diet drinks: myth or fact?

[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.

[channlluv]

My favorite natural sweeters are Stevia (you can buy it in packets, like Splenda, et. al., but it's natural, not chemical) and Agave nectar, which is a little pricy, but similar to honey in consistency and delivery (in a sqeeze bottle).

Roxy

[Biciclista]

I also really like Japanese Genmaicha. Never use sugar, and i drink it 360 days out of the year. I even take it with me on trips.

Earl Grey i like but i can't really drink it without sugar. weird, huh.

We eschew anything with artificial sweeteners in them.

[lph]

i don't drink diet stuff, but i dislike the taste of most artificial sweeteners and i find most sodas way way too sweet anyway, like drinking syrup. i love fruit juice though, and smoothies, and edible sweets, so go figure. (literally, i guess )

daily i drink black coffee, green tea w/lemon with a small teaspoon of raw sugar and extra lemon juice, white tea with berry flavour unsweetened and peppermint tea or similar in the evening, maybe a tsp of sugar. eat a cookie or two with it. i find my sweet tooth gets accustomed to sugar over the xmas holidays, for instance, and takes a while to get down again. have tried cutting out those final tsps of sugar, but i don't find it worth it.

[badger]

I was going to mention stevia as well, though I don't know how good they taste as one kind I tried was absolutely disgusting. I had to throw my coffee out.

I do think microwaving tea is blasphemous, but whatever works!

Personally I love exceptionally strong black tea, and I'm on the hunt at the moment to find the perfect tea for me. My neighbourhood tea merchant is happily sending me home with one sample after another.

As for green tea, the better the quality, the lighter in colour. A lot of bagged tea (black or green) are basically dregs of the whole leaf variety and usually not the best. So, if you brew green tea and it's brown, it's pretty low quality (I might be wrong on this, as I know a lot of Chinese green tea are supposed to come out light brown).

I also find that really good quality Japanese green tea like sencha make me pee like crazy. Detox? Caffeine? whatever it is, I never drink it past 3pm.

I'm also drinking a lot of rooibos and honeybush. Non-caffeinated and substitutes quite well as black tea if I want something heartier at night. Rooibos chai is nice with the spices.

I don't drink very much water at all. I figure if I'm drinking good quality organic teas (both caf and non-caf), it's probably better than just drinking straight water.

Btw, about the decaffeinated tea, make sure it's not done so chemically. You're better off drinking the caffeine than the chemicals they use.

[ny biker]

FWIW, I drink about 32 oz. of Diet Coke every day. I lost 10 lbs. last year. My ribs are visible.

[GLC1968]

Diet sodas won't 'make you fat' in an of themselves. I have always prefered diet soda to regular just because they are less sweet to me. That said, I don't like most diet sodas (just diet Coke)!

Artificial sweetners do not trigger the desire for more sweets for me. My triggers are chemical, not taste related (except with raw onions...but that's a whole different topic!!), so things like sugar, honey and white flour (simple carbs) trigger the need for more carbs and in my case, that usually comes in the form of a sugar craving. Drinking a diet Coke while I'm actively trying to lose weight is like a mini 'safe' treat and I go ahead and occasionally indulge.

I do know of plenty of people who find that any sweetner (even no calorie but natural stevia) will trigger cravings for more. It's very individual so it's best to know your own reaction to things (studies be damned!).

That said, any artifical sweetner is clearly 'fake' and makes me worry that the chemicals are not good for you, particularly long term.

[Eden]

I was going to mention stevia as well, though I don't know how good they taste as one kind I tried was absolutely disgusting. I had to throw my coffee out.

It's not just you... I think stevia is disgusting, natural or not.... One of the local clubs has a stevia sweetened sports drink sponsor blech :-P it tastes like baby aspirin. I've had something else sweetened with it too and found it to be pretty foul, so I'm guessing its stevia in general and not just one brand.

I've come to rather enjoy honey in my Earl Grey. I think it needs some sweetener to bring out the bergamot.