Day 23 - Desperately Seeking Soda

My cravings for food from my "old" diet have been pretty much non-existent.  But I have found myself missing soda.  Iced tea usually does it for me, but there are times when only that fizzy, fruity taste can satisfy me.  Drinking diet soda fits into a vegan diet, but in the past, I've gone through four or five cans in a day and since I was getting rid of meat, dairy and fat, I decided to throw soda under the bus as well.

Not long ago, I discovered  a couple brands of sparkling water that are so intensely flavored they make a wonderful substitute for canned soda.  Since they come in small bottles, I can take a few sips and put it back in the fridge for the next day, thereby instantly satisfying my craving without over-indulging.  They're sugar-free, sodium-free, calorie-free and gluten-free.

The first is Cascade Ice, which I usually find in my local grocery store.  It comes in twenty-one flavors.  My favorite is Wild Berry.  New flavors include Coconut, Macintosh Apple, Huckleberry Blackberry and Strawberry Chocolate.

My first choice  is Sparkling ICE which is available on the shelves at Walmart.  I love every flavor they offer and though their flavor selection isn't as wide as Cascade Ice, they seem to offer all the flavors I love and they are so refreshing:  Orange Mango, Black Raspberry, Coconut Pineapple, Lemonade, Pomegranate Berry, Lemon Lime, Kiwi Strawberry and Pink Grapefruit.  Drinking a bit of this is like a sweet treat!  Now if I could only find a way to make popcorn taste good without oil.