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Sugar free soft drinks / mixers with NO ASPARTAME!

rowan said:
Went into Morrisons today and they have their own brand aspartame free tonic water and lemonade, so I got those.
I also saw a coke with green writing made with stevia, anyone here tried it?
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Ive heard the green coke still has loads of sugar in it.
 
rowan said:
Lesser of two evils. I'd just like a gin and tonic, a vodka and lemonade or a barcadi and coke now and then with no aspartame or sugar, it doesn't seem a lot to ask. I have bottles of spirits just sitting there waiting for a suitable mixer :(
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Rowan, forgive me if I'm being a bit 'hippy'ish here - but I ferment my own soda pop to use as a mixer, and as a drink alone. Absolutely guaranteed ingredients as I put them all in myself. Apparently the fermentation process uses up most if not all of the sugar (feeding the little greeblies giving your drink the fizz) - in fact these drinks can be called tonics for this reason (probiotic drinks - awfully good for your gut!) It IS quite a process, it must be admitted. But I loved cocktails back in the ol pre diagnosis days, and store bought ginger ale is one of the reasons I am here, I am quite sure! (I got massively into store bought ginger ale in the year before I was diagnosed.) (Big baddies - sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and what else I am not sure but I know factory made sodas are a bad news for our blood glucose and insulin system.) I am a big believer in the best healthiest substitutes for we diabetics (who wants to go without? not me!) - and homemade soda pops can be amazing. I do understand, though, why store-bought came into being - one does have to learn a bunch of skills for making your own sodas. It sure does take time. But the results can be AMAZING. (I am thinking of my vanilla and mint soda pop - mmmmmm.) (Effect on BG? After drinking and metering - nil! But bodies are different, indeed. So are soda pops.) (Drink and meter to find out.) (ps my homemade ginger ale is not so hot! But I am working on it.) (pps I came onto this thread just in case there is a store-bought equivalent to my homemade ones - I am always hopeful!)
 
Not sure if I am using the right word 'fermentation' for soda pops - getting a yeast culture going with water, ginger and sugar in a jar on the kitchen bench, at any rate. Then using the yeasty liquid and adding water, more sugar (I know weird - but it is for the greeblies) real natural flavourings, like lemon, mint, etc, or more ginger, putting it in a bottle to do its thing on the bench for a few days or more, to make a flavoured soda pop.
 
AloeSvea said:
Rowan, forgive me if I'm being a bit 'hippy'ish here - but I ferment my own soda pop to use as a mixer, and as a drink alone. Absolutely guaranteed ingredients as I put them all in myself. Apparently the fermentation process uses up most if not all of the sugar (feeding the little greeblies giving your drink the fizz) - in fact these drinks can be called tonics for this reason (probiotic drinks - awfully good for your gut!) It IS quite a process, it must be admitted. But I loved cocktails back in the ol pre diagnosis days, and store bought ginger ale is one of the reasons I am here, I am quite sure! (I got massively into store bought ginger ale in the year before I was diagnosed.) (Big baddies - sugar, high fructose corn syrup, and what else I am not sure but I know factory made sodas are a bad news for our blood glucose and insulin system.) I am a big believer in the best healthiest substitutes for we diabetics (who wants to go without? not me!) - and homemade soda pops can be amazing. I do understand, though, why store-bought came into being - one does have to learn a bunch of skills for making your own sodas. It sure does take time. But the results can be AMAZING. (I am thinking of my vanilla and mint soda pop - mmmmmm.) (Effect on BG? After drinking and metering - nil! But bodies are different, indeed. So are soda pops.) (Drink and meter to find out.) (ps my homemade ginger ale is not so hot! But I am working on it.) (pps I came onto this thread just in case there is a store-bought equivalent to my homemade ones - I am always hopeful!)
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Thank you. I've seen the recipes for this and there's no way I'd ever get aroud to making it. I am disabled and have several chronic illnesses and just getting through the basics of the day is often too much for me (I'm still sitting here in my PJs at 4.30pm, no energy to even get dressed today!), so extra things like this just won't happen. And I wouldn't be drinking it often enough enyway, it's only an occasional treat as alcohol doesn't go with all my meds too well, a a small bottle/can of mixer is more than enough for a few days, with a small amount of spirit just to make me feel part of 'normal' adult life again ;)
 
in asda you can get asda brand of dandelion and burdock cans, sugar free, aspartame free drinks :) you can also get asda brand cream soda cans, sugar free and aspartame free drinks :)
 
rowan said:
Thank you. I've seen the recipes for this and there's no way I'd ever get aroud to making it. I am disabled and have several chronic illnesses and just getting through the basics of the day is often too much for me (I'm still sitting here in my PJs at 4.30pm, no energy to even get dressed today!), so extra things like this just won't happen. And I wouldn't be drinking it often enough enyway, it's only an occasional treat as alcohol doesn't go with all my meds too well, a a small bottle/can of mixer is more than enough for a few days, with a small amount of spirit just to make me feel part of 'normal' adult life again ;)
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I see what you mean! Righto - on the lookout for healthier mixers for sure.
 
mandya said:
in asda you can get asda brand of dandelion and burdock cans, sugar free, aspartame free drinks :) you can also get asda brand cream soda cans, sugar free and aspartame free drinks :)
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That's handy to know, thanks! I've got a bottle of advocaat left from xmas so need some cream soda and tesco only do sugar or aspartame!
Seems tesco is the worst supermarket for using aspartame but I use them because I get money off diesel for my campervan, and it drinks an awful lot from around now until end of autumn ;)
 
The stuff on the net about Aspartame is unproven, it was a smear campaign when it was first launched. Over 100 subsequent tests on it have shown that, unless you have an illness called PKA, it does not have all the toxic properties people claim it does.

We all make our own decisions of course, everything in moderation I say, but until I read credible reports that state something to the contrary, I don't avoid the stuff. There are people of course for whom it causes tummy probs or migraines, much the same as some people react to dairy or gluten. That doesn't mean it is toxic and fatal.

Ali
 
rowan said:
I'm trying to find mixers, especially lemonade and tonic water, and other soft drinks that have no aspartame, and it's not easy, they all seem to use the stuff! I won't touch anything that contains aspartame, and have been through every sugar free lemonade and tonic water on the tesco website and every single one (apart from tesco cloudy lemonade) has aspartame!
I'm sure there must be some somewhere, and I know I'm not the only one here to not want any aspartame, so hoped we could list all the relevant drinks we know here?
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What
himtoo said:
perhaps you could revert to the only cold drink available to me at diagnosis back in 1972 with no calories --- water !!
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what about good old fashioned soda stream (made by BOC) with some fresh lemon juice or fresh orange juice
 
Ali H said:
The stuff on the net about Aspartame is unproven, it was a smear campaign when it was first launched. Over 100 subsequent tests on it have shown that, unless you have an illness called PKA, it does not have all the toxic properties people claim it does.

We all make our own decisions of course, everything in moderation I say, but until I read credible reports that state something to the contrary, I don't avoid the stuff. There are people of course for whom it causes tummy probs or migraines, much the same as some people react to dairy or gluten. That doesn't mean it is toxic and fatal.

Ali
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I quite agree Ali!! I have drunk caffeine free diet coke for years and the aspartame has never caused me any problems....that I know of!!!
 
Sugar free drinks labelled as 'Zero' don't contain aspartame, just sucralose. I think it's just a matter of personal choice. Some people can't tolerate aspartame or saccharin, some people have no problem with it. Personally, I have never had a problem with aspartame....that I know of. I did once stop the caffeine free diet coke to see if there was any difference or improvement but there wasn't. I didn't drink it for 3 months, enough time I feel for any residual aspartame to leave my system. I also have fibromyalgia, which apparently can be made worse by aspartame. Again, I noticed no difference in my condition. We may all have an intolerance to something in our diets, mine is eggs. So I don't eat them. Simples!!!
 
The trouble is now we have the net the mischief makers can spread these conspiracies and they become widespread belief. You have to look deeper to find the actual truth and the scientific studies that have been done. I see aspartame nonsense on FB all the time alongside a whole load of other nonsense.

Ali
 
I think aspartame is probably the lesser of two evils, the other being sugar. I don't use many foodstuffs/soft drinks with artificial sweeteners but if they have aspartame in them and I fancy buying them it doesn't stop me. Hell we're restricted enough already as diabetics, I'll take my chances.
 
FWIW my personal view on aspartame and other man-made sweeteners / additives is that they are, well, artificial

What I mean by that is that the human body likes inputs (food, drink) that it can identify so it knows what to do with it

Yep, thats a carb - I can use that

Yep, thats sugar ........ not had that in a long while

Yep, thats a fat - ok, I'm not getting much carbs so I'll use that for energy

Yep, thats protein - god, I like protein

Yep, thats fibre ...... good, need some of that

Yep, thats water ..... that should flush the system well

But give it a man-made, lab created artificial sweetener and its more like

Whoa ! *** is THAT !!!
I dunno how to use that - erm, let me think ....
Nope ..... still don't know ......
Sod it I'll wrap it in a fat cell and store it in case I ever figure out what the hell to do with it
 
rowan said:
I'm trying to find mixers, especially lemonade and tonic water, and other soft drinks that have no aspartame, and it's not easy, they all seem to use the stuff! I won't touch anything that contains aspartame, and have been through every sugar free lemonade and tonic water on the tesco website and every single one (apart from tesco cloudy lemonade) has aspartame!
I'm sure there must be some somewhere, and I know I'm not the only one here to not want any aspartame, so hoped we could list all the relevant drinks we know here?
Click to expand...

How about look at making your own ginger-beer type concontion
Ginger, lemon & your own choice of sweetener, maybe carbonised in a soda stream or similar
 
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