Review of diet drinks

Okay, so I keep saying that since I've already lost a few pounds, now would be a good time to start watching what I eat and try to lose a few more pounds. And I keep saying that. And I keep not doing that, and I keep going out for lunch. So I'm probably headed for the same problem that I had before if I don't do something. It has been like nine months since the other weight-loss started, and I really should do something.

Next week would be a good time to start.

Any good diet plan will include 64 ounces of water per day. Water is good for you. The stuff that you are made up of, way more than half of it is water. Without water, you would be a handful of powdery stuff that was on an old episode of Star Trek. You need lots and lots of liquids to stay healthy, and the best way to get it is to just drink plain old water.

Taz hate water.

Water is not my favorite beverage either.

I love sodas. As a kid I mostly liked the fruit flavored sodas and 7up and Sprite. As an adult, I mainly like Coke and Pepsi. I could easily drink 64 ounces of Coke per day.

64 ounces of regular soda is about 800 calories.

You know what else you could have for the same 800 calories? I mean, if you were careful, you could make breakfast and lunch and dinner for 800 calories. That wouldn't include snacks, but you get the idea.

So what else can you drink instead of regular soda for less calories?

Milk? Well, actually, whole milk has more calories than soda. 2% lowfat milk still has a few more calories. But, milk has all kinds of things that are good for you, and sometimes a glass of milk will make you feel less hungry. 1% milk has about the same calories as regular soda, but still has the benefits of drinking milk. Skim or nonfat milk has a bit fewer calories than regular soda and the benefits of drinking milk, but let's be honest and say that I really don't care for it.

Coffee and tea. Black coffee is probably the ideal diet drink, as long as you don't drink too much and you drink most of it before lunch and don't have any after dinner. It has a bit of caffeine in it, and a bit of caffeine may help with the diet. Just a little bit of caffeine. A lot of caffeine will make you nervous and lose sleep, and then you'll just eat more to try to feel better, so don't do that. On the news there's always some health benefit from just a little bit of coffee, and the same goes for tea.

But I don't really like coffee. And I really don't like black coffee. I can go to Starbucks, and they can make me something with enough cream and sugar that it hides the taste of the coffee, but it's probably going to be a least 400 calories. If I wanted to waste that many calories, I might as well get something that I really want, like a small milkshake or a hot fudge sundae. So coffee doesn't work for me, but I thought I'd mention it anyway.

Herbal teas are good for a lot of things, but I personally don't like the taste. Usually, they are blends of things that sound pleasant, but then there's always something in it that's probably good for you but I don't care for, like hibiscus or rose hips. I usually have to add too much sugar to make it drinkable.

Plain peppermint tea is not too bad and I can drink that if I add a little sugar. Peppermint is also supposed to have all sorts of health benefits. It aids the digestion. Unfortunately for some people it also stimulates the appetite, so maybe you should have your plain chicken breast or your Eggbeater omelet ready to go before you drink it.

Sparkling water. Okay, it is still water, but it doesn't seem so boring. It's pretty. It has bubbles. I like carbonated drinks. And if you have a couple of minutes to play Martha Stewart, a slice of lemon or a twist of orange zest adds a nice smell and looks really good. And it goes with just about everything, and it has no calories. Be careful when you're buying it so that you don't pick up a high calorie flavored water by mistake.

There was a Coke product that tasted a lot like regular Coke but only had half the calories. I liked it a lot. It was sort of half diet Coke mixed with half regular Coke. I still shouldn't drink 64 ounces of the stuff, but if I did that would only be 400 calories instead of 800. I don't remember what it was called. I haven't seen it in a while. I not sure that they still make it.

While we are talking about stuff with with half the calories, mixing half a glass of orange juice with half a glass or diet orange soda is not bad.

Diet Coke and diet Pepsi I don't like so much. I just miss the regular stuff. But sometimes I want a little caffeine when I don't want the calories. A bit of lemon helps. Actually, I think a lot of lemon helps. I would put so much lemon in it that most people couldn't drink it.

Probably the best low calorie drink is diet lemonade. I think it is about 5 or 10 calories a glass and tastes almost as good as the regular stuff. Tropicana and Minute Maid both have excellent products available in 12 ounce cans and 2 liter bottles. And, unlike sodas, you don't have to worry about the lemonade going flat after you've opened the bottle, because it didn't have any carbonation to begin with.

But I like my carbonated drinks too. You could probably make a really good drink by making something like Crystal Light lemonade with sparkling water.

Fresca is probably the all time best diet soda. There is no such thing as a regular Fresca with sugar. They are all diet drinks. They are supposed to be grapefruit flavored. And since I have never had a sugared grapefruit soda to compare it too, I don't keep thinking that it isn't quite right like I do with a diet cola.

Diet ginger ale is not bad at all. Regular ginger ale has just as much sugar as any other regular soda, which is weird considering that it is not a very sweet tasting soda. So making a sugar free version is a good idea; you hardly even miss the sugar.

The 7up Plus products are not bad, though the have a few more calories than some people like in their diet drinks. Also, the fruit flavors do not always go with what you're eating, so I think those are best when you just want a drink by itself rather than when you're having a meal.

Other diet sodas that a best enjoyed without food are diet root beer and diet Big Red. The regular versions of root beer and Big Red are a little weird to begin with, so the weird taste of artificial sweeteners seems less noticeable in the diet versions. I'm sure the same is true of diet Dr. Pepper, but I really dislike Dr. Pepper anyway.

I have just tried the black cherry & french vanilla version of Jazz Diet Pepsi. Not as bad as a Dr. Pepper, but not as good as diet root beer or Big Red. And I don't have any nice childhood memories of Jazz Diet Pepsi like I do with root beer and Big Red. I haven't tried the strawberries & creme version of Jazz Diet Pepsi yet. I'll have to come back to that later.

So that's most of what I've tried that I can think of at the moment. If you want to tell me about something that I left out, or what your favorite diet beverage is, or what you think is the worst diet beverage, or if you just want to disagree with me about something, please leave a comment.