Diet Soda Alternatives For Better Health at Drive Thru's? (addicted, food, water)
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If you can serve yourself, you could mix 1/2 sweetened tea with 1/2 unsweetened. It would be less sugar than having an entire serving of full-on sweetened tea. Gradually lessen the amount of sweet tea you are using and you'll eventually adapt to drinking unsweetened without a problem.
What about an iced coffee with milk/cream, hold the sugar? Pretty sure I've seen that available in a drive-thru or two.
Personally, we stick with unsweetened tea or water.
I like diet soda and get it often for myself and elderly mom (she prefers root beer) at the drive through window where it is convenient and cheap...especially the dollar drink specials. However, since studies have shown that diet soda is linked to heart disease, dementia, and increased stroke risk, what is a good non sugar substitute (don't want Diabetes either) drink to get? Trying to break the soda habit...Unsweetened iced tea is pretty boring and not the same, but doable and more healthy. Any other healthier drinks like this to get when at a drive through place?
I think you have the right idea to find a substitution. Unfortunately, drive thru’s don’t have a ton of options besides unsweetened tea or water (which is probably your best option).
But really there’s many brands out there. Some are going to be better than others (make sure they are unsweetened) but this would be a step in the right direction from soda.
Again - this OP is talking about getting take-out at the drive-thru. The "benefit" is convenience and low price. But $1 for a diet 12-oz soda is not cheap. He's bringing that food home, where - hopefully he is in possession of a kitchen. And maybe even a refrigerator. Where he could have plenty of healthy alternatives to a cheap $1 diet soda available that cost LESS than $1 per serving. Heck - he could even get that same diet soda in Costco for only $11 for 36 cans of the stuff. That's 30 cents a can.
The OP isn't "trying to break the soda habit" for himself and his mother. He's just looking for an excuse to continue being lazy and making poor FOOD choices (the drive-thru).
Again - this OP is talking about getting take-out at the drive-thru. The "benefit" is convenience and low price. But $1 for a diet 12-oz soda is not cheap. He's bringing that food home, where - hopefully he is in possession of a kitchen. And maybe even a refrigerator. Where he could have plenty of healthy alternatives to a cheap $1 diet soda available that cost LESS than $1 per serving. Heck - he could even get that same diet soda in Costco for only $11 for 36 cans of the stuff. That's 30 cents a can.
The OP isn't "trying to break the soda habit" for himself and his mother. He's just looking for an excuse to continue being lazy and making poor FOOD choices (the drive-thru).
Please stop wrongly assuming...not lazy at all...are you a caretaker!? It isn't easy taking care of my 87 year old mom...got her root beer today because she likes it. However, I'm getting unsweetened iced tea at mcdonalds on their dollar drink specials...much larger than 12 ounces (senior coffees are only 99 cents too!), and do the fillet o fish fridays some since this location is right next to the harbor where I take her on outings. She does get "meals on wheels" 3 days a week as well which helps out as I do some cooking but not every meal. No excuses at all...getting healthier and when you think about it...at age 87 mom who still drives and does aerobics three times a week can really eat/drink whatever she wants!!
Last edited by Fisherman99; 03-29-2022 at 05:42 PM..
Please stop wrongly assuming...not lazy at all...are you a caretaker!? It isn't easy taking care of my 87 year old mom...got her root beer today because she likes it. However, I'm getting unsweetened iced tea at mcdonalds on their dollar drink specials...much larger than 12 ounces (senior coffees are only 99 cents too!), and do the fillet o fish fridays some since this location is right next to the harbor where I take her on outings. She does get "meals on wheels" 3 days a week as well which helps out as I do some cooking but not every meal. No excuses at all...getting healthier and when you think about it...at age 87 mom who still drives and does aerobics three times a week can really eat/drink whatever she wants!!
Seems like reframing the "need" to do this would help OP. In the grand scheme of things, wrestling over the choice of drinks at a drive through doesn't need to be such an issue. If the two of you make other good dietary choices the drive through drink becomes an occasional splurge, not a campaign.
FWIW, I gave up sodas years ago in favor of iced tea, water, or low fat milk. Do I give in to temptation once in a while? Sure, I'm no saint and I don't believe people who claim they are. Just in case I find some restaurant/take-out tea bitter, I keep a couple of cane sugar or sweetener packets handy. As you stop drinking soda it takes less "sweet" to scratch that itch. I've never come across any diet soda I liked and never end up wanting the zero calorie drinks I bring home to try. They just sit on the shelf. Instead, I'll often dilute sweet tea with unsweetened, add a small bit of plain old cane sugar to herbal teas and mix them up myself. Or, one of those flavor drops for plain water. You could experiment to find a flavor she likes. I also buy seltzer water and add a bit of fruit flavor syrup or juice. If you make this struggle too difficult no one will bother with it.
Last edited by Parnassia; 03-30-2022 at 04:14 PM..
Water is always your best choice. As long as you limit a diet soda or a light lemonade to a handful a week you shouldn't have any adverse health impacts.
Water is always your best choice. As long as you limit a diet soda or a light lemonade to a handful a week you shouldn't have any adverse health impacts.
Depends on what they're using to sweeten that diet soda and light lemonade. An 87 year old woman will have different medical needs - including digestive needs. Certain sweeteners can cause diarrhea.
The "best" option for the OP is also the least expensive option: water.
The next "best" would be fresh juices - diluted with water. Such as FRESH lemonade - not that powdered artificially sweetened crap.
The OP went on -again- about how it's cheap at the drive-thru. "Only" 99 cents for coffee. It costs me only 60 cents to make my own cappuccino every morning, using ground cuban espresso coffee and steamed, frothed milk, with sugar and ground cinnamon powder.
Basically - don't try to be a hypocrite about health, in the same meal that you're giving her 18 grams of fat (4 of which are saturated fats), 38 grams of carbs, 580mg of sodium, and artificial everything /except/ the fish itself. Treat her with the fish and give her the normal soda if that's what she wants. But don't pretend that you want healthier alternatives, and don't claim you want something less expensive. You can get both by simply not bringing her to McDonald's.
Of all the main sandwiches on the McDonalds' menu, the fish sandwich is one of the -least- healthy, ounce for ounce.
Oh and you can make a gallon of unsweetened ice tea for less than 50 cents. If you truly want to save money - you'll just keep some of that in the fridge.
I get unsweet iced tea and add the stevia I keep in my purse.
Various artificial sweeteners have different effects on your body; stevia and erythritol (most "stevia" from the grocery store are a blend of these) don't have bad effects.
A diet soda occasionally wont do you any harm. Going through a drive through and ordering off a junk food menu however will.
Agreed, if you are going to a fast food, the diet soda is the least of your worries.
No matter how healthy the food sounds, it probably isn't since it's deep fried or has a lot of filler ingredients.
So in other words, if this is an occasional fast food meal I wouldn't worry about it. If it's a daily thing, worry about "going to fast food" vs "worrying about diet soda".
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