1d ago

Less sugary soda? (US)

I have a real addiction to soda and I desperately need to cut back at least on the sugar.

My problem is, is that the zero sugar ones - whatever sweetener is used hurts my throat (and tastes awful), and same goes for the diet versions. I could force myself to drink bubbly or La Croix, but knowing myself, that's only going to cause an awful rebound soon enough. So I've been trying to find alternatives that don't break the bank. Poppi is fine and I've tried other low sugar bottles from online stores here and there. That's expensive, though.

So I guess has anyone tried to cut sugar in other ways? I have tried watering things down and I've tried using just sparkling water to keep the carbonation but water things down. I have also tried sparkling water and powdered drink mixes and that is truly awful, imo. I haven't tried mixing a Soda Zero with a Soda (regular) and I wonder if that would help? At least to begin sort of a transition?

I dunno. I'm babbling at this point. I know it's mostly a test of will for addictions, but this is literally my only vice because I don't smoke and won't drink. So soda is the way, hahaha.

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I am a solid Diet Pepsi drinker. All day every day. I did manage a stint for a few months with the Circkle (sp?) water bottles. There are a ton on flavors online and if you buy enough it’s MUCH cheaper than what you pay in Walmart. Today I’m sick in bed and my body has been craving water. Maybe this is a second chance.

Probably not helpful, but for me I made a few changes to cut back on Cokes.
I keep the house stocked with overpriced waters and teas, and they're in the front of the fridge so I see them first. I found I particularly like Snapple's sugar free line. This took a lot of experimenting - be ready to spend a few months buying until you find ones you like. Don't be shy about tossing the shitty ones either - there's an amazing 'variety' of tastes here.
I also learned to make a few drinks I actually like. Right now I'm on a shaken iced tea - much like how a bartender shakes a mixed drink. Mostly just iced tea, but with a healthy splash of lemon juice, 4-6 frozen strawberries instead of ice, and sugar/sugar substitute to taste (about 1 teaspoon), then shake. Gives it a fruity-sweet flavor. And you get to eat strawberry slushies afterwards.
I do still keep Cokes in the house, but it's the fancy glass bottle ones. They're small and expensive, so I drink them in moderation. But simply having them in the house and knowing I can have one if the cravings really hit, somehow makes the cravings less frequent.

I felt the same way years ago. I started drinking coke zero and have no switched back. Normal Coke is waaay too sweet for me now and I much prefer coke zero. I have been drinking it close to 8 years now, and I love it way more.
One thing that helped me was that i read that real sugar binds to sweet receptors, diet substitutes bind to both sweet and bitter at the same time, and that is why it can feel uncomfortable at first. For some reason that helped me understand it and now it's all I want to drink.
I also love Fresca

I was going to give a bunch of advice but then you answered your own question at the end.
If you want to change, you just going to have to change - that's all there is to it.
My advice therefore is that you're going to experience two or three days of discomfort, be prepared to deal with that.

Stop drinking soda. They are all bad for you except once in a while.
I love sparkling water... Try to work with that.
Consider that sugar is addictive, so there is that, winning that dependence is tough.
- Yes! Large glass of cold fizzly water that hurts just the right amount while you empty it in one gulp. This is the way

What you need is willpower. No way around it. Your options are:
Drink soda sweetened with sugar
Drink soda sweetened with artificial sweeteners
Drink unsweetened soda
I would just stay on the seltzer until you're used to it. I can't even drink sugary soda anymore, maybe as a treat once in a while, but never a whole can or bottle at once. You'll get there too.
- OK, as a result of this, I went on a bit of a research trip, and found out that
  a) Setzer is apparently just what you people call carbonated water, and, b) that that is because of fucking Selters, a brand of mineral water I could go out and buy in any random-ass supermarket. (Sure, if you wanna go into it, it's because that source has a kinda funky mineral mix, and because water from there has been bottled forever, but whatever.)
  There isn't really any point or punchline here, I just think our world is very silly.
  
  Ein klares Wasser muss durch einen tiefen Stein!
- I love seltzer, I have also lost my taste for sugary soda. But I can still down a whole can without issue, but now I see it as indulgence similar to ice cream

The best thing you can do is buy carbonated waters.
It sucks but after a few months of not drinking soda you won't crave it anymore.
- Buy some juice and mix it 1 parts juice, 6 parts water.
  You still get some sugar and flavour fix without feeling an idiot who just guzzled 50g of the white death
  
  Oh! Oh that's genius

Soda used to be fermented fruit juice, you could make your own.

I just drink tea nowadays. Brewed tea at home, not bottled tea with ten tons of sugar per tenth of a serving. It took me about ten months to move from exclusively sugary carbonated drinks to tea, but now I don't even enjoy the former anymore.

You said you tried powdered drink mixes, have you tried the liquid? I cannot stand the powdered variety, either. I feel like you have more control over the flavor and the mix with the liquid varieties.
They've really helped me kick my soda habit.
ETA: Just some recommendations, avoid the Crystal Light brand, they taste like artificial sweetener. I personally go for generic store brands(Laura Lynn, Great Value), but Mio is a solid choice with a wide range of flavors. Just avoid their Iced Tea unless you really like canned tea. That's exactly what it tastes like.

Eh, tbf the best luck I've had with any addiction is cold turkey, and not touching it again for months, weeks, years. And warning anyone I care about I may be bitchy for a bit, please have mercy but keep me in check.

Zero sugar Gatorade. I'm trying to quit too, addictions suck. I won't let my kid even have soda, maybe once a month he gets a coke.

i got used to LaCroix and prefer it to sugary sodas now after my taste buds went back to normal.
any sugary soda tastes grotesque to me now.
i think liking sodas is a symptom of desensitization to an absurd amount of sugar.
sugar damages your liver just like alcohol (former expert in drinking both here), so it's worth desensitizing your taste buds to the normal soda amount of sugar.

I have a real addiction to soda and I desperately need to cut back at least on the sugar.
Add 1/20th to 1/4 parts water to whatever serving size of soda you drink. Easy peasy does it best.

You can start adding water to your soda. Then after a while plain soda will be too sweet. I've been doing that with juice for over 10 years now. Can't have comercial juice anymore, and just started doing it with lemonade too
- I've been doing that with juice too (also adding iced tea powder, other stuff like almond extract (cherry taste) for more/different flavor) but I can't imagine watering down soda unless using something that's also carbonated. Which I never really tried the other carbonation options due to cost (not really drinking soda often though, tapwater is free).
  Well, I did try watering something down with club soda once but that was gross particularly because the carbonation was already gone.

Honestly you’re just going to have to stop. It’ll suck at first but after 1-2 weeks it should be easy, and from there you won’t even want soda anymore.
Source: I’m a former soda addict

Have you tried Zevia before? I'm currently drinking a Zevia root beer. Stevia is used as the sweetener instead of sugar or aspartame, so zero calories and no artificial sweetener.
- Stevia tastes like poison to me, I don't know how people can stand it. But it seems like a decent option if you can tolerate it.
  Although I'd still consider it an artificial sweetener, and it still has some health risks, albeit fewer and less severe than other sweeteners like aspartame.
  
  I personally disagree on the taste. It's a different flavor from sugar and aspartame, but not in a negative way imo.
  Why would you consider it artificial though? Stevia is a leaf extract, produced by crushing and boiling stevia leaves.

Fresca is my go to

Just drink water with lemon

I got off sodas and energy drinks by first transitioning to carbonated water as my default drink for a few years. Eventually I have moved to just water without carbonation.
After 1 month normal sodas will taste sickeningly sweet. Then it's easy to stay on carbonated water. That first month is hard, mostly breaking old habits.

I've only been able to cut sugar by eating less as a whole. That means intermittent fasting (first meal at noon). No food/snacks after dinner. Going to bed early. If I'm craving something sweet, I'll have A PIECE of candy or HALF a can of cola. I personally really like the taste of Pepsi Zero Lime and Dr. Pepper Strawberries and Cream - but as a Canadian, those flavors aren't readily available here.
"quitting" sugar, like any other addiction takes time and requires a lot of discipline. Make small changes that you can be consistent with and stick with it for a few months. Soon you'll notice your body adjust. You'll have more energy, your cravings will go away, you'll become sensitive to the taste of sugar like how non-smokers are sensitive to the smell of cigarettes. Your only regret will be wishing you had started sooner.
Good luck!

Reduce consumption of canned/bottled drinks slowly.
Say drop it by 1% for the next week. Then 2%, then 5%, then 10%. Make it simple, just use can/bottle count.
You need to give your brain time to adjust.
While you're dropping your soda count, replace it with water. I don't even order sodas when eating out anymore, because they charge way too much for them (about 10x the cost). I wouldn't mind paying a buck or even 2, but often they're $3+. It's even worse with coffee and iced tea...pound sand, give me a water.

I dont know if it will irritate your throat or not as it sounds like you may have an allergy to somw sweeteners, but I have been drinking Clear America sparkling water for a couple years now and it tastes lightyears better than bubbly and la Croix. It is artificially sweetened (aspertame I think?), zero calories, but most of the flavors absolutely do not taste like they are artificially sweetened. Strawberry is the best and is my go to. But the cherry limeade, black cherry, and tangerine are all really good as well. I have my entire family drinking them as a treat when they come over. You can only buy them at Walmart, in the water/sparkling water section.

Try Sparkling Ice water! Very low sugar, but tastes just as sweet as soda to me. They also make energy drinks if that's your vibe

I'm working on replacing my soda intake with powdered drink mixes myself, I don't need the carbonation, just something flavorful. What did you try in as far as drink mixes? I'm a big fan of Crystal Light's iced tea.
If you really, truly need the carbonation, I'd suggest getting a water carbonator (not sodastream, they're Israeli, not sure who their competitors are but they must exist) and experimenting adding your own flavorings to taste.

Are you able to find any soda in glass bottles? Companies that do that, along with Coke that comes from other countries, are sweetened with cane sugar instead of refined sugar, which people say is better for you in comparison. It's not much but it could be a step in the right direction

sodastream + mio really helped me kick the habit. i still have a soft drink every now and then when i'm out, but at home i stick to fizzy.
i didn't enjoy any of the sugarfree soda mixes i tried (powder and syrup). i also can't stand diet/zero sodas.

Have you tried getting flavored syrups and making your own? That would let you fully control the amount.

Make kombucha at home and let it carbonize. Its good stuff.

There are the probiotic sodas like Poppi that have sugar but not a lot. They are expensive though. What worked for me is carbonated water with a touch of flavoring. Either homemade with some fruit juice added, or store brand, or Lacroix.

I have tried watering things down and I've tried using just sparkling water to keep the carbonation but water things down.
Personally, I like just plain seltzer water by itself, but have you tried (unsweetened) cranberry juice and seltzer water? Might help if you're craving the acidity but don't want the sugar.

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