# What's the best diet drink if you don't like water? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690 "2002-05-01T17:18:13Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![SmackFu](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/53a042/32.png) [@SmackFu](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SmackFu)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/1 "2002-05-01T17:18:13Z")
I’m not a water drinker. Can’t stand it plain. So what’s the best thing to drink instead, taking into account the various purported problems with Nutrasweet, carbonation, caffeine, acid, etc? Is there any? ---
**Author:** ![Why\_A\_Duck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/13edae/32.png) [@Why\_A\_Duck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Why_A_Duck)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/2 "2002-05-01T17:22:08Z")
Unless you have a serious issue with caffeine, I’d go for home-brewed unsweetened iced tea (you can learn to like it without the sugar). Add a skosh of fresh-squeezed lemon juice and you’ve got yourself a beverage. ---
**Author:** ![missbunny](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/76d3ee/32.png) [@missbunny](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/missbunny)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:24pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/3 "2002-05-01T17:24:04Z")
How about iced green tea? (That doesn’t have caffeine, does it?) Or iced herbal tea - some of them are naturally sweet so you don’t need sugar. Have you tried adding flavoring oil to plain water? Like strawberry or orange extract? It makes it quite yummy. I do that all the time - much cheaper than buying already-flavored water. ---
**Author:** ![ratatoskK](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ratatoskk/32/2987_2.png) [@ratatoskK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ratatoskK)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/4 "2002-05-01T17:28:08Z")
If you need something fizzy, you can buy cans of seltzer water that are slightly flavored and have no calories. (The flavoring is very slight, you could always add a little juice.) ---
**Author:** ![RexKatWA](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/71c47a/32.png) [@RexKatWA](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/RexKatWA)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/5 "2002-05-01T17:31:12Z")
(BTW, Green Tea does have caffeine) ---
**Author:** ![BobT](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/8e8cbc/32.png) [@BobT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BobT)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 5:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/6 "2002-05-01T17:48:42Z")
I’m just surprised to find out that somebody doesn’t like the taste of water. You don’t even like bottled water? Water tastes best when it’s chiled. But I would opt for unsweetened iced tea as an alternative. The green tea will have less caffeine, but it’s harder to find in the U.S. and a bit more expensive. ---
**Author:** ![Green\_Bean](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/green_bean/32/1760_2.png) [@Green\_Bean](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Green_Bean)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 6:54pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/7 "2002-05-01T18:54:42Z")
Lipton “Cold Brew” teabags make excellent iced tea. You put them in cold water and leave them to steep for only 5 minutes or so. I have no idea how they work, but they work. They’ve got caffeine, but I don’t know how much. Iced herbal tea is delicious and caffeine-free. With Celestial Seasonings teabags, you can just put them in the cold water and leave them for about an hour. What is the problem with carbonation? ---
**Author:** ![heptapod](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/a88e4f/32.png) [@heptapod](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/heptapod)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/8 "2002-05-01T19:00:31Z")
Fresh fruit juice. Or seltzer. ---
**Author:** ![kanicbird](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/5f8ce5/32.png) [@kanicbird](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kanicbird)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 7:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/9 "2002-05-01T19:00:57Z")
From an atkid going on close to 10 years: Water you will relearn to like, Fresh brewd iced tea is good, use decaf if you wish. Also iced green tea and white tea (hard to find) is good too. champion lyte (also hard to find and I don’t know if there still in bussiness( is a great no cal/carb sports drink \_IIRC they you splenda not nutrasweet. seler/club soda/ and the flavored varities. diet rite soda uses a blend of splenda and nutrasweet I think RC diet uses splenda you will occationally find some drinks that are sweetened with stevia which is a natural sweetner. ---
**Author:** ![handy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/h/b5a626/32.png) [@handy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/handy)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2002, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/10 "2002-05-01T22:45:14Z")
1 calorie soda for me but it has to be pretty cold. ---
**Author:** ![Kalashnikov](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/2bfe46/32.png) [@Kalashnikov](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalashnikov)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2002, 12:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/whats-the-best-diet-drink-if-you-dont-like-water/106690/11 "2002-05-02T00:15:35Z")
Canned sparkling water (it has to be canned). I prefer Canada Dry Lemon Lime (they don’t seem to sell the unflavored stuff in cans). I LOVE this stuff, I always keep a case of it in the fridge at work and at home. Its so much more refeshing than sweet soda, and more highly carbonated. Now the only time I drink sugary drinks is when I want the sugar as a ‘pick me up’ or when I want caffeine and don’t have any caffeine pills. I don’t seem to have lost much weight since I switched to this though, I must be making up for it in food. Oh well, at least it doesn’t rot my teeth.