Replacing sugar in food and drink with sweeteners.

I find 7up sugar free diluted with lots of water and ice excellent. It gives the taste of a lemonade and the more water you put in can help you alleviate the over sweetness of it neat. I also put it on dry white wine when I want a spritzer.

The Fevertree light ginger beer is also good. I add water to that too. I think 100 ml of ginger beer is about 19 cals.

Hope that helps.

Thanks NanKate might give the dilution a try.

I agree with you gillyknits. I've found that "low-calorie" or "sugar-free" drinks and foods are sweeter than the sugar containing equivalent.
I think that one day the "experts" will do a U turn and say that people are consuming too many chemicals in these artificial sweeteners. As you say, why not gradually reduce the sugar and make the products less sweet.

When I was working I took a packed lunch to work and, at one point got into the habit of including a can of diet cola in the pack. I have always had a tendency to headaches and at that time they got a lot worse. I had no idea why. After a few months I completely lost my taste for diet cola and noticed that when I stopped drinking cola most of the headaches went.

I later learned that the sweetener, aspartame, could cause headaches. The diet cola was sweetened with aspartame. I now avoid all artificial sweeteners. I only occasionally drink bottled or canned drinks and will just drink the sugar sweetened version. It is only excessive sugar consumption that does you harm, not all sugar consumption.

I don’t know how you can add water to fizzy drink it just makes it as flat as a pancake and personally I hate flat fizzy
I drink the fizzy flavoured water ( peach elderflower strawberry raspberry to name a few) zero or tiny amount calls calories and natural flavourings

I enjoy sparkling water + lemon + maple syrup. From what I understand, the maple syrup provides a most stable sweetener and I like the taste.

I don't drink squash or fizzy drinks so don't know about those but last week I bought a pack of 30% less sugar strawberry opal fruits (can't remember the new name) I had one at the weekend and it tasted yummy for about 30 seconds then I got this horrible taste that lasted hours and I was really thirsty for the rest of the day .
I just cannot eat any more of them ..totally ruined those little treats for me .

Yuk! I hate artificial sweeteners but I also loathe fizzy drinks. We recently had some home made fresh lemonade in a cafe and it was just gorgeous. I only wish I had the recipe. It was still, refreshingly tangy and with a delicious flavour. There was basil and mint in it too. I could drink that every day. Unfortunately, it was in Copenhagen!

Stevia the sweetener from plants is supposed to be better for you than aspartame however it is quite expensive and seems to be rarely used in the diet products
I don’t buy diet cola etc instead I have fizzy water and often the flavoured type such as Elderflower which is an especial favourite.
I am not one for sweet foods luckily but I have a weakness for Eton Mess ??‍♀️

Waitrose sell a range of fruit drinks in cartons, no added sugar or sweeteners. I use 100 ml (30cals) and top up with fizzy water. CRAFTED by cracker drinks co.

I used Stevia in coffee, on my cornflakes etc, as it's better than those other sweeteners. I can't stand the sweeteners used in fizzy drinks so I avoid those and stick to natural juice.
Life being what it is, I suppose any day now 'they' will announce that Stevia causes Ongo-Bongo disease or something.

I have an intolerance to artificial sweeteners. Even the tiniest amount will give me hangover symptoms.
My usual go to was "full fat" Ribena, which was packed with good honest sugar....bought some last week and luckily DS tried it first. He told me that it tasted funny and, sure enough, they've cut the sugar and added artificial sweeteners, to avoid the sugar tax and narrow my options.

The new Ribena is bloody awful, pardon my language.

I also hate the taste of sweeteners but have gestational diabetes currently so have to be careful about sugar intake.

The cherry flavoured Pepsi Max is actually perfectly decent of the sugar controlled options. The ‘new’ Irn Bru is also... well, it’s fine. I mean you know it’s not real Irn Bru but it tastes much better than the diet!

Likewise Coke Zero is much more tolerable than Diet Coke which is basically undrinkable

We never have anything other than plain tap water to drink in our house. Neither of us is keen on fizzy drinks and a bottle of squash ends up down the sink as it is never used up in the time it should be. If GC come i buy a bottle of something for them and they take the rest home with them. I cant remember having all these different drinks as a child. The only time we had a bottle of pop was Xmas and maybe on a weekend as a treat.

I’ve used sweetners (saccharine) in my tea and coffee for decades so have no problem with drinking these products. I like the taste.

Well tap water that’s another story I personally think it tastes atrocious now with all the added chlorine etc

BB I was up in Edinburgh recently and their tap water was delicious, especially compared to ours here, which tastes revolting. I

I really don't like any soft or fizzy drinks at all and drink lots of tap water. This is awkward when out socially and driving or dont want alcohol. I have lemonade but never enjoy it. Its a problem for me.

jenpax sugar is a sweetener made from a plant. How are other plant based sweetness different?

That sounds a bit aggressive, sorry. It is a genuine question ?

I do drink sparkling water as well but have to drink diet drinks because am type 2 diabetic so can't drink the full sugar kind. It's boring drinking the same thing all the time so do like to have different options

Eglantine21 I am no expert! But sugar from cane is highly processed and stevia although also from a plant (Stevia Rebaudiana ) comes from the leaf and is less sweet. It’s been approved as a sugar substitute for years in many countries: aspartame has been linked with possible carcinogenic properties I understand although as I say I am no expert ???‍♀️

I hate artificial sweeteners - leave a horrible aftertaste. Yesterday bought Ricola Herbal Caramel, which are Sugar Free from chemist and didn't dislike - found that they are Stevia. but won't drink fizzy drinks unless I need to for diabetic control (type 1)

I avoid 'sugar free' for just that reason! Would rather have less of the 'real' sugar product than yet more chemicals. Avoided aspartame in anything for the kids when they were young.

The health risks of aspartame are horrendous. I am surprised they are not banned.
I would not buy or drink anything containing it.
I'm diabetic and would rather have water.