• Guest - w'd love to know what you think about the forum! Take the 2025 Survey »

Sugar-free Drinks

M

MikeV

Member
Messages
9
Type of diabetes
Type 2
Hi,
I'm Type 2 and was making great progress with losing weight and exercising until about a year ago when life became very stressful and I resorted to comfort eating and drinking. That stressful phase seems to be coming to an end (long story) and I am trying to get back on track. I'm pretty sure I know enough to 'design' a proper healthy diet food-wise but I am looking for alternatives to my evening 'apero' of a glass of wine (or three). I drink water both plain and fizzy but I'd like to find other healthy non-alcoholic drinks and to add some variety. Pepsi produce Pepsi Max which is low-cal and sugar-free, Coca Cola likewise produce Coke Zero. I notice Tesco have a Ginger Beer (non-alcoholic), four cans for 99p, which has no added sugar and is just 1 calorie per can. Are these drinks OK as part of a healthy diet for a Type 2 person? Are there other drinks you can recommend?
Thanks in advance
 
I cannot abide anything with artificial sugars. Therefore every drink I have investigated is off my menu due to tastebud revulsion. Plus the artificial sugar additive is often aspartame or one of its alternative names. Banned in USA and simply disgusting imho. So in desperation I make a solution using xylitol and boiling water and when it’s cooled I add it to lemon juice which makes a very decent tasting squash. Beware the gut upset if you are sensitive to xylitol.
 
We are all different so what is OK and what I find works for me may not be for you . The facts are that there are no Carbs in the diet drinks but they do contain lots of chemicals so if you do not like chemicals they may not be for you.

I like the occasional Diet Coke, Pepsi etc . The only issue I have is that it can make me hungry so I save it as a treat. It does not impact my blood sugars ( per my meter) but feeling that I am hungry does not help me !

I generally use water from the tap and sometimes put cucumbers and or lemon slices in water and put it in the fridge which gives a very refreshing flavour to the water.

Wine and spirits in moderation are generally low calorie it is the mixers with the higher carbs . Obviously you need to be careful when mixing with meds but as I take no meds I find the occasional drink is ok... my view is everything in moderation .
 
I use the low carb squashes and drinks containing sucralose - from Lidl. I also make teas and cool them down with ice - mint and licorice is nice, but there are lots of different flavours these days.
 
I drink no added sugar squashes and Tesco’s range of sparkling waters with a hint of flavour and occasion Diet Pepsi or Diet Coke. I avoid saccharine as that weirdly seems to raise my blood sugars. Have you thought of milkshake, made with unsweetened almond milk and Crusha no added sugar milkshake syrup, they come in at less than 1gram of carbohydrate per mug if you use 25mls of syrup.
 
Interesting. I pick up plastic bottles and cans on my way home from buying my newspaper and that gives me the chance to read the values. I was gobsmacked the other day to look at one of those waters with a “hint of...” to find it had way more sugar than I would have expected. Not on my drink list either. Interestingly, my experiment this pm with coffee plus watered down single cream elicited no spike. Will repeat challenge tomorrow am to check for consistency.
 

Tesco sparkling waters with a hint of are virtually carb free, I stick to them. The Volvic ‘touch of’ range is high sugar if you don’t pick a sugar free one.
 

Where do you get the information that Aspartame is banned in the USA?
 
You might like to try what I do - when jonesing for beer or wine, especially in the current heatwave, trick your cravings into shutting up by diluting a splash of apple cider vinegar in a pint of water. I have found that the generally unpleasant sour acid taste to the water makes my brain think it's drinking something weird enough that it must be fun like booze and it gets me over the desire to have copious sugar boosting pints. Lasts all night as well as it's not really a quaffable concoction. Have non-vinegar water ready too for if you are actually thirsty. I have applied the same logic to eating celery as a snack. Eaten more of it in the last 12 weeks of lchf than I have in my entire life beforehand.
 

Using soda water if you can get the right amounts acv it tastes like a fairly good imitation of pimms and lemonade
 
I did try the ginger version of diet Coca Cola but do prefer Feisty Cherry on a hot day. Usually just drink water these days as I don't do hot drinks. I get my husband to look for them in the smaller bottles otherwise the fizz goes before I get round to finishing the larger bottles.
 
I presume I could make ice lollies out of Morrisons no added sugar lemon. 0.1g carbs per 250ml prepared?
 
MikeV said:
Hi,
I'm Type 2 and was making great progress with losing weight and exercising until about a year ago when life became very stressful and I resorted to comfort eating and drinking.
Click to expand...

Having been there myself, I fully understand. Hope things soon improve
 
While drinking sugar free drinks may be 'better' in terms of lower calorie intake the artificial sweeteners they [ut in the drinks still raise insulin levels in the body so wouldn't help that much.

If you can get rid of all of them completely.
 
I love Seedlip as an alternative to gin. I have it with low cal tonic. The garden Seedlio is my favourite and can convince myself its is a specialist G&T
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register
Cookies are required to use this site. You must accept them to continue using the site. Learn More.…