sweetening fruit infused water?

girlonfire733
girlonfire733 Posts: 3
in Health and Weight Loss
Hello,

I am new here and did a search on this topic and am not seeing anything, so if I missed it, I apologize ... please just point me in the right direction.

I have recently attempted a Clean Eating lifestyle. I have been a diet pepsi addict for many, many years. I was told one way to get that carbonation fix was to attempt to infuse my own water with fruit and then use a sodastream machine for carbonation. I thought I had found the answer the prayers! However, I gotta say ... the infused water tastes kinda bitter in my opinion. I'm sure I'm just used to high concentrations of flavour/sweetness, but I can't stand the taste of this stuff without any kind of sweetener. I've tried coconut sugar and stevia. Neither one has been great.

Has anybody discovered an effective way to sweeten fruit infused water that would be considered clean? I'd love to hear about it!

Thanks,
Jennifer

Replies

  • ottermotorcycle
    ottermotorcycle Posts: 654 Member
    I guess it's the carbonation that makes things bitter, because personally I hate seltzer. I hate it. It's gross. I'd rather never have carbonation again. I've never used a sodastream but maybe you can make it *less* carbonated and therefore less bitter? Or maybe it would be helpful to infuse it with the fruit after you carbonate the water, so as to resweeten it?

    Diet soda is so super sweet that you probably have confused your taste buds. If you cut out sweets slowly over time I've heard that it'll make things that aren't so sweet taste moreso (like vegetables.) So maybe it's best to take the transition slowly, one pepsi a day, one pepsi every other day, etc.
  • BlueBombers
    BlueBombers Posts: 4,064 Member
    I use the Diet Cola syrup for the SodaStream. It doesn't contain Aspartame.

    I had a huge thing with Diet Pepsi, still drink it just not as often. Now I stick with plain old water as much as I can.
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    You could try some flavored herbal or black teas? Personally, I've found that when I'm willing to part with my Diet soda habit, I prefer unsweetened iced peach, mango or raspberry black tea, but it has to be made well. Or, for a treat, sweet tea, made with real sugar...probably not too "clean" that way, but definitely delicious.
  • asciiqwerty
    asciiqwerty Posts: 565 Member
    I don't understand what you mean by fruit infused water - can you explain?

    I used to drink a lot of ribena and other syrups in my water
    i've managed to cut down, I drink teas, fruit tea, coffee (all without added sugar or milk)
    for water, i have a soda stream, and often just drink the fizzy water as i find it makes a change, sometimes i add a little actual fruit juice , otherwise I add angostura bitters
    yes the fruit juice and the angostura have calories, and i log those too
    mixing these up has helped me with drinking water
  • girlonfire733
    girlonfire733 Posts: 3
    When I say 'fruit infused' .... it just refers to water that has fresh cut fruit added to it. You let it sit for about 4 hours to let the flavours infuse. It does flavour it. But I find it rather bland. I though carbonation would help, but so far, not so much! There's gotta be a solution out there somewhere ... I just haven't figured it out yet!

    Thanks for the suggestions so far!

    Jennifer
  • weird_me2
    weird_me2 Posts: 716 Member
    When I say 'fruit infused' .... it just refers to water that has fresh cut fruit added to it. You let it sit for about 4 hours to let the flavours infuse. It does flavour it. But I find it rather bland. I though carbonation would help, but so far, not so much! There's gotta be a solution out there somewhere ... I just haven't figured it out yet!

    Thanks for the suggestions so far!

    Jennifer

    Honestly? I've never found anything that makes it taste better. I've tried the cucumber, the melon, the grapes, etc. and all of them taste worse to me than plain water. I do like to squeeze lemon or lime juice in my water - have you tried that? If those aren't working and you are still having a hard time with the water, then herbal or black tea might do the trick for you. If not, then I'd say just keep drinking your plain water - you will probably eventually adapt to the taste/lack of taste.

    Otherwise, have you tried playing around with the temperature of the water and or the method you use to drink it? I've found that I don't like ice water when drinking directly from a cup. I do like ice water if I drink it with a straw, but I still prefer water closer to room temperature than ice cold. I don't like drinking water from bottles/sport capped containers and I don't like drinking it from a Camelbak type of thing, either. Weird, but that's what I've learned.
  • rachaelbmh
    rachaelbmh Posts: 54
    I really enjoy fruit infused water and haven't found it bitter personally. However, since you're trying to cut back on your soda intake - what are some smaller steps you can take to still meet your needs without feeling like you're depriving yourself of the flavor you're after?

    Maybe mix half the diet soda with seltzer? Then over time up the seltzer and decrease the soda?

    You certainly don't need to drink infused water if it's just not your cup of tea. Over time, as your taste buds adjust, the super sweetness that you're craving will be tempered and you'll find the infused water to be sweet enough.

    Baby steps are better than giant leaps when it comes to shifting habits, so don't feel like you need to go "cold turkey" on giving it all up right away and switching to something that feels incredibly uncomfortable/foreign to you.
  • girlonfire733
    girlonfire733 Posts: 3
    Baby steps are better than giant leaps when it comes to shifting habits, so don't feel like you need to go "cold turkey" on giving it all up right away and switching to something that feels incredibly uncomfortable/foreign to you.

    Thanks for that ... good advice :)

    Jennifer

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