those of you close enough to me know, that I have given up drinking soda and things w/artificial/chemical sweeteners in them. i.e. splenda/sucralose, nutrasweet/aspartame, and the old fallback Sweet n low/saccharine. I also try to stay away from HFCS aka high fructose corn syrup. reason being, i'm getting enough corn in the other stuff I eat- aka chickens eat corn, gmo corn on top of that, cows eat corn, there is corn syrup in most every processed food you pull off a grocery store shelf. So all those stupid commercials w/the people defending HFCS are nothing but propaganda hype. because they ain't telllin ya the truth. Moderation is fine, but when it's in most of what you eat, it's no longer moderation.
so being the freak of nature that I am.....(ergo the title) I have been using honey, agave syrup and stevia in packets and pure stevia powder to sweeten my tea, berries if they need it and whatever else. A couple years ago I found Zevia and have ordered it online, and now it's available at Fruitful Yield, Sunset foods and SOON to be had at Whole Foods. Hooray-no more shipping charges on my soda. Zevia is a sugar free, stevia sweetened soda that comes in ginger/root beer, cola, lemon-lime, orange and now separately Ginger ale and root beer, and black cherry. I cannot wait to try the Black Cherry. It's a little more expensive than a 4 for $10 12 pack of diet coke/pepsi/dr pepper, but I am not ingesting whatever the heck is in nutrasweet that affects so many people and I'm convinced it's what has taken chunks out of my own memory. and splenda tends to give me a funny aftertaste that lingers for days after i quit ingesting it, so NO THANKS chem sweeteners and hello to my little friend stevia. I can even now carry it conveniently thanks to Truvia, which is packets of the stuff, marketed & distributed now by Cargill, inc. To me, it's not as sweet as the pure concentrated powder i get in little bitty jars at TJ's or Fruitful Yield, but it's better than a sharp stick in the eye when you need something portable.
and get this....i found it again--now in the bottles of Vitamin Water by Glaceau. They are new & marked 10 on the lid & bottle and state low cal on the label cause it's only 10 calories per serving. ( the bottle is 2.5 servings) Usually I would only drink half and put it away for the next day cause the full strength is too much all at once. It has stevia and erythritol with crystalline fructose in it. ok so the crystalline fructose is not maybe what I want but the stevia and erythritol are ok to me. The crystalline fructose is HFCS that's been allowed to dry out and crystallize, but there must not be much in it, cause it's still only 10 cal per 8 oz. Either way, if you are trying to cut down on sugar in general and HCFS specifically, this drink may be a good way if you don't want plain water. People who use HFCS as a sweetener increase their triglycerides 32 percent relative to people who use mostly sugar, according to University of Minnesota professor John Bantle. The body metabolizes high fructose corn syrup differently than sugar. It blunts the body's ability to recognize when it is full and increases a person's appetite. (this is found at http://www.blackherbals.com/dangers_of_high_fructose_corn_syrup_HFCS.htm)
I may only drink it once in a while, but at least there is now an option! And the Zevia I can use as a soda treat now once a week or so, to have something other than tea or water. Hooray!
