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I have a real addiction to soda and I desperately need to cut back at least on the sugar.

My problem is, is that the zero sugar ones - whatever sweetener is used hurts my throat (and tastes awful), and same goes for the diet versions. I could force myself to drink bubbly or La Croix, but knowing myself, that's only going to cause an awful rebound soon enough. So I've been trying to find alternatives that don't break the bank. Poppi is fine and I've tried other low sugar bottles from online stores here and there. That's expensive, though.

So I guess has anyone tried to cut sugar in other ways? I have tried watering things down and I've tried using just sparkling water to keep the carbonation but water things down. I have also tried sparkling water and powdered drink mixes and that is truly awful, imo. I haven't tried mixing a Soda Zero with a Soda (regular) and I wonder if that would help? At least to begin sort of a transition?

I dunno. I'm babbling at this point. I know it's mostly a test of will for addictions, but this is literally my only vice because I don't smoke and won't drink. So soda is the way, hahaha.

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[–] atocci@lemmy.world 6 points 18 hours ago (1 children)

Have you tried Zevia before? I'm currently drinking a Zevia root beer. Stevia is used as the sweetener instead of sugar or aspartame, so zero calories and no artificial sweetener.

[–] moonlight@fedia.io 2 points 17 hours ago (1 children)

Stevia tastes like poison to me, I don't know how people can stand it. But it seems like a decent option if you can tolerate it.

Although I'd still consider it an artificial sweetener, and it still has some health risks, albeit fewer and less severe than other sweeteners like aspartame.

[–] atocci@lemmy.world 5 points 16 hours ago* (last edited 16 hours ago) (1 children)

I personally disagree on the taste. It's a different flavor from sugar and aspartame, but not in a negative way imo.

Why would you consider it artificial though? Stevia is a leaf extract, produced by crushing and boiling stevia leaves.

[–] moonlight@fedia.io 2 points 16 hours ago (1 children)

For me it's a strong sickly sweet with an unpleasant aftertaste. Even a little bit makes some primal part of my brain think I'm eating something poisonous. I also taste cilantro as being soapy, so I think only certain people taste it that way and others don't.

And it's artificial as in "not sugar". It's artificially stimulating taste receptors that are meant to detect sugars. It's plant based, but I don't think that's enough of a reason to categorize it separately from other sweeteners.

[–] CompactFlax@discuss.tchncs.de 4 points 14 hours ago

I’m with you. Stevia has a distinctive flavor and it’s very noticeable. And unpleasant.

But some people don’t like cilantro, so whatever.