The Diet Coke Saga
A friend of mine, who is just as much an addict as me, calls Diet Coke w/Lime 'DCL.' It makes it sound like some sort of street drug and makes me laugh.
I love diet coke. The caffeine is just enough to keep me awake in the morning and afternoon, and doesn’t make me sick like coffee. Nothing is more refreshing. If I could, I would drink 6 a day.
However, DCL is expensive, and it heavy to lug back. When I go with Amanda and Dana in their car and buy 4 of them at Giant Eagle, they are 2.50 each and come with a big free box of bottled water. When I buy them at the CVS or Schwartz, they are about 5.00. Amanda goes to the store about once every month….maybe less.
If I drank only one, that’s 2.5 boxes of coke a month, or 6.25 a month. However, I drink about 2 diet cokes a day. That’s 5 boxes (!!!) of coke a month, or 10.00 (Giant Eagle cokes) plus 5.00 CVS coke makes 15.00 a month. Yikes.
I try to rationalize- I don’t drink alcohol, for instance, I don’t smoke, I am very good about cooking all my meals and not buying readymade or packaged food, I don’t drive, pay 350.00 a month to park and help pay for gas only when Amanda is driving us places, and I pay very little for tuition. But. That’s still too much money to pay for soda.
Other people try to guilt me into saying it causes cancer- hey, having been there before, I can tell you that every doctor I spoke to about it said that was not true and is digested like many other natural foods, the chemicals in prepackaged frozen foods are often worse, etc. It’s certainly a lot healthier than the 6 tablespoons of pure sugar in any kind of ‘real’ soda. I have no diet coke guilt, except that it’s expensive.
So. I need some alternatives. It must be cheap, cold, easy to carry, caffeinated, sugar free and as close to calories free as possible. Not too sweet. My newest foray is sweet tea- 1 gallon powdered iced tea mix, 1 gallon unsweetened brewed tea, 1 pinch baking soda (cuts down on that sharp bite of brewed tea). Plain powdered drink is way too sweet and has too many calories. Pretty good.
Any other ideas?
I love diet coke. The caffeine is just enough to keep me awake in the morning and afternoon, and doesn’t make me sick like coffee. Nothing is more refreshing. If I could, I would drink 6 a day.
However, DCL is expensive, and it heavy to lug back. When I go with Amanda and Dana in their car and buy 4 of them at Giant Eagle, they are 2.50 each and come with a big free box of bottled water. When I buy them at the CVS or Schwartz, they are about 5.00. Amanda goes to the store about once every month….maybe less.
If I drank only one, that’s 2.5 boxes of coke a month, or 6.25 a month. However, I drink about 2 diet cokes a day. That’s 5 boxes (!!!) of coke a month, or 10.00 (Giant Eagle cokes) plus 5.00 CVS coke makes 15.00 a month. Yikes.
I try to rationalize- I don’t drink alcohol, for instance, I don’t smoke, I am very good about cooking all my meals and not buying readymade or packaged food, I don’t drive, pay 350.00 a month to park and help pay for gas only when Amanda is driving us places, and I pay very little for tuition. But. That’s still too much money to pay for soda.
Other people try to guilt me into saying it causes cancer- hey, having been there before, I can tell you that every doctor I spoke to about it said that was not true and is digested like many other natural foods, the chemicals in prepackaged frozen foods are often worse, etc. It’s certainly a lot healthier than the 6 tablespoons of pure sugar in any kind of ‘real’ soda. I have no diet coke guilt, except that it’s expensive.
So. I need some alternatives. It must be cheap, cold, easy to carry, caffeinated, sugar free and as close to calories free as possible. Not too sweet. My newest foray is sweet tea- 1 gallon powdered iced tea mix, 1 gallon unsweetened brewed tea, 1 pinch baking soda (cuts down on that sharp bite of brewed tea). Plain powdered drink is way too sweet and has too many calories. Pretty good.
Any other ideas?