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Author Topic: Health: Giving up cola  (Read 4250 times)

PerditaPickle

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Giving up cola
« on: January 24, 2016, 09:33:56 am »
Hi I'm Pickle and I'm a cola-holic.  Not even joking, I'm properly addicted.

I switched a lot of years ago from the sugary stuff to the diet varieties when I was in the process of losing weight, and now I need to kick the habit altogether due to all the harmful artificial sweeteners in these drinks.

Does anyone have any recommendations for substitute drinks which might help with my cravings whilst I'm giving up the habit?  I thought about licorice, fennel, anise, chicory or hibiscus herb teas but as all of these drinks are diuretics and I drink the majority of my cola drinks in the evenings before bed I've discounted these, as I'm already an insomniac and really don't want to be getting up throughout the night needing to pee!  Is everything except for fruit tea diuretic?  Fruit tea smells great but as a drink I always find it has hardly any flavour  :(

Fingers crossed someone has some brilliant suggestion for me...!
« Last Edit: May 07, 2019, 02:42:58 pm by RandallS »
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #1 on: January 24, 2016, 10:59:48 am »
Quote from: Pickle;185716
Hi I'm Pickle and I'm a cola-holic.  Not even joking, I'm properly addicted.

I switched a lot of years ago from the sugary stuff to the diet varieties when I was in the process of losing weight, and now I need to kick the habit altogether due to all the harmful artificial sweeteners in these drinks.

Does anyone have any recommendations for substitute drinks which might help with my cravings whilst I'm giving up the habit?  I thought about licorice, fennel, anise, chicory or hibiscus herb teas but as all of these drinks are diuretics and I drink the majority of my cola drinks in the evenings before bed I've discounted these, as I'm already an insomniac and really don't want to be getting up throughout the night needing to pee!  Is everything except for fruit tea diuretic?  Fruit tea smells great but as a drink I always find it has hardly any flavour  :(

Fingers crossed someone has some brilliant suggestion for me...!

 
I am in the process of kicking my soda habit as well.

The way I have been doing it is to change one element at a time and to do it gradually in order to increase my chances of success.

  • First step is to swap out some of the bottles of brown cola for clear sodas like Sprite or 7up.
  • Second step is to increase the ratio of clear sodas.
  • Third step is to swap out some of the clear sodas for flavored carbonated water.
  • Fourth step is phasing out the brown soda altogether.


One then repeats the process with the clear soda...replacing it with flavored carbonated water and also introducing non-bubbly drinks like iced/hot herbal teas.

The final cycle is, if desired, repeat the cycle to eliminate the carbonated water if one wants to get away from bubbly drinks altogether.

Right now, I'm moving from Step Two to Step Three...but things have gotten slightly off-track with the discovery that I really like cherry flavored Pepsi Max. It's like I don't even know who I am anymore because I've always hated Pepsi. :ashamed:
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #2 on: January 24, 2016, 11:23:22 am »
Quote from: Pickle;185716

Does anyone have any recommendations for substitute drinks which might help with my cravings whilst I'm giving up the habit?  

 
Like Allaya, I've found fizzy water a great compromise.

(I have a SodaStream, which lets me make my own fairly easily: it doesn't work when what I want is actually the caffeine, but for 'general want something fizzy' it does very nicely.)  

For other flavours to consider, I do a little bit of lime juice, lemon juice, or occasionally other kinds of juice in the water. Maybe a teaspoon in 32 ounces level of 'little bit' for the lemon and lime juice, and a bit more if I'm doing something like cranberry or another juice blend. It is possible to find juices that have no added sugar, if you care about that.

(And my current routine all the time drink for the past few years is ice water with lime juice: I've found that temperature matters a lot to me - I have a hard time drinking room-temperatureish water, and that I need some degree of flavour. The sharpness of the lime or lemon juice does a lot for me.)

You might also investigate shrubs - they're vinegar mixes, some have sugar, some don't. They give a nice bit of flavour without being overpowering. You can also just add a little flavoured vinegar to water: I have gone through months when I did that with a lavender blueberry vinegar, or a raspberry one, for instance. (And it's easy to make flavoured vinegars yourself at home, with a jar and the appropriate flavouring.)
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #3 on: January 24, 2016, 01:33:38 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;185721
(I have a SodaStream, which lets me make my own fairly easily: it doesn't work when what I want is actually the caffeine, but for 'general want something fizzy' it does very nicely.)  


I have been eyeing the sodastream for ages because I love fizzy water so much, but I always told myself "nobody buys it just for water." So I read this and the heavens opened up and the Hallelujah chorus started playing.

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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #4 on: January 24, 2016, 01:38:13 pm »
Quote from: Pickle;185716
Does anyone have any recommendations for substitute drinks which might help with my cravings whilst I'm giving up the habit?  I thought about licorice, fennel, anise, chicory or hibiscus herb teas but as all of these drinks are diuretics and I drink the majority of my cola drinks in the evenings before bed I've discounted these, as I'm already an insomniac and really don't want to be getting up throughout the night needing to pee!  Is everything except for fruit tea diuretic?  Fruit tea smells great but as a drink I always find it has hardly any flavour  :(

Fingers crossed someone has some brilliant suggestion for me...!

 
As far as fruit teas go, quality can vary greatly and that will affect how much flavour you get. (I drink a lot of tea because I have a desk job and I try to limit my coffee intake.) I prefer loose leaf over bag tea, and for the fruity ones I prefer blends over one straight fruit - I feel like that also gives you a better flavour.

I also find that making a batch of tea and chilling it can be really nice if you drink primarily at home. That might help with the soda transition since hot tea really is nothing like pop. Otherwise like both Jenett and Allaya have said, flavoured water really is awesome.

MeadowRae

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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #5 on: January 24, 2016, 01:50:13 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;185721
Like Allaya, I've found fizzy water a great compromise.

(I have a SodaStream, which lets me make my own fairly easily: it doesn't work when what I want is actually the caffeine, but for 'general want something fizzy' it does very nicely.)  

For other flavours to consider, I do a little bit of lime juice, lemon juice, or occasionally other kinds of juice in the water. Maybe a teaspoon in 32 ounces level of 'little bit' for the lemon and lime juice, and a bit more if I'm doing something like cranberry or another juice blend. It is possible to find juices that have no added sugar, if you care about that.

(And my current routine all the time drink for the past few years is ice water with lime juice: I've found that temperature matters a lot to me - I have a hard time drinking room-temperatureish water, and that I need some degree of flavour. The sharpness of the lime or lemon juice does a lot for me.)


I second the fizzy water! I just got a soda stream for my birthday and it is amazing. I was buying cases of the flavored seltzer water in cans, which isn't very Eco-friendly.

I originally started drinking soda water to keep myself more hydrated throughout the day when I was long distance running. I am not running right now, but I am just addicted to the carbonation. Also, like Jennett, The temperature of drinks is important to me. Lukewarm soda water is really gross to me.
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #6 on: January 24, 2016, 02:08:51 pm »
Quote from: Mama Fortuna;185726
I have been eyeing the sodastream for ages because I love fizzy water so much, but I always told myself "nobody buys it just for water." So I read this and the heavens opened up and the Hallelujah chorus started playing.

 
I sometimes put things in the water! (though not their syrups - juice, Ribena syrup, things like that.)

But no, I mostly use it for the fizzy. And I really love not having to carry heavy water containing things around. Also, you can adjust how much fizz you want, which is lovely.

(Weirdly, I can drink fizzy water when it's room temp, but not regular water. Bodies, so very weird sometimes.)
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #7 on: January 24, 2016, 05:37:06 pm »
Quote from: ViolaRae;185728
I second the fizzy water! I just got a soda stream for my birthday and it is amazing.


I quit soda years ago and find fizzy water entirely refreshing, esp. when it has a little essence of fruit to flavor it. I don't use SodaStream, though; my politics won't allow it. (This Israeli company's main manufacturing plant is located on occupied Palestinian land.)
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PerditaPickle

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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #8 on: January 25, 2016, 04:49:57 pm »
Quote from: Pickle;185716
cola-holic

Thanks for all the replies and suggestions.

This evening I'm trying chilled mint tea, as it's what I happened to have in the cupboard.

I too have to have my soft drinks chilled (aside from when I'm drinking regular tea, which I normally do during the daytime).  In fairness whenever I've tried fruit teas previously it's been hot, I've never before chilled them and tried them that way.  But then again this is also my first time drinking chilled mint tea.

I used to have a Sodastream years ago, it was the one we had when I was growing up.  I think I gave it away or something, because it was so old that the bottle caps had all perished.

I've previously tried sparkling water with some fresh lemon or lime juice squeezed into it.  Some evenings it hits the spot, but others I end up craving the cola again and so I switch back.  Sparkling water by itself doesn't do it for me.

Flavoured water drinks available in the shops and no added sugar juices generally have artificial sweetener in, which is what I'm trying to get away from.  At least they do here in England anyway.

Well, this mint drink has been rather refreshing, here's hoping it doesn't keep me up tonight making trips to the bathroom...
« Last Edit: January 25, 2016, 04:53:47 pm by Pickle »
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #9 on: January 25, 2016, 06:37:03 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;185721


For other flavours to consider, I do a little bit of lime juice, lemon juice, or occasionally other kinds of juice in the water. Maybe a teaspoon in 32 ounces level of 'little bit' for the lemon and lime juice, and a bit more if I'm doing something like cranberry or another juice blend. It is possible to find juices that have no added sugar, if you care about that.

 
Heh, I do this too. I also buy flavored fizzy water.

About the diuretic issue: the caffeine in cola already has a diuretic effect, and probably a stronger one than the other herbs you (OP) listed. So your body may already be used to it.

Side note: if you have a glass pitcher, wait for the tea to cool completely before pouring it in. I have broken a pitcher or two because I forgot.
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PerditaPickle

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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #10 on: July 19, 2016, 12:46:54 pm »
Quote from: Sefiru;185765
About the diuretic issue: the caffeine in cola already has a diuretic effect, and probably a stronger one than the other herbs you (OP) listed. So your body may already be used to it.


Just re-visiting this thread.  Thanks again for all the responses.

I drink 'caffine free' cola, as I'm an insomniac.  It may still have a diuretic effect, though, for all I know.

With the warmer weather these past couple of months I've been doing rather well at just switching mainly to straight water, chilled of course (wherever possible, i.e. whenever not travelling, as water in bottles unfortunately warms up fast).  It helps that my husband is doing the same, for once.  I've even stopped having quite as much tea at work during the day and more water, which is unheard of for me.  Whether I'll keep it up into the autumn/winter remains to be seen.

I noticed a recent thread called 'Thirst Quenchers' and someone mentioned blending earl grey with mint tea, so I'll be preparing and chilling some of that (decaff earl grey, if I can find it, and if it doesn't taste too yucky) soon.
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #11 on: July 19, 2016, 02:11:08 pm »
Quote from: Pickle;194220

I noticed a recent thread called 'Thirst Quenchers' and someone mentioned blending earl grey with mint tea, so I'll be preparing and chilling some of that (decaff earl grey, if I can find it, and if it doesn't taste too yucky) soon.

 
I'm currently working on trying alternatives to soda that give me a bit of caffeine in the morning, and also fizzy, and my nutritionist  suggested I play with tea spritzers. (and the same process works for decaff or non-caffinated tea)

I've been doing cold brew (which a lot of the things I came across say is preferable to hot brew, if you want it cold anyway) green tea and herbal tisanes, with fizzy water. The current one in my bottle is raspberry green tea, and lime fizzy water, and very tasty.

To cold brew: take tea in amounts about 1.5 times what you'd put in the same amount of water for hot brew - I'm currently doing 2-3TBS per 32 ounces of water, depending on what variety. Put in tea bag or strainer that can sit in a jar. Fill with cold water. Let sit overnight to 12 hours, remove tea bags, drink result over the next 3-5 days. I put ice cubes in my 32 ounce water bottle, pour in half a bottle of tea, fill with fizzy water, drink.
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Re: Giving up cola
« Reply #12 on: July 19, 2016, 04:00:47 pm »
Quote from: Jenett;194235
my nutritionist  suggested I play with tea spritzers.


Thanks so much for that suggestion, Jenett, I'll be sure to try that  :)
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