Soda Alternative

We are winding down October which means only 3 days left of the Captain of the Kitchen 31 day series.

I’ve written a lot about cutting back on sugar and also cutting back on spending in the kitchen. So I can’t close out this series without mentioning one of the biggest culprits when it comes to both of these things, and that is soda.

The thing about sugar in soft drinks or other sweet beverages is that it’s easy to drink calories. You may not eat three bowls of ice cream, but if you blend it up and put it in a glass with a straw you’ll drink it as a milk shake. It’s really shocking how many hidden calories and sugars are in the drinks we consume. If I had a kit kat for a snack during a mid day slump I would have consumed 20 grams of sugar. If I had a kitkat with a coke then I would have TRIPLED that amount.

I know that I still fall into the sugar trap (unfortunately this month seems to be the worst!) but at least eliminating soft drinks from my diet means I am consuming half of I would be if I hadn’t made this lifestyle change.

To be fair, I haven’t drank soda for over 15 years so admittedly it’s not even a weakness for me. I have my other vices. My husband on the other hand doesn’t struggle like I do with chocolate or dessert, but he loves his soda. Since he had to cut it out with going low carb he tried diet drinks, but he his weight loss plateaued. After doing some research online he found that artificial sweeteners can often have an adverse effect for some people (not to mention being unhealthy). So he cut that out too and just stuck with drinking water or having coffee with cream, but it wasn’t hitting the spot. So he tried a few different flavored waters that had no artificial sweeteners and in the end he settled on the Dasani sparkling water.

I drink it sometimes too. My favorite flavor is Raspberry Lemonade and J’s is Tropical Pineapple. The cost is no different than coke so it doesn’t save us any money like drinking water, but J likes it and it is definitely better than slurping 39 grams of sugar in one sitting!  It’s naturally flavored and calorie free. No this isn’t a sponsored posts. I just wanted to share this little find with world since there maybe some other soda drinkers also looking to kick the habit. If you have to have that fizz, this is your fix.

This post is a part of a 31 day series. To catch up on the rest click HERE.