I’m the one who used to be addicted to Pepsi.
I’m the one who drank a minimum of 4-5 Pepsis every day. I’m the one who drank Pepsi for breakfast, Pepsi for a late morning refresher, Pepsi for an afternoon treat, and Pepsi with dinner. I’m the one who bought cases of Pepsi cans and loaded my cart with 2-liter bottles each time I went to the store.
I’m the one who took advantage of free refills at restaurants by filling my cup over and over and over. I’m the one who came up with excuses to go out to eat so I could refill my Pepsi cup over and over and over. I’m the one who had a double standard – not letting my kids drink soda, but going through the drive-through every time I was out so that I could get a large cup of Pepsi, easy on the ice.
I’m the one who finally learned more about eating healthy, decided to make big changes in our diets, started buying free-range chicken and organic lettuce, but still couldn’t give up Pepsi. I’m the one who learned to hate high fructose corn syrup, but still couldn’t give up Pepsi. I’m the one who had to land in the hospital because I hadn’t been taking care of myself before I recognized my need to stop drinking Pepsi and fill myself with nourishment.
So I’m the one who understands others who have a hard time giving up their favorite soda. I’m the one. I totally get it.
There were two main reasons I struggled to give it up:
- It tasted good to me. It was a treat!
- I love the fizzy burn of soda.
Now that I’m a recovering Pepsi addict (8 years clean!), I have actually come to a point that I don’t miss it any more. That’s a total God thing, and I’m so thankful for this!
But here are two things you should know:
- I still love drinks that are a treat.
- I still love the fizzy burn of soda.
I love drinking plain water, believe that drinking plain water is super important, and make drinking lots of plain water a high priority every day to keep my body healthy. We should never substitute our water drinking needs for “treat drinks.”
But just like I think food is fun, I think drinks are fun too. It’s fun to sit down with a cup of coffee topped with Chocolate Whipped Cream. It’s fun to sip a Warm Vanilla Soother. It’s fun to treat myself to a glass of refreshing iced tea. It’s fun to drink Creamy Orange Cooler with breakfast.
For my soda “fix?” Here are some fun treats I like occasionally:
1. Mineral Water With a Little Bit of Juice Added
I’ve found that about 1/4 cup of 100% juice (usually grape) mixed with about 1 1/2 cups of mineral water really hits the spot. It’s mildly sweet, fizzy, and fun.
2. 100% Juice Cans of Soda
I am so pleased that I continue to find more and more varieties of “healthier soda” on the market. It’s not cheap, and it’s still not going to offer us much in the way of nourishment – so we only drink this rarely. But it’s fun to order a case of this type of soda every once in a while for a special treat. It’s fizzy and sweet – but not too sweet because it only contains 100% fruit juice.
3. Flavored Sparkling Water
It has no sugar, and no fruit – so if you’re looking for a sweet drink, this isn’t it. But the FIZZZZZZZZ!! I love the fizz in these. I think it’s fun that there are different flavors like lemon, lime, orange, etc. I just ordered a fun variety pack of Talking Rain Sparkling Water online. I’ll enjoy one every few days as a refreshing treat.
So how about you? Have you kicked the soda habit? What are your favorite “treat drinks?”
You might want to try your hand at making homemade kombucha. You can make it as zingy and fizzy as you like. It’s delicious, refreshing and very low carb. And homemade is easy, inexpensive and tastes SO MUCH better than what you can buy. If you have a Nourishing Traditions cookbook, the recipe is in there. You will need a scoby to start you off – can be found online or through someone who is willing to share. I only thought about soda when I was eating homemade pizza but I find that kombucha is just the ticket. I drink it every day.
Yes! I have a friend who makes awesome kombucha that she shares with me. And I’m trying my hand at making it myself. :)
Laura, why don’t you make water kefir?!!!??? I rarely have a soda now (unless I’m at work b/c it’s free i’ll have half a one) because water kefir is so delightfully fizzy – you can make any water kefir soda flavor you want and you know exactly what’s in it! AND you get a very healthy dose of probiotics each time you have a glass – move over pepsi – it’s the perfect soda replacement ;-)
I like to make frozen juice with club soda instead of water. That is how I let my kids have their “soda” fix every once in awhile without all that yucky stuff.
Have you ever tried a Soda Stream? You can put in your own flavors and then the machine adds the carbonation for you. I would love to hear your review on something like that.
You know, I’ve used other peoples and have often thought I should see about getting one. :)
Ray and Gail have one that I bet they would let you borrow to try!
My husband likes the fizz, but has recently looked for healthier options. He started apple cider vinegar in water with either lemon or honey. NOW he puts it in his Soda Stream to make it fizzy.
I used to drinks tons of soda, but I figured out a healthy substitute. I add a splash of cranberry juice, pomegranate juice, or tart cherry juice to a large glass of carbonated water that I make in m SodaStream. My one caveat, make sure you only 100% juice in the flavor you want. I made a mistake and bought a cranberry juice blend once. It tasted okay straight, but mixed with the soda water it tasted weird.
We drink water kefir regularly. I don’t make enough for us to be guzzling it but we drink a small serving every day on average. Sometimes it is more fizzy than others.
I get my water kefir more soda like by letting it sit in a jar with a semi tightened lid (so the jar won’t explode) for 24 hours. Basically I wait until my sugar water turns into kefir, strain out the water kefir grains and put a lid on the water kefir for 24 hrs. Sometimes I add juice before putting on the lid and sometimes I add the juice after the 24 hrs is up. My favorite flavoring though is coconut water and it doesn’t take very much at all to flavor the kefir. You can also get kefir fizzier by culturing longer, but it also gives a stronger flavor (more of a vinegar taste) which my babies & I don’t care for.
Our family LOVES Zevia. It’s a soda type beverage that is sweetened with Stevia. There are several different flavors and they are all delicious! They hit the soda spot without the guilt.
Nope — haven’t kicked the Pepsi habit here! I don’t let me kids drink it. I will have to give it up soon….
For now I’m buying the Pepsi (and Coke) from Costco that is made with sugar (no HFCS). I don’t pretend that that’s any healthier, but it sure is tastier! :)
Pepsi and chocolate chips…..those are the 2 things I need to give up yet.
I drink the flavored mineral water and sparkling waters too, but I add a few liquid Stevia drops to my liking. I also buy unsweetened juices and add my own sugar and cook it together to get a concentrate so we can put just a little to flavor lemon/ lime sparkling water. I still drink soda from time to time, but not as much, homemade is much better!
I only have root beer very ocassionally. Any idea how to help my husband kick the Pepsi habit? He does like lemonade,but buying all those lemons so he can drink that everyday is way too expensive for us as are those healthier sodas. My son and I just drink water,tea,and milk almost exclusively,but my husband likes a cold fountain drink. I’d like to try either the kombucha or water kefir as well.
I’ve been loving the Trim Healthy Mama recipe “Good Girl Moonshine.” It’s on their website, available to everyone without buying their book. Their version is quite strong, but there are many varieties out there that others have come up with (do an internet search). My favorite right now is one bag of herbal fruit tea, a little stevia, and about 1 T. of apple cider vinegar. It doesn’t have fizz, but the ACV gives it a crispness that reminds me of soda. This makes 1 quart.
Laura, I couldn’t help but notice on the ingredients list of the Switch stuff there is natural flavor. Natural flavor almost always equates to MSG. Just a heads up :)
You definitely need to try your hand at water kefir. It’s much less time consuming than kombucha, and all my kids and I love it. Our favorite way is to let it do a second ferment (capped) to get it fizzy, and then I mix it with 100% lemon juice in a ratio of 1 part lemon juice to 4 parts water kefir. It’s a delicious, refreshing, fizzy lemonade!
I add a few drops of stevia to my fizzy water and juice combo to give it a more soda taste. Sometimes I do a quarter of a lemon in a big glass of fizzy (or regular water) with stevia drops. It hides my concentrace mineral drops too. My husband does at least one soda a day in that afternoon slump time. I wish I had a way to help him get past it.
Wow! You were a hard-core Pepsi addict! I normally have one a day, although when I get a migraine, I drink more because the caffeine helps my head. I would drink almost anything to make my head feel better! Thanks for sharing your substitutes. I may try some of those soon!
Almost 4 yrs clean! I was having chest pains from having 1 Sprite a day, 1 can! I felt the Lord’s nudge to kick the habit and haven’t looked back. I will occasionally have a Izzy or Hansen, but water is my staple. :)
You know when you hear something you know you really need to hear but you really don’t want to? I hate that I’m so addicted to diet soda. And your post is very timely. I just need to stop. But I never thought about healthier alternatives that might make it easier. You’ve challenged me… And I need it. Thanks for this post!
I concur with Melissa. I would avoid reading all the bad stuff about diet coke because I knew I should stop. I haven’t read your blog in months, and tonight I “happen” upon this one. Today I decided with the Lord’s help to quit the habit. My only problem is the headache I know will come from lack of caffeine. I don’t like to drink coffee all day. I too love the fizz, so I am excited to try some of the sparkling water recipes. Thanks for the encouragement and being the tool that God used in my life today!
I just quit this year! Having a can of The Switch once in a while has helped, along with drinking a lot of iced tea. I hope it goes well for you!
We make homemake ginger ale to help curb soda cravings. It is really easy to make and fresh ginger is so good for you. Here’s how we make ours. We peel and juice about two pounds of ginger (you’ll need an actual juicer for this) and store it in a glass jar. Pour about a half ounce to an ounce of ginger juice into a large glass. Squeeze in the juice from a wedge of lemon and some honey. Mix well until honey is dissolved. Fill with ice cubes and mineral water.
Warning: Ginger is really strong and spicy so adjust amount of ginger to your preference. We like ours strong:)
I was a coke-in-a-can girl. Switched to pepsi since I can get it made with sugar as opposed to hfcs. But all that sugar really isn’t any better for you. So now when I need a fizzy fix I drink club soda, sometimes with a squeeze of lemon or lime or orange. If I reeeaally want the cola taste I pour in a splash of that. Even at 1/2 and 1/2 that’s half the sugar. I found polar brand to be the tastiest club soda. That little bit of salt in there makes it.
I love, love, love Zevia and find it really is a great alternative. I also drink a lot of flavored seltzer and have written companies to ask for a “cola” flavored seltzer. There is just something about fizz!