Question about sparkling water

chaoticdreams
chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
edited November 2024 in Social Groups
My boss brings in freebies once or twice a month that he's given by a food bank when they are unable to give it to those that need it. Half the time it's expired or about to expire, so I think they just clear out their stores.

He brought in a case of sparkling water today that's 2 weeks expired and says it's sweetened with stevia. However, the nutrition panel says it's 8 gram carbs. Hmmmm. Ingredients are carbonated water, erythritol, citric acid, potassium citrate, sodium benzoate, stevial glycosides.

I know the erythritol is a sugar alcohol. I use it sometimes to sweeten tea or coffee, but when it's in something, it's usually listed separately as a sugar alcohol. So.......

Drink it or not? Most of the time he brings in low fat greek yogurt and about to expire bread, so this time I was like, YAY finally something I might can use! Meh.
«1

Replies

  • JessicaLCHF
    JessicaLCHF Posts: 1,265 Member
    edited August 2015
    Usually love sparkling water. I get the kind that is flavored but not sweetened. Zero carbs.

    Lately I'm going through a diet cherry dr pepper phase tho. That stuff sounds REALLY suspicious at eight carbs a savings?! Even really sweet diet pepper has zero carbs a serving. Does it have fruit juice in it maybe? Can you call the company?
  • glossbones
    glossbones Posts: 1,064 Member
    Aspartame doesn't get counted in carbs, because it has no calories. Sugar alcohols do provide calories. How large is a serving? A full 20 oz bottle? That doesn't sound that off to me. Up to you and your carb limits if you think it's worth the carbs, but that free drink isn't 'free.' Like Jessica said, there are plenty of drinks sweetened with liquid stevia that don't have carbs.
  • slimzandra
    slimzandra Posts: 955 Member
    8 gram carbs. Like I see written here so often... IIFIYM.
    However, personally, I'd pass. My daily goal is <20g., so I'd rather debit my carbs with some clean, fresh, ice water and some veggies which would fill me up more. We have tons of free food at work. The kitchen is stocked with chips, cookies, crackers, puddings, sodas, nutribars, and if you get here early someone always brings in donuts. It used to be hard to walk past it all, being free and all. :) Now I just get my tea and walk out.
  • chaoticdreams
    chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
    Doesn't mention fruit juice, but it being expired and the carb weirdness is throwing me off a bit. I think I'm just going to pass. I would rather indulge in a Sparkling Ice later.

    I love Diet Dr. Pepper, never tried the cherry though. I really need to be drinking straight up water, but blah. I want flavor LOL.
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    Any positive or negative feelings on La Croix?
  • chaoticdreams
    chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
    Never tried it. In fact, haven't seen it in my neck of the woods. It's pretty cheap on Amazon so might give it a try.
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    I love the taste but then I started thinking maybe it's too good to be true. What is "natural flavor" anyway?
  • glossbones
    glossbones Posts: 1,064 Member
    Could be beaver gland, for all you know.
  • Sunny_Bunny_
    Sunny_Bunny_ Posts: 7,140 Member
    edited August 2015
    m_puppy wrote: »
    Any positive or negative feelings on La Croix?

    I drink LaCroix regularly. I assumed, but have no idea for sure, that the natural flavor was just an extract. I figure there is so little of it in there, so I never even questioned it.
  • m_puppy
    m_puppy Posts: 246 Member
    glossbones wrote: »
    Could be beaver gland, for all you know.

    Awesome. I can only hope.
  • glossbones
    glossbones Posts: 1,064 Member
    Oh right, I used my apple emojis and broke my post.

    Okay, I also said I don't fear "natural flavors" nearly as much from a clear beverage as I do from something solid. I regularly drink LaCroix coconut water, I think that's my favorite flavor from them. Lately though I just keep it to water and for a treat have one of the Steaz Zero Calorie* Half & Half Iced Tea and Lemonade.

    *Be careful, their sugared version's label looks VERY similar.
  • Scorpiotwin
    Scorpiotwin Posts: 124 Member
    I drink Lacroix off and on quite a bit. I'm trying not to drink as much diet soda, bit I still want the bubblies that carbonation gives you. I have had the grapefruit and the on the begins with a p.
  • JessicaLCHF
    JessicaLCHF Posts: 1,265 Member
    ...

    I love Diet Dr. Pepper, never tried the cherry though. I really need to be drinking straight up water, but blah. I want flavor LOL.

    I saw a commercial. Lol. They got me!
  • JessicaLCHF
    JessicaLCHF Posts: 1,265 Member
    This is what I usually drink tho. We call it fuzzy water at our house. No sweetener at all. Really helps when water gets boring. I love this stuff. They have several flavors but this is my fav. 3q0xxsiiinmg.jpg
  • sweetteadrinker2
    sweetteadrinker2 Posts: 1,026 Member
    I like a bottle of talking rain once in awhile. It's flavored but not sweetened, and a drop of liquid sweetener makes the lemon lime taste like 7up if I want something sweeter.
  • minties82
    minties82 Posts: 907 Member
    Some older products I have with erythritol have a gram of carbs for every gram of erythritol used. My mother in law has a small tub which states each 2.5g serving has 2.5g of carbs whereas I have this years repackaged version which says either no or little carbs, I forget and I'm in the bath so can't go look :-)
  • SkinnyKerinny
    SkinnyKerinny Posts: 147 Member
    Sometime when you're feeling really brave check out the FDA web site where you can learn the definition of "natural" and other benign sounding words that are common on food labels.
  • chaoticdreams
    chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
    Sometime when you're feeling really brave check out the FDA web site where you can learn the definition of "natural" and other benign sounding words that are common on food labels.

    Read a Cracked article one time...... About the beaver gland thing you mentioned in another post LOL. Yeah..... um I'm beginning to really wish I didn't know some things.
  • glossbones
    glossbones Posts: 1,064 Member
    I just want to know who decided Beaver Gland would taste like anything you'd want to put in your mouth, let alone vanilla!
  • Twibbly
    Twibbly Posts: 1,065 Member
    glossbones wrote: »
    I just want to know who decided Beaver Gland would taste like anything you'd want to put in your mouth, let alone vanilla!

    The same people who put musk in perfume.

    I figure that by avoiding gluten, sugar, aspartame & its friends, and most starch, I'm eating healthier than I have before. At this point, fretting about a bit of flavor would be counter productive for me.
  • DarlingNikki2011
    DarlingNikki2011 Posts: 287 Member
    Twibbly wrote: »
    I figure that by avoiding gluten, sugar, aspartame & its friends, and most starch, I'm eating healthier than I have before. At this point, fretting about a bit of flavor would be counter productive for me.

    Agreed. I drink sparkling water regularly. Occasionally, I'll splurge and get one of the flavored kinds - usually grapefruit. It gives you a different taste without the sweetness. For me, thats as good as it gets. OP... I personally would stay away from the freebie this time. It sounds counterproductive. And really, if you're that concerned about it, you're already not enjoying it.
  • simbartes
    simbartes Posts: 64 Member
    Sometimes I put a drop of peppermint oil in my glass of water, and shake it up a bit (with a lid on of course).
    It's zero calories and carbs and it's refreshing. It's a change from lemon slices.
  • chaoticdreams
    chaoticdreams Posts: 447 Member
    Agreed. I drink sparkling water regularly. Occasionally, I'll splurge and get one of the flavored kinds - usually grapefruit. It gives you a different taste without the sweetness. For me, thats as good as it gets. OP... I personally would stay away from the freebie this time. It sounds counterproductive. And really, if you're that concerned about it, you're already not enjoying it.

    I tossed them. They were expired anyways and my coworker tired one and it was flat. So, glad I didn't risk it!

    I bought some of the La Croix today, surprisingly they were at the Piggly Wiggly LOL. Not bad! I got the orange. I also picked up some Dasani berry flavored ones.
  • JessicaLCHF
    JessicaLCHF Posts: 1,265 Member
    simbartes wrote: »
    Sometimes I put a drop of peppermint oil in my glass of water, and shake it up a bit (with a lid on of course).
    It's zero calories and carbs and it's refreshing. It's a change from lemon slices.

    Hmmm! Good idea! Def trying.
  • Twibbly
    Twibbly Posts: 1,065 Member
    I bought some of the La Croix today, surprisingly they were at the Piggly Wiggly LOL. Not bad! I got the orange. I also picked up some Dasani berry flavored ones.

    I particularly like the Peach Pear & Strawberry Kiwi La Croix.
  • inspirationstation
    inspirationstation Posts: 209 Member
    I like the La Croix lemon. Also, I purchased some stevia-sweetened mix-ins off Amazon that are zero calories/carbs. They are made by Stur. I add it to my plain or fizzy water (Soda Stream).

    I am not so much addicted to flavored water as I am addicted to carbonation. I just love it, but I can't stomach plain carbonated water. Eww.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    ...

    I love Diet Dr. Pepper, never tried the cherry though. I really need to be drinking straight up water, but blah. I want flavor LOL.

    I saw a commercial. Lol. They got me!

    Just be careful. Diet Cherry Dr. Pepper has apsartame AND Red Dye #40, which is evil incarnate...just to make you aware.

    Oh, and for those talking about natural flavors, the liquid sucralose (splenda) didn't give me headaches, but whatever was in the natural flavor for the liquid stevia gave me instant migraine-like headaches. I do better avoiding it. About the only things that don't trigger me are aspartame and sweet leaf stevia. I've yet to brave the liquid sweet leaf because again, "natural flavors."
  • auntstephie321
    auntstephie321 Posts: 3,586 Member
    This is what I usually drink tho. We call it fuzzy water at our house. No sweetener at all. Really helps when water gets boring. I love this stuff. They have several flavors but this is my fav. 3q0xxsiiinmg.jpg

    I love this stuff, and polar seltzer. My bf thinks I'm crazy because it is not sweet, though I think because I'm so accustomed to it I can taste a sweetness lol. I also have a soda stream but I seem to blow through the canisters too quickly, love my fizzy water :smile: I keep wanting to find something good to flavor it with but don't know how to just buy flavor like they have in the polar waters. There has to be something out there.

    Once in a while though I crave a diet coke or diet pepsi in a can, or fountain, never from a bottle though. Not sure why but it just doesn't taste the same. Never had any negative reactions thankfully, I know others systems are much more sensitive though.
  • KnitOrMiss
    KnitOrMiss Posts: 10,103 Member
    You know that if polar water can be poured into your soda stream bottle, you can just "fizz" IT up, right, @auntstephie321?
  • auntstephie321
    auntstephie321 Posts: 3,586 Member
    KnitOrMiss wrote: »
    You know that if polar water can be poured into your soda stream bottle, you can just "fizz" IT up, right, @auntstephie321?

    Polar is fizzy already. With the soda stream I can use regular water but all their flavors are sweet sugary stuff, except the water flavors but they only have three and they are ten dollars for little bottles. I want more variety.
This discussion has been closed.