Five Healthier Alternatives to Drinking Soda

Today I’m sharing healthier alternative to drinking soda. One of the first things to go when we started our natural journey was my excessive pop/soda drinking. I cringe thinking about how much of this beverage we consumed on a daily basis. We usually had cases of Dr. Pepper (which was Mr. Coppertop’s favorite) and a case of Sprite or Diet Coke around for me.

I would open one to swig on while I was cleaning the house, grab one for the drive to work, or one to wash down the remnants of dinner. All while I was feeling horrible, not really making the connection, or perhaps not wanting to make the connection.

After finding natural healthcare, I learned pretty quickly into my new natural ways that sugar causes inflammation. Inflammation anywhere and everywhere. Here I was with inflamed joints, inflamed immune system, and inflamed skin and I’m drinking something that is making it all worse.

I learning that one can of soda contains the equivalent of 10 tsps of sugar!

(Just a side note: the American Heart Association says that women should not consume more than 6 tsps a day. Which is still over half of the amount people were consuming in the mid- 1800’s.) Yikes!

When I was attempting to curb this consumption, I would buy diet sodas, which I’ve since learned are equally harmful, if not more so. Aspartame and other artificial sweeteners are linked to multiple health complications including diabetes, brain tumors, emotional disorders, and so on.

I would drink a soda, get a little boost of energy from the sugar, and then I would be left with fatigue and a headache. To cover up the headache, I would take ibuprofen and drink another soda for more energy. It was a vicious cycle that was perpetuating all my health problems.

I quit cold turkey and never looked back. I think if I would have kept this habit it would have honestly sabotaged all my other great efforts to regain my health.

This is not to say that I did not crave them or don’t still to this day enjoy a bubbly drink. I’ve just learned to make water a priority and find some healthier options for special occasions.

 

 

Healthier alternatives to drinking soda

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1. Kombucha– a fermented drink with some great probiotics. You can buy individual ones at the store or you can make your own. (I’m actually working on my first batch now…we’ll see how it turns out.)

2. La Croix– This is straight up carbonated water with a natural flavor like grapefruit or cran-raspberry. (I like to sweeten mine with a couple drops of liquid Stevia.)

3. Water with essential oil or fruit- The options are endless with this one. Sometimes I’ll do a squeeze of lemon or a drop of oil in a clean glass of water. If it needs a little sweetener I’ll add a little liquid Stevia.

4. Smoothie- Fruit ones are always a treat, but green ones are usually our go-tos.

5. Zevia– This is the closest form of soda, if I get a real hankering, without sugar or artificial sweeteners. They come in all the traditional flavors like Cola, Cream Soda, Rootbeer, etc.

Healthy Fun Recipes to Try

 

 

What are your favorite alternatives to drinking soda?

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20 Comments

      1. We do fresh limes when they are in season and do the oil (doTERRA) the rest of the time. I prefer the oil though. No we don’t sweeten at all. We try to train our taste buds to not get used to sweeteners.

  1. We are in Vietnam at the moment and drinking way too much soda! But at least we know coca cola is going to be safe to drink.

  2. I was a Pepsi drinker for years. Pepsi 24/7. I was so bad I kept it in my trunk in case I went somewhere and I couldn’t have one there. I would even pick where we ate based on them having Pepsi. One day I quit. Cold turkey. I suffered from chronic migraines for years. Quitting scared me, even my doc said I would have withdrawals. I didn’t! I quit and I’ve never looked back. I have even cut my migraines to virtually non existent!!! Now carbonation makes my stomach feel bad. I drink water (I drank zero water before) and lemonade and sometimes tea. I won’t lie, I do crave to taste it again. But at the same time I don’t. I know I’m in a better place without it. It really ruled my life. I made decisions on doing things based on them having Pepsi. I even hated going to Disney world bc they only had coke products, how sad. It’ll be a year next month of being off of it! Great post!!!!

    1. Wow! Thats an awesome success story! Sounds like you were truly addicted. The headaches were a big one for me too, and once I cut soda out, my ibuprofen consumption went WAY down. Yay for good health! Thanks for sharing! 🙂

  3. I gave up soda in 2006 and just started drinking water, I don’t really need or crave anything else. 🙂 I’ve had soda maybe five times in the last 11 years! It’s crazy because as a child and teen I NEEDED it, especially Sprite, lol.

  4. Ice cold sparkling water! I love it plain but occasionally add a little squeeze of citrus. My favorite soda has always been Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi. I still splurge once in a while, but the bubbles in the sparkling water are incredibly satisfying and have curbed my cravings significantly.

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