Getting Healthy Series. Quit Drinking Your Calories

Hi My Darlings,

So here is a new series I'm not sure exactly how many posts I'll have but I might just keep it going as I learn new things.

If you ready my post about my weight loss I promised to show you my "Fake POP" or Soda for all you that aren't from the northern states. I'm a michigander and I try to leave out all the "ehs" when I type. My husband can always tell when I have talked to my Mom on the phone because my accent comes back strong.

Alright so back to the subject at hand. When I started to pay attention to how many calories I drank and what had added sugar I was surprised. On a typical day at work I drank coffee with creamer and sugar,  1 Coke, Starbucks, tropical smoothie, Crystal lights (that said no added sugar). After a while that all starts to add up. Beware of all the "No Sugar Added" products, read the ingredients there is more than sugar by another name is still sugar. whoda thunk it? A general rule if an ingredient end in “ose” or “rtin” its probably sugar. At the end of this Post I'll have a list of common and not so common names of sugar.

So when I realized how much extra and unneeded sugar I was drining, I went on a mission to find a Healthier choice without drinking plain water, because lets face it water can get boring especially in the summer. My mother told me about this stuff called stevia drops, which is flavored stevia. My first ine I bought was a vanilla creame for my morning coffee. It took the place of the creamer but I still add a tablespoon of almond milk (the unsweetend kind with no cane sugar). So I was still on my mission to find other drinks and one day walking through the Commissary I saw the SodaStream. I figured I could carbonate my plain water and add lemon slices and berries, and even use my stevia flavors to make Pop. It works wonderfully. I now have a little bin in my fridge with about 10 liquid stevia flavors. And Stevia drops aren't just for drinks you can add it in to your baking according to the bottle. I have yet to try that out, though when I do I will post about it.  

If you are trying to cut calories the first place to start would be your drinks. Get creative with flavors and find what works for you.


 I will have all my flavor combinations and drinks on my recipe page.

But here is one for you right now.

Vanilla Cola*
For this one you need two flavors of drops
Vanilla creame (or a plain vanilla) stevia
Cola stevia  
Carbonated water

Take a large drinking glass (mine is 24oz)
Fill with some ice (if you like it really cold)
Add carbonated water
Add 10 drops Cola stevia drops
Add 5-8 drops Vanilla Creame (vanilla) drops
Gently stir
and
Enjoy!

Don't mind the demo, We are getting new backsplash.

Guilt free

This drop combiniation worked for my taste but my husband adds more so like I said before just play around with drop combination.

This drink has Zero Calories Zero sugar. And Stevia is safe for diabetics as it does not cause an insulin spike.

But if you think this is too much work or you want to have something ready to grab and go while you are out you can also try Zevia All Natural Soda. It is also made with stevia. On their website you can put in your zip code to find out where Zevia is sold near you. I was lucky and found some at my commissary on base (they didn't have that on the location finder so I was surprised). So any miltary folks out there check your commissaries, at mine they were located with the specialty pops.

Links for stevia drops
http://betterhealthdocs.webs.com/miscproducts.htm
Swanson Vitamins
drugstore

Please comment me, or message me if you try this out and what you think.

Also there is a pepermint that would probably taste great in a tea.





Fair Winds and Following Seas

BELLE*

Common and Not So Common names of sugar.

Barbados Sugar, Barley Malt, Beet Sugar, Buttered syrup, Cane-juice crystals, Cane Sugar, Caramel, Carob Syrup, Corn Syrup, Corn Syrup solids, Date Sugar, Demerara Sugar, Dextran, Dextrose, Diatase, Diastatic Malt, Ethyl maltol, Fructose, Fruit juice, Fruit juice concentrate, Gatactose, Glucose, Glucose Solids, Golden Sugar, Golden Syrup, Grape Sugar, High-Fructose corn syrup, Honey, Invert Sugar, Lactose, Malt, Malt Syrup, Maltodextrin, Maltose, Molasses, Muscovado, Panocha, Refiner’s syrup, Rice Syrup