Thread: Drinks that are good for you, and taste good.

So when school starts, I plan on quitting pop. This is going to be hard for me, since pop to me is like drugs to other people (ok well not really).

So I ask you, what are some drinks that are good for you, and can help me overcome my addiction to pop?

Water.

Water. Seriously. Water's fucking awesome. I can't say that enough.

Water is awesome and I love the cool taste it has.

But I was kind of hoping for an answer other than water or milk.

Health food stores have lots of great drinks that are not "pop". Have you ever had an Izze? They are fruit juice mixtures that some genius makes in perfect portions. They taste way better than most fruit juices and fruit juice mixtures. Sparkling Clementine is the best flavor of them by far. Rice Dream, which used to be advertized here, is about as good as drinks get. I always get the "Classic" Rice Dream drinks because they don't have the crazy amounts of extra vitamins and stuff. Vanilla and Original are the best flavors. There is also Soy Dream, which is a type of soy milk. If you can find the "Classic" versions of that, you've found something really good. Other than that, I like milk with some kinds of meals, like spaghetti. The only soft drinks I drink are 7 Up and Sierra Mist, which don't have refined sugar/sucrose. They use high fructose corn syrup, which a lot of people have a problem with but I don't. I also like to make a drink by putting milk, orange juice, and a banana in a blender.

Green tea. Done. I think we have about 8 gallons worth right now.
And get yourself some juices. Different Cranberry kinds, orange, pomegranate,
mango, whatever. Your iced teas are still going to be superior in large amounts,
since juices typically have many times the sugar, but the juices will have the
advantage on vitamins.

I LOVE the juices and smoothies from Bolthouse Farms, and they sell them in Stop & Shop. They are totally packed with nutrition, and lots of unusual ingredients I might not take in otherwise. They're delicious despite the odd ingredient lists. My favorites are Green Goodness, Blue Goodness, and C-Boost, but really, they're all good.

I'm having Green Goodness now... lol... I misread the label when I first got it, and thought it said Green Goddess, so now I usually call it that. It is delicious, but has Spirulina, Chlorella, Broccoli, Spinach, Barley Grass, Wheat Grass, Blue Green Algae, Echinacea, Garlic, Jerusalem Artichoke, Lemon Bioflavanoids, Nova Scotia Dulce (seaweed), and the taste good part: Apples, Pineapples, Mango, Banana, Kiwi Fruit... and the fruit is all you taste.

The Blue Goodness is loaded with all kinds of berries, including blueberries, and the C-Boost is more tropical fruits.

I also make teas by large batches and keep them in pitchers and jars in the fridge. One favorite for summer is plain old Lipton tea... I make two quarts, add 1/2 cup raw sugar and 1/2 cup lemon juice. It's wonderfully refreshing when it's hot and muggy. Another tea I make with Lipton is just to brew it with fresh peppermint leaves from my garden (you could use it dried or use peppermint tea bags too), no sugar, also refreshing. I also make a lot of herbal teas, too many different ones to mention them all. Anything mint is good for summer, as it feels cool. Some herbal ones that are medicinal that I don't particularly like the taste of, I just mix half and half with pomegranate or cranberry juice, which also sweetens it without sugar and gives me more nutrients. Some teas also get honey added, local honey, as locally produced honey helps with allergies.

I also like fruit juices like grapefruit or orange blended half and half with sparkling water for summer drinks. It lightens them up. Plain sparkling water is nice sometimes too, a change from plain water.

In cold weather, I like herbal teas, Lipton tea (my comfort drink, really), green teas, occasional hot chocolate. I found a cannister the other day of white hot chocolate that is tucked away for autumn leaf raking days, when I know I'll burn off the calories and want something to warm me up! I'm anxious to try it, but it's too hot right now!

There are a multitude of things to drink other than icky nutritinally defunct disease causing soft drinks, so congrats on making the switch!

Mango Juice, tastes great. But if you're trying to avoid sugar you're fucked.