre-made in can or bottle.

Am I shit out of luck?

[noamnety]

1. I don't think you'll like the correct answer

which is to retrain your taste buds so you don't need your drinks sweetened.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

2. I am already considering that...sweet n low is out too, i guess...at least non sweetened teas

in bottles in stores exist...

[hollysmom]

3. I drink local lemonade with some good for you sweetener and a dollop of sugar so like 10 calories

Oh and I drink it diluted. Stevea - that is what is in it.
personally, the sweetener that kills me is Sorbitol - gives me horrible gas pains and diarrhea.
Aspartame should be kept from small kids and not be used if more than 6 months on the shelf because it will break down your synapses I think.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

4. Help me with these names, is local lemonade a brand or just that you make it at home and

good for you sweetener, where can I get that?

That is Stevia?

Is that something I can get in grocery store?

found Stevia on Amazon, will look at grocery store as well

[hollysmom]

5. trader Joe lo cal lemonade.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

7. LOL lo cal, i thought local...i dont have a trader joes but we go out of town often where

there is one

thanks, sincerely, for the recommendation

I will get the tea and stevia...

[noamnety]

6. Stevia is a plant you can grow in your garden

and if you bite into just the tiniest little corner of a leaf of it, it seriously tastes like you ate a mouthful of sugar. It's crazy how sweet it is.

Zevia is a brand of soda that uses stevia as a sweetener, the big grocery stores around here carry it, and you might have to look for it in the natural food section if it isn't in the regular soda section. It also has erythritol as a sweetener.

Or you can buy packets of stevia and add it to unsweetened tea yourself. (But I still say you'd be better off just drinking unsweetened beverages.)

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

8. Thanks for this too, will look for Zevia

[roody]

9. coffee or tea, make it yourself

[PennyK]

10. They make "Diet Coke with Splenda"

I don't think it's quite as bad as aspartame.
Me, I like iced coffee and iced tea, and I almost always make my own, but when I'm out I use Splenda.

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

11. huh?

i will look for that...anybody know about splenda as in bad too or not?

[AwakeAtLast]

32. Coke Zero is made with Splenda.

And I think it tastes better.

I'm drinking 64 oz. or more of water a day. I don't really miss soda. I do drink coffee in the morning.

This bottle has helped me tremendously!

https://www.liveinfinitely.com/collections/fruit-infused-water-bottles/products/copy-of-34oz-sports-water-bottle-with-fruit-infuser-time-markings-shaker-ball?

[TexasBushwhacker]

16. Diet Rite soda is made with Splenda too

The problem is that not many grocers carry it.

[noella17]

12. Ditch the caffeine.

It seems impossible (I say this as I sit here sipping coffee, LOL) but it's not. You may not have a weight problem right now but you say you want to maintain your weight. Caffeine increases our cortisol levels and that is said to increase weight. Maybe not right away but little by little. Plus, it has other negative effects.

You were asking about lemonade and it's so easy, quick and way more delicious with FRESH lemons! I think another aspect of maintaining healthy weight and health in general is making things yourself.

I have made a cool and refreshing drink called Green Lemonade. I squeeze a lemon (or lime) into a pint of distilled or reverse osmosis (or spring) water, add stevia ground leaves (NOT the extract, which does not have the therapeutic value) and it's a nice sugar-free alternative to white sugar. However, if you are going to use stevia, you normally will do it in tandem with a less refined or healthier sweetener such as raw honey, Sucanat or turbinado sugar, possibly agave (it has mixed reviews). Splenda is NOT natural.

[PassingFair]

13. I beat the Diet Coke habit and found water. Here's what I did:

This won't help replace your caffeine. Maybe Sugar-Free Red Bull?

I was probably drinking a liter of Diet Coke a day.
I was feeling VERY bloated at the end of each day.
It was suggested that I try getting off of the Diet Coke.

I am particularly fond of a British drink called Ribena.
I buy it in an undiluted form. It is VERY high in calories.
A 600ml bottle has 1,380 calories.

(While looking for the picture, I see that it is available in a low/no sugar-added
variety! I don't think any store will carry it in this country. )

Good thing: A bottle will last me 2 or 3 weeks.

I decided to try to mix it with Perrier one day and
found my new favorite drink!

You can control the amount of syrup you use.
I like to pour out my desired amount of cold, fresh Perrier*,
then add just a touch of the syrup. Like a science experiment,
it will fizz up beautifully! You don't have to stir. After a while,
you can tell the strength of drink by the color...the darker, the sweeter.

Adding less and less of the Ribena every day,
I gradually came to appreciate PLAIN Perrier! Now when
I crave the carbonation, I just drink sparkling water.
I NEVER thought I'd be drinking plain sparkling water.
I still bloat a bit from the bubbles, but I don't drink it
compulsively, like I did the Diet Coke. One or two glasses a day.
When I had strong cravings for the DC, I went out and got
a small one at McDonalds.


You don't have to use Perrier, but make sure the water is
sodium-free...I tried this with San Pelligrino water, but it won't
fizz, it doesn't taste as good and you don't need the sodium!

Here's the best part: After a month, I don't even like the taste
of Diet Coke anymore, and would rather drink plain tap water
than DC!



?identifier=64c10305e1e5f2a6b7005d0620557c79

[NoJusticeNoPeace]

14. Thanks for the input, very interesting

[auntAgonist]

19. Ribena was such a treat for us when we were kids. If we got sick a cold, flue etc

my Mum would give us a little bit of it mixed with water and it was/is so good.

I always have a bottle in the fridge and use it sparingly. I tried it mixed w/tonic water, the jury is still out.

Having been born in Scotland we were not strangers to it.

It would be nice to find it cheaper some place. Meijer is one of the only places I know that has it.


aA

[PassingFair]

20. Tonic water won't cut it!

Gotta be a no-sodium mineral water like Perrier! 😉

[yellowdogintexas]

35. try some Topo Chico, they have plain, lime and grapefruit versions

the fruit ones are a touch of taste. I love Topo; now that you can buy it outside of Mexico it's available everywhere . It is very fizzy, so refreshing especially when it is very very cold.

[TexasBushwhacker]

15. The thing about tea

is that it has anti-oxidants that are good for you, and many don't require sweetening. I have a couple of 64 oz pitchers that I make tea in and keep it in the fridge. I make it fairly strong so that I can have it over ice. I have a couple of Stash brand teas that are delish unsweetened - Chai Spice and Moroccan Mint. Both have caffeine.

[PRB]

18. I would drink water.

Or any raw juices. Forget the bottled stuff.

[ihaveaquestion]

21. Sweet Leaf Lemon & Lime Unsweet Tea

I don't drink sugary drinks, but I also like flavor and just recently discovered this organic tea at my local pizza shop and it has something different - really good flavor! Unfortunately, I haven't found a local retailer that carries it yet - I'll probably have to ask my local grocer if they'll stock it.

Find retailer here... http://www.sweetleaftea.com/find-a-bottle

[davidpdx]

22. Soda is highly addictive

I ought to know. I'm trying to cut back from my habit of a case of Coke (the regular 16 oz bottles) a week. Soda is pretty much a drug for some.

A long while back (15 years ago) I worked as in a office and tried going off that stuff cold turkey. When I was grumpy as hell, someone went into the break-room, bought a soda and put it on my desk and told me to drink it.

[womanofthehills]

23. I love Mexican cokes because I crave the acid

I started buying Kombucha tea - strawberry, guava and mango are my favorites. This is the only thing I can drink that will stop my coke craving. I usually buy it at Whole Foods, but Walmart even carries it now.

It is definitely an acquired taste.

[yellowdogintexas]

36. Mexican coke is made with sugar, not High Fructose Corn Syrup

still not that healthy but better than HFCS. Taste better too!!! I gave up soda long before I even started Weight Watchers; I also weaned myself from sweet tea (hey I am from the South, that is the House Wine!) Now I drink unsweetened tea that I make myself using a good black tea. I cold brew it in the refrigerator and it is the best. Just drop a couple of those giant teabags in a two quart pitcher of water, put it in the fridge over night and you will have at least a 2 day supply of tea.

You can take a peek in the pitcher in the morning and if it is as dark as you want it to be, take the tea bags out. I like mine strong so I leave them in longer.

[spinbaby]

24. I've recently cut out all artificial sweeteners

There's evidence it screws up your insulin response. Water with lemon is my drink.

[classykaren]

25. I heard and read Rite Aid has diet coke with stevia.

[liberal N proud]

26. Coke Zero has Phenylalanine

Here is what the Mayo Clinc says about it...

http://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/phenylalanine/faq-20058361

[BlueTexasMan]

27. I switched!

When I was diagnosed with diabetes, I did two things; stopped eating dessert every night at supper and gave up soda pop. I switched to lime flavored carbonated water. For a while I added a couple of drops of grape flavored stevia ( delicious ), after a while when my taste buds became more sensitive, I gave up the sweetener ( although it's calorie free ) and now I drink it plain.
I lost 40 pounds and my blood sugar normalized. A word of warning; although it's OK to have a dessert once in a while, it will cause your craving for sweet things to return and you'll have to endure those pesky cravings again for a while. It takes time for them to disappear, but they eventually will.

[JonathanRackham]

28. Unsweetened ice tea or ice coffee.

I really like dark roast ice coffee.

Add lemon or cinnamon for flavor. I like mine straight up. I've learned to like it a little bitter.

[yellowdogintexas]

37. I love Iced coffee, but I have to have some cream in it

I have never liked sugar in my coffee so that is never a problem.

LOL when McDonald's started selling iced coffee, I stopped to get some; told the worker I wanted just regular coffee with NO sugar, cream only. So she made the coffee and it had so much sugar I could not believe it. So I told her I had ordered no sugar and she said but this is the way we make it. I said, not if the customer specifies no sugar,

[aleesiazane]

29. Be fit

Diet coke and all are just a source of more sugar. Avoid at any cost..

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

30. Iced tea.

When they published some studies a while back that Diet Coke was bad for you and might be a contributing cause of diabetes I stopped drinking it altogether and switched to unsweetened iced tea. There's some caffeine in it but not as much as is in a cup of coffee, especially after it's been diluted with ice (I don't drink it in the evening, not so much because of the caffeine but because it causes unnecessary trips to the bathroom, but soft drinks do that too). You don't have to make it yourself - you can buy it pre-made. I have never tried the bottled kind so I don't know what it tastes like, but it's ridiculously easy to make your own.

[PennyK]

31. Making tea isn't difficult

Last edited Thu Jan 28, 2021, 11:37 AM - Edit history (1)

Make up a pot at night and you'll be set for the next day. Add ice and use whatever else you want.
Me? Hot or iced coffee with liquid sucralose and a bit of cream. ONE glass of Canada Dry Diet Ginger Ale with my dinner. Hot tea for British murder mysteries at night (it just seems appropriate then).

[Tribetime]

33. I had to switch to put in a little bit of sea salt in my coffee to get rid of the bitterness

Sweeteners and they just trigger insulin

[Happy Hoosier]

34. Meh. I drink it.

I can‘t see that it is negatively affecting me atm. I have lost 120 pounds so far and cut my A1C from 10.6 to 4.8. i‘m on a Keto diet. I drink a couple Coke Zeroes a day.