I’m addicted to soda. For real. I’m all about Sonic’s happy hour; my favorite drink is a Diet Coke with Vanilla. If there is one thing that would be really almost impossibly hard for me to give up, it’d be soda.
I’ll just take that 512 oz Child size on the end, ok?
Now, before you get all huffy and tell me that soda, especially diet soda, is terrible for you, you should know that I’ve heard it all before. Which is why I started drinking this lovely little drink called Zevia.
Now, you should know I am NOT all about substituting one better thing for a bad thing. Like, there is no good substitution for a cinnamon roll. I don’t care how ‘real’ your diet version of a cinnamon roll tastes, it’s NOT THE SAME THING AS CINNABON. So I will tell you up front, Zevia took a little getting used to. But not nearly as much as I was expecting.
First off, it has pretty much nothing in it. No calories, no artificial sweeteners, no sugar…like, all it has is water, a few flavor things, Erythritol and Stevia. Those last two are natural sweeteners that, according to research, don’t cause spikes in blood sugar like artificial sweeteners do. They are completely healthy, and come from a plant, not a laboratory. They have practically any flavor you could want, and MOST of them taste pretty similar to the full sugar sodas they are imitating. My favorites are Mountain Zevia (which actually tastes almost exactly like regular Sprite), Ginger Root Beer, Black Cherry, and Cola. I would recommend staying away from Dr. Zevia, as it doesn’t really taste like Dr. Pepper, but so far, that’s the only one I haven’t liked much.
Want to know more about the difference between Stevia and Apsartame (the sweetener found in most diet drinks and a ton of other food)? Check out this handy chart made by the people at Zevia: Handy Chart
And if this soda sounds awesome to you, here’s the link to Zevia’s Website: Zevia
Zevia can be found in most grocery stores that I have been in, such as Kroger and Tom Thumb, although I have had trouble finding it in certain places. But you are guaranteed to find it in stores like Whole Foods, and many health stores.