We have all heard that drinking diet soda might not be the best choice for us, but why? Isn’t it less calories? There are many options out there in the “healthy drink” world that contain just as much, if not more, sugar than their soda counterparts, so what’s the difference? Sugar is sugar my friends. Watching the amount of sugar you consume is always a good thing, so there is reason #1 right there to stop drinking soda, but aren’t there any healthier alternatives that don’t have as much sugar and might work just as well? Can’t anything help to satisfy that craving you are looking for?
It’s true that diet soda might contain fewer calories, but drinking diet soda kind of gives your mind a “hall pass” in the sense that you think because you are consuming fewer calories that you can eat more. This is where we get into trouble. I assume that if you were going to drink a full can of regular soda instead of your diet soda with the same amount of food, then it would be a better choice to drink the diet soda, but that’s a rare situation. Usually if you are drinking a diet soda in the first place, you are looking to lose weight and cutting calories from your drink so you can eat more is not the way to do it.
This is not an article that will give you a ton of the medical details behind why diet soda is bad for you. There are enough of those out there. This post is to hopefully provide you with a few suggestions on products that you might sub in place of your current favorite diet soda to help you out. Your blood sugar and your waist line will thank you. Whether it’s yummy taste, carbonation or caffeine, I have a few products you can try to keep the good stuff pouring!
La Croix
Sometimes we just want some bubble in our lives. You can get all the bubble with a lot less trouble by switching to a flavored sparkling water. It even comes in a can just like your soda, so your muscle memory will be tricked! We love La Croix (pronounced La-Croy) sparkling water at our house. The flavors come from the extracted essential oils from the fruits that they taste like and they taste great. There are no artificial flavors or added sugars in the awesome beverage and if you have any questions about what’s inside the can, they disclose everything on their website.
If you are looking for taste, there are many flavors to choose from! You can find them in almost any grocery store nationwide. The Cherry Lime and Raspberry are my favorite. My wife loves the Peach Pear flavor (featured image above).
Yerba Mate
If you look to a name-brand soda or cola to wake you up or get you moving, chances are you are addicted to it. An addiction just means that you have trained your body to rely on some sort of stimuli to enable you to do a normal, everyday function…like being awake, for instance. While the jolt of caffeine or sugar will definitely wake you up, the feeling will only be fleeting and you will crash harder within an hour or two.
Try some Yerba Mate (pronounced like Yerba Mah-tay) Their website claims that “although its caffeine content is comparable to coffee, the stimulation is balanced by yerba mate’s nutritional content. Clinical studies have shown that caffeine-sensitive individuals generally have very positive results and don’t experience the hard side effects (jitters, stomach discomfort, headache) commonly associated with caffeine.” You can find it on the shelves of your local Whole Foods Store.
I hope you found this little article helpful. Only you can decide that you want to make a better choice for yourself by switching your diet soda for something better. With simple substitutes like these, you can go a long way towards any goal you have with your nutrition. Keep on going that extra mile for you and your family!
