Thanks for the info!

I 2nd the "sparkling mineral water" my fav is "Topo-Chico" here from Mexico at Walmart. You can add to it most flavors and it's guilt-free. Makes a killer Dark Horse red wine cooler on occasion too

I found out aspartame was making my BP go way up along with the caffeine and Splenda caused me GI issues. I read they put phosphoric acid in cola to suppress nausea caused by all the sweeteners or HFCS they put in it!

Diet Pepsi and Trident sugarless gum have been godsends for me in terms of staying on track. I consider them both treats. However, I don't like taking in those artificial sweeteners on a regular basis. I bought a half-gallon pitcher and have started to make Raspberry Zinger iced herbal tea in it to lure myself away from the Splenda-sweetened drinks. For now I'm happy and grateful I can use them for a crutch but hope to be able to eventually pare it back down to once in a blue moon.

I'm going to look for the Topo Chico sparkling mineral water at Walmart. Sounds real good!

Sandy, that Karma soda is over 10g of sugar in 100g and 25g of sugar, or about 6 teaspoons, in each can, which most would drink in a sitting. "Lightly processed sugar" notwithstanding...and btw what the heck is that? , that is the same as a full sugar Coke. Liquid sugar still half fructose, which has to be processed by the liver.
Do you have any of stevia sweetened sodas? Zevia brand in the US. A good natural alternative.

Barb, I was going to add iced herbal teas, there are numerous fruit flavored ones without the zing too like True Blueberry. I enjoy the sweetness in Bengal Spice tea hot, like a chai tea the sweetness comes from spices. I made a quart up cold and it tasted intensely sweet to me. Maybe the way I brewed it? Had to throw some out, even cut with water, it tasted too sweet. Weird. I'll stick to plain decaf or herbal fruit tea

Hi, those are mini cans, on the can I saw it says 10g per can, one can dilute it as well with sparkling water.

Not ideal for vlc, but for anyone on maintenance or mod carbs I think its healthier than diet coke, as it has no phosphoric acid which is very damaging... am not going to drink karma cola btw, I prefer ginger drink which gives the same burn at the back of the throat which I find satisfying, or sparkling water with some lemon. I just put it there for people as FYI.

Sandy - I think you must have misread the label. The link you provided is to 8 oz cans which I believe are considered mini cans and they contain 25 gms of carb not 10. In any case this is still just sugar water and should be avoided on a low carb diet. It might be less bad than Coke, but as Dr William Davis points out in "Undoctored" less bad is not the same as good.

Jean

Can you post some links showing the damaging effects of phosphoric acid? I'm a bit skeptical that it's harmful in the amounts we're talking about here.

Haha !
i'm going to say this a few times today so I remember it.
Thanks.

Google Phosphoric acid (or Soda) and osteoporosis.

Again, I didn't advocate having the cola, and I don't drink it myself, but there are others who maybe on moderate carbs, and they may think of this less damaging cola, even for relatives/family who are not on strict LC.

Can't check the link now at work, and the can I had was 10g of sugar per can, perhaps the ones in the link are different ...

A base rule is if it bothers you don't have it... I don't aim to have it while am on the weight loss part of my journey.

Janet, it's true how our perception of sweetness changes on low carb. I, too, find some teas taste delicious hot but not so good iced. I don't think it's anything you did wrong. It probably is just the way the stronger flavored teas react or extract from hot or cold water. I find the fruity teas always come out nice iced. Peppermint is nice, too.

Thanks for the tip.

I found the Zevia brand soda a few years ago, and thought this would be a good "go to" for the rare time I wanted a sweet fizzy drink. The only problem is that they're too sweet. I ended up cutting it with soda water by more than half, and it started to become palatable. That's when I realized that my sweet taste sensitivity had become very acute after long periods of time without consuming sweets.

I found the same thing with Zevia being ~two times too sweet. So I make my own black cherry soda from (hard to find) black cherry unsweetened Koolaid mixed with powdered stevia equivalent in sweetness to half a cup of sugar (the Koolaid package says to add 1 cup of sugar). Then I add 2L of carbonated water (made with a Sodastream, so no phosphoric acid).

When I do drink a commercial soda, I often add 1-2 T of lime or lemon juice to cut the sweetness.

I drank diet sodas (a lot) all during my weight loss and I don't think that it stalled me.

However, after reading "Undoctored" by Dr. William Davis a few weeks ago, I've given up artificial sweeteners. A big part of the program is to cultivate healthy gut flora. Dr. Davis said that the 3 most common artificial sweeteners (saccharine, aspartame, and sucralose) all kill good gut bacteria. I read a couple of studies on this and he's right. Sugar (sucrose) does, too, although stevia does not (at least according to one study comparing sucrose, stevia, and Splenda). Better gut flora improves insulin resistance. As a type 2 diabetic, I want to do everything possible to improve my insulin resistance.

Currently, I'm drinking Zevia. However, I agree that they're too sweet and I'm weaning myself off of all diet soda. Zevia is also too expensive for me.