Hi all! I am trying to kick my diet pepsi habit! I felt that I was doing no harm because I was drinking "diet." I now know how unhealthy it is and I want to kick the habit. Unfortunately sometimes I need some flavor and water just isn't going to do it for me. I am trying to see if there are any healthy drinks our there. I have looked at protein water, gatorade products, propel, vitamin water etc and they all look to be made out of chemicals and preservatives. Any ideas?????????
Thanks!!!

Do you like teas?

I was addicted to diet Coke, but began drinking different flavored unsweet teas w/Splenda and that helped me a lot. Plus, there are health benefits to be gained depending on what type of tea you're drinking.

What about flavored carbonated water? There are a range of flavors -- cherry, lemon, orange, mint. No other sweeteners or additives, just natural flavor and carbonation.

I know some think differently, but I dont see any of the splenda alternatives as any kind of improvement. Its still chemicals.

The flavored carbonated water is pretty good, although if you are used to the sweetness of diet soda it may take awhile to trim your tastebuds.

I like either plain water or carbonated water with just a bit of cranberry juice (sweetened with apple or grape juice) or other 100% juices. There are calories in cranberry juice but at least it isnt a chemical and you can slowly reduce the amount you use. Right now I put ~ 1/3 cup of cranberry juice in a 16 oz glass and fill with water. The lime carbonated water with cranberry is especially nice.

Not to be nit picky, but this word honestly gets a bad wrap. EVERYTHING is made of chemicals. WATER is a chemical.

Sorry, it is just one of my pet peeves as a scientist.

It would be beneficial to use a more descriptive word instead of "chemicals". Or specify HARMFUL chemicals.

No "Harmful chemicals" is open to debate. Harmful by who's standards? A more accurate description would be "chemicals not found in nature" or "man-made chemicals". Which I think is generally implied and understood. Just like we all understand when we say calories we really mean kilocalories or even Calories which has become the accepted printing on nutrition labels.

And I am a chemical engineer.

I've been enjoying water with a slice of lime. No diet coke in 11 days!!!

You could try your diet coke 50-50 with seltzer (maybe the black cherry or lime flavor?) and then gradually cut back till it's just seltzer?

I gave up diet soda (and everything sweet) for Lent and haven't gone back. The hard part for me was the caffeine withdrawl. But I really like plain old water too.

I too love diet cola.

My biggest concern is the effects on bones. Osteoporosis runs in my family; I don't want to make it worse. I still drink diet cola, but I have really cut back.

I second the tea idea, I have lots of herbal teas that are naturally sweet (i.e. containing liquorice) that I don't sweeten at all. And if you want something cold and flavoured, make your own iced tea?

I recently got the Celestial Seasonings cold brew teas. One is blueberry green tea, which I drink in the morning and the other is a fruit flavored herbal tea. The bag just soaks for a while then I drop in a few ice cubes. I gave up all the artificial flavors and sweeteners a few months back, so far so good!

so great that you're kicking the diet pepsi habit, i'm already having some problems with drinking it for around 10 years. i really enjoy plain water with lime or a strawberry, and it helps if it's ice cold too. the cranberry idea sounds very delicious too though, i think i'll try that.

Do you mind me asking what kind of problems? I drink it pretty obsessively. It's the one thing I enjoy that I let myself have as much as I want of—generally in the neighborhood of 24-48 ounces a day, sometimes more. I'll stop if there's a legitimate medical reason, but I would reeeeeally like to keep drinking it.

I drink every other glass with a splash (anywhere from 1/4cup to half a cup in a 16 ounce glass) of soda. It took a while to get used to the taste but now I have to question if i really added water to it lol! Helps me get my water in! Good luck, you CAN do it!

i use to drink about 2 cans a day everyday, sometimes more. i'm 23 and already have arthritis, especially in cold days. in my fingers, knees and hips, i don't really want to think about the stuff i can't feel, like bone loss. it might be attributed to my unhealthy weight, but honestly i've had these problems since maybe 21, before the dramatic weight gain. I still drink diet coke (it's really good to me, and i'm very addicted) but maybe only when i go out to eat, which is about once every month or two weeks, and even then, i'm afraid to finish my glass so i drink half.