diet drinks: myth or fact?

[Miranda]

Personally I think fake sugars taste nasty.....

As far as green tea goes.... its not really meant to be served with sugar and IMHO doesn't need it at all as there are few bitter notes in a good green tea. I do generally prefer sugar with black teas. That said its difficult to find a mass produced iced green with no sugar added unless you have access to a natural food store or asian food store. If you like a sweeter tasting green tea try unsweetened jasmine green if you can find it. The jasmine flower brings a sweet note without needing sugar.

Thanks for that tip, Eden. I really love black tea. I like the strong taste. I usually get it iced as a treat at my fav coffee house with lunch. It must be good leaves. When I tried to brew my own green tea at home, it was so nasty. Like a cross between yard grass clippings and green snot. However, we do have a pretty good health food all natural type market next town over from Mayberry. I might see what they have. The jasmine too is an option. I'm always looking for new stuff to try but just don't know what to pick.

[emily_in_nc]

Here ya go:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/Sto...4271246&page=1

[Miranda]

Here ya go:

http://abcnews.go.com/GMA/OnCall/Sto...4271246&page=1

Thx for that link. There were so many different articles that came up when I googled. I think it means "the sweet" just makes you crave more "sweets" in general. I wonder in the study of people if it's a sense of false hope?

Meaning, "well, even though I'm at McDonald's drive thru getting a BigMac meal with french fries, I'm drinking a diet pop, so that's a calorie saver".

That reminds me of a life changing diet book I read. It was bought originally for DH's high cholesterol. "The South Beach Diet". That doc's book made the most sense to me of anything I have ever read.

At the time, I was on the "fat free diet" approach. The SBD doc says all they did was strip out the fat, and load the product up with sugary bad carbs that just make your blood sugar skyrocket and crash. Which leads to craving more sugar/carbs to balance yourself out.

I'm going to dig my book back out and see if he mentions the fake sugars.

[Eden]

Interesting article. It sounded like they don't really know why the artificial sweetener rats overeat, if its physiological or psychological, but the researcher seemed to be leaning toward physiological. If that's the case then does it go for all non-sugar type sweeteners or only truly artificial ones? So say aspertame or saccharine would be bad, but stevia or sucralose OK?

[Zen]

I like splenda, hate diet soda and make my own green tea blend (cut the grassiness with a bag of Earl Grey).

So there ya go.

[Kalidurga]

If you like drinking bottled tea for convenience or whatever, Honest Tea's Honey Green and Just Green are both good, as are their black teas. On the whole, the company uses very little sugar in their products, if any.

Though my preference is always for a good robust black tea with a lotta raw sugar. White sugar just doesn't seem to have as much flavor as raw, and all of the artificial sweeteners taste funky to me.

[Jolt]

Looks like somebody already mentioned the study on this topic that I had heard about and was going to bring up. As for diet soda etc. and anything with fake sugar, I just don't think they're good for you regardless. Too many funky chemicals with unknown long-term effects (besides, they just taste icky IMHO). Try putting a little bit of honey in the green tea and see if you like it better that way. You can also add lemon juice.

[channlluv]

I love Honest Tea, but I found I can save a lot of money if I brew my own. I go for easy, too. I use Culligan water in a 4-cup Pyrex measuring cup, plus four tea bags, in the microwave for five minutes, then I let it steep while I finish making breakfast. (Go ahead and cringe all you tea pros. I know that's not the best way, but it take so long for the water to boil on the stove, and then steep, too...I can't be late for work.)

I use various green teas. Lipton's green tea is pretty good. I like organic jasmine green tea, too, though. And I rarely use sweetener, but I guess I've gotten used to the bitter notes.

I pour my four cups into portable water bottles and drink it through lunch.

People keep asking me what my secret is for beautiful skin. I tell them green tea. Me and Gwyneth Paltrow. I read it in a magazine. Ha!

Also, I read in another magazine - or maybe it was here - that if you take those brewed green tea bags and let them cool, then rub them on your bare skin and let the green tea dry, your skin soaks up lots of antioxidants.

I don't know if that's true or not, but my skin actually has improved quite a bit since I started doing that. It helps my rosacea a lot.

How do you all transport your drinking water every day? I know you're supposed to drink half your body weight in ounces of water. For me, that's 125 ounces of water every day. That's just shy of 16 cups of water. A full gallon of water. Ai-chi-wah-wah.

I don't drink soda at all, but I do get two or three pieces of fruit every day. I think that helps, but I never get the full amount of water.

How do you all do it?

Roxy

[Miranda]

I like splenda, hate diet soda and make my own green tea blend (cut the grassiness with a bag of Earl Grey).

So there ya go.

That's good to know because I like Earl Grey. I typically use a decaf form for the evenings. A Brittish lady friend of mine instroduced it to me a few years ago. She's since moved away, or I'd have her brewing my tea the "proper way".

[Miranda]

Thanks, those are great tea tips for one thing! I think the jury is still out on the fake sugars. I think I'm going to ditch any drinks with the fake sweetner. I know this sounds crazy, but giving up diet pop again was hard. If it's the fake sweetner that causes me the trouble, I don't want to be drinking it again in anything else. I think on my health food store trip I'll ask them about the alternatives mentioned here for supplies.

[Blueberry]

Thanks for that tip, Eden. I really love black tea. I like the strong taste. I usually get it iced as a treat at my fav coffee house with lunch. It must be good leaves. When I tried to brew my own green tea at home, it was so nasty. Like a cross between yard grass clippings and green snot. However, we do have a pretty good health food all natural type market next town over from Mayberry. I might see what they have. The jasmine too is an option. I'm always looking for new stuff to try but just don't know what to pick.

Brew green tea with 175 degree water for 2 minutes. It gets really bitter with a longer steep or hotter water. Hopefully that will help

CA

[Eden]

Brew green tea with 175 degree water for 2 minutes. It gets really bitter with a longer steep or hotter water. Hopefully that will help

CA

Very true! Interestingly enough I've found the better the tea, the more carefully you must treat it.... an inexpensive green tea will be more forgiving than a very good one. Some brands can just be icky... I had one Chinese tea that no matter how you brewed it tasted salty and grassy. I don't think I've ever had a Japanese tea I didn't like (and have had plenty of good Chinese teas too).

I also really like Japanese Genmaicha, which is green tea with roasted rice and sometimes pop corn in it. It's very hearty.

[Blueberry]

I also really like Japanese Genmaicha, which is green tea with roasted rice and sometimes pop corn in it. It's very hearty.

Just goes to show we're all different - Genmaicha is the one tea I've found that I absolutely do not like

CA

[shootingstar]

Very true! Interestingly enough I've found the better the tea, the more carefully you must treat it.... an inexpensive green tea will be more forgiving than a very good one. Some brands can just be icky... I had one Chinese tea that no matter how you brewed it tasted salty and grassy. I don't think I've ever had a Japanese tea I didn't like (and have had plenty of good Chinese teas too).

I also really like Japanese Genmaicha, which is green tea with roasted rice and sometimes pop corn in it. It's very hearty.

I enjoy Genmaicha -it has a pleasant natural green tea with slight toast undernotes.

My palate does distinguish between strong black teas and green teas...in that I dislike straight black tea. I must have a black tea with abit of milk, but no sugar. I never take any sugar nor honey in any tea I drink --black or green.

Sweetened green tea is unnatural to me so I never buy boxed/bottled sweetened teas (greeen or black) at all.

[shootingstar]

I do eat desserts but have never been thrilled nor interested in any soda/pop drink, regardless whether it was diet or non-diet. And not as a child, but then there was no choice for our family. Any pop was given to us only during special occasional meals (if that) or going out to restaurants.

At most I will drink some Mountain Dew if I had no other type of drink/juice to drink. I actually find a whole can of Coke or Pepsi too strong for my taste. Only a few baby sips. That's it. And better to keep it this way for me.

It is difficult for me to fathom people who have a pop drink for breakfast/early morning. Just a foreign concept unless you're out in the desert.

I've had some incredible jasmine (green) teas. There is 1 brand served by one of the Chinese restaurants in Vancouver that has a powerful floral jasmine smell when tea steeps a few seconds. It is incredible.. The experience is truly fragrant and all-natural. Most definitely higher grade green teas (and not in tea bags, but loose inside clay teapot) must drunk .naked...all natural. Nothing else and it..must be sipped hot within 30 seconds after it has steeped.

These are not expensive experiences at all if you know where to go.