Think I'm addicted to soda...alternatives, anyone?

I have no idea why seltzer would be seen as being bad for you. Did they give you a reason?

Was it the artificial sweeteners? I don't agree that they're bad for you (in normal amounts), but there are kinds made without them. Or was it the sodium? Once again, there are kinds without them. I have a bottle of Trader Joes lime and rasberry seltzer waiting for me at home. It's very tasty and has no artificial sweeteners or sodium.

As for a good recommendation, I might recommend a few options:

• Try diet
• Try fitting a little soda into your daily calorie allotment
• Fruit-infused water
• Add-in flavors (Crystal Light, Mio, etc...)
• Tea

You might be a little addicted to caffiene too, which is why the headaches disappear when you drink it. If you want to give up soda cold-turkey, I'd recommend drinking a little coffee or green tea to ween yourself off of caffeine. Otherwise, you might end up with some withdrawal headaches.

I drink 2-3 diet mt. dews a day. As long as it's not interfering with you meeting nutritional requirements, then it's a non issue.

I drank between 1 to 2 litres of Coca Cola most days. When I decided to diet, I went Cold Turkey. Worked for me so far. 116 days without soda/pop.

I also have the fight with drinking tons of soda! For me it worked to just go cold turkey and drink something else .. I try to stick to water and if I find myself really dying for a soda then I have a diet pepsi.. and I hate diet sodas so that kills my cravings right there.

For most people, there will be withdrawal symptoms from a sudden drop in intake of caffeine and/or sugar. That is what you are craving, when the high/crash cycle is on the down swing. Staying hydrated and well rested will help with that, should it happen.

The knock on flavored waters and other items of that ilk is that most have just as much sugar and/or additives in them as what they are replacing. You're not getting any health benefit from a vitamin water over a sprite, if it has the same amount of calories.

As with anything, caffeine and sugar are not inherently bad for you, you just have to use in moderation.

I love sparkling water! The La Croix ones have great flavors and they're all natural.

I agree with others, it's the caffeine so just drink coffee or iced tea! Nothing wrong with a little caffeine.

FluffaWumpkins wrote: »

The headaches I get are really bad. I don't even reach for Advil anymore when I get them, just a bottle of coke or pepsi and I'm all good. But I was told that seltzer breaks down the calcium in your bones and cause kidney problems but a lot of people swear by it. I do like tea and coffee though, so I guess between the those and the seltzer, I might be able to wean myself off of soda. It's way too much calories and the amount I drink eats up my sodium/sugar/cal intake.

Definitely gonna try the ICEE. They looked good and have a lot of flavors to choose from.

Where did you get this from? All seltzer is made up of is water and carbon dioxide. This dissolved carbon dioxide is slightly acidic in nature so it may affect your teeth, but by the time it enters your stomach, the pH should be well within range of anything that you would normally ingest. There is no scientific evidence beyond your teeth being affected and that would be the same thing as vinegar in your diet or pickle juice.

If you like seltzer and it helps you keep the soda calories away (at zero calories), I'd say do it. It will leave room for real food. Your headache may be coming from caffeine withdrawal which should ease itself after a week without the soda.

If you are addicted it's the caffeine. Kicking a caffeine dependency isn't terribly hard but it's a pain. Headaches are common and you are likely to feel really tired. (I love coffee but give up caffeine from time to time when I start drinking too much.)

It also could just be that you are habituated to drinking it at certain times and haven't found a replacement.

My view is that if your main concern is losing weight that the easiest thing to do would be to switch to some calorie-free (or very low calorie) beverage and then deal with the caffeine/habit issue later, if you feel like you need to. For example, I often give up coffee for Lent (among other things) but in 2014 I did not because I'd just started losing weight and knew it would be something else I'd miss that would make keeping my calories down more challenging, so I prioritized the weight loss-related changes and did non-food-and-drink-related stuff for Lent.

If it's the habit thing, or the caffeine isn't a big deal to you, seltzer might help. I personally don't see anything unhealthy about it and I like some fizz, so that's what I might do (I actually love some kinds of diet ginger ale too).

If for some reason you eventually want to quit that, you could always do it when established in your weight loss routine.

I guess some people think artificial sweeteners cause them to crave sweets. That's not at all the case for me. However, one nice alternative is iced tea (make tea and chill it)--the fruit ones especially work well (I never sweeten iced tea, but a tsp of sugar doesn't actually have many calories).

I WAS addicted to soda, talkin 5+ cans of mountain dew a day..but then I went a week using mio, and I loved that too...also the longer I spent away from soda, the less I wanted it!

I really like "sparkling Ice". It's really refreshing flavored carbonated water, 0 calories. Or I have orange juice when I craving a something sweet. I'm not addicted to Soda so they may not fill your caffeine craving. Drink coffee!

I had a problem with that too, I now drink sparkling water and add a cordial to it like summer fruits or miwadi orange. Its just as tasty, alot healthier and I get that refreshing fizzy feeling that I used to get when I would drink a cold can of soda. Best of luck with it

I use vintage soda water mixed with a 100% fruit juice to make a soda. As for the caffeine you can drink tea instead and slowly wean yourself off that. I don't allow any type of soda in the house and my daughter makes her favorite grapple soda by mixing soda water with 100% apple juice and 100% grape juice. I just love the vintage pomegranate with a lot of ice. No sugar, no artificial sweetener and it is delicious.

FluffaWumpkins wrote: »

I'm curious to hear other people's opinion on the matter. I, for one, have a huge problem with drinking soda. I badly crave it and sometimes when I have a headache, all it takes is a bottle of soda to make it go away. A friend of mine recommended seltzer/soda water as an alternative and I do like it. However, I've gotten a lot of mixed reviews about it. Some people say it's bad for you and should be avoided at all cost and then I have people who say it's a healthy and great way to stay hydrated (I'm trying to increase my water intake...really hate drinking water).

I really really really love soda and probably drink about 2-3 bottles a day. I know it's a unhealthy habit that's hindering my weight loss, so I'm open to learning how to break this habit. So let me know what you think and if you're one who believes seltzer is a bad options, can you recommend something as an alternative.

My bf has the same issue except he's trying to gain weight. My family was addicted to coke, so much my bf would buy them whenever they went on sale, just to put it in drawers. My diabetic grandma is addicted to "COKE!" And so is my brother. Everyone else in the family could care less but I was a coke addict and I stopped drinking bc It was bad for my teeth and my teeth were yellow-ing and it erodes your tooth enamel away and I tended to drink it bc my grandpa used to buy it for me all the time. Just think.... Soda in general, all that sugar erodes your teeth but nothing's worse than coke. It's used as drain-o for crying out loud