Serious Eats - seriouseats.com

I don't drink soda. I was not allowed as a child (told it was practically poison), then I drank a lot of diet sodas in college and now I'm back to never ever drinking it unless I feel sick to my stomach and in that case I will have some ginger ale or plain Coca Cola. If I need energy I drink coffee, if I'm thirsty I drink water or coconut water or tea. I don't look down on people who drink it, but I don't think it's healthy to have it more than once in a while as a treat.

I enjoy an occasional soda, just as I enjoy many things that aren't good for us, occasionally. Life is meant to be enjoyed, if you like something, enjoy it in moderation, that way you never feel deprived.

I'm not a huge soda drinker. My exceptions:
- baseball games. I don't drink beer so there is nothing else for me to drink
- while eating sushi. For some reason, a Diet Coke with my spicy tuna is fab
- rootbeer floats. I've only had one in the past decade, but man, was it friggin amazing

So giving it up entirely wouldn't be too hard. It's coffee that is the tough one for me.

I have given up soda - also not for the reasons you list. I was just making a change to being more aware of putting healthful foods into my body. I still have it ocassionally, it is not toally banned! At the movie theatre, along with popcorn, for example. It was not as hard as I expected, soon I just did not even think about it.

i gave up soda of my own free will when i was 17 years old, never looked back once and wanted one.... occassionally i'll have a good ginger beer, but that's about it. i took a swig of coke the other day while i was having pizza and - yuck - it was SO sweet.... that stuff can fill you up like a helium balloon.....

I don't drink soda anymore, except for the very, very occasional Fresca or diet ginger ale (maybe once every 6 months or so). But I have a baby and am nursing, so I'm off all artificial sweeteners until she's weaned. I know a little bit wouldn't hurt her, but it's just as easy to go without it.

I guess I'll have to be the first one to say it.

I... LOVE... soda!

I dont drink a ton of it, and I'll only drink it from a glass with ice, or the mexican coca-cola bottled in the tall glass bottles, but man if it doesnt compliment steak and chicken nicely (which I eat a lot of.) It's sweet, it cleans the palate, bubbly, cold, and while its not hydrating it doesnt have the parching effect other carbonated drinks like beer can have.

P.s. for the record I'm not obese, I have a nice set of pearly whites, and I buy the walmart or H-E-B brand colas, they're about 20 cents a piece when you buy a box.

I don't drink soda except Dr. Pepper but it is not for the reasons you listed , I just don't drink it, if I got a craving to I would and I keep it around the house for when guests come over.

I was a diet coke-a-holic for a while (boarding school then college...) then I decided on Jan 1 to quit cold turkey. It lasted two or 3 months then I realized that I do like some sodas--primarily the occasional grape soda and Maine Root's Blueberry Soda. So those are treats. I can't finish a can of Coke now though, the taste just doesn't appeal anymore.

Well what am I supposed to mix my whiskey with? I guess I'll just have to drink it straight up- for health reasons of course.

i have never been much of a soda drinker, although a couple of times a year i really enjoy a dr brown's black cherry.

@annient, so in comparison to hydrochloric acid and all the other acids in your stomach acid, and citric acid and vinegar we eat, you are concerned about soda acidity?

The pH of soda ranges from 2.47-3.35 and the pH of stomach acid is 1.0-3.0.

Mind you, your body only uses stomach acid when you are eating. Perhaps it would be wise to eat with your soda.

You may, also, want to consider rinsing your mouth after as that is very different. Your mouth is roughly pH of 5.

Me, i drink soda when either desperate in need of something to drink or need caffiene. Oh, and root beer floats for fun and ginger ale for belly aches.

Ginger ale for glazed carrots, root beer or Coke for floats and flat 7-Up for sick grandkids.

Another ex Diet Coke addict - gave up about 8 months ago, I tried a can a couple of months ago and it didn't taste the way I remembered and gave me a headache. The only carbonated drink now is the slimline tonic with my Tanqueray, can't see me giving that one up.

I've never liked it. As a kid the carbonation hurt my tongue so I didn't drink it nor develop a taste for it. We rarely had pop at home. If we were traveling my mom would sometimes get C-Plus/Orange Crush and let it go flat before giving it to me. In those days options were limited while on road trips.

To me cola tastes like sugar water with a bit of caramel flavouring. In the past when I HAD to get a soft drink (part of a combo or whatever) I'd stick to ginger ale or lemon lime flavoured beverage. I cannot fathom how some people find pop thirst quenching.

On Monday I had one of those "kick myself" moments: I ordered a "sparkling green tea lemonade" at a coffee shop not realizing that "sparkling" meant carbonated in this instance. I know that "sparkling" often does but I expected the drink to be like the one at Starbucks. I took one sip and could not drink it. I handed it back and asked the guy to spill it out because "I didn't realize that it was carbonated and I can't drink carbonated drinks." I hoped that he'd offer a refund without me asking. He didn't, I didn't. I felt bad about losing $3.

What's irritating is that I wouldn't have gone in there but was looking for free WiFi.

I rarely drink soda. We always have it in the house though cause my husband insists he needs one everyday. I don't get it.

We never had it in the house as kids, so it was a special treat at parties or when out for meals. Diet soda, though, was TOTALLY forbidden. If word got to mom that we were drinking that stuff, there was TROUBLE.

I used to love anything carbonated as a kid, but now carbonation + food = bad indigestion. Even seltzer. I'll have the occasional diet soda on occasion either as a mixer (i.e. rum and diet coke) or if I really need the caffeine and want something cold / don't trust the available coffee. Yeah, it's crap for me, but I tend to reserve it for the situations where I am relishing the feeling of slowly poisoning myself. Seriously - what's life without a little recklessness. Also - it's WAY better for me than driving drowsy.

I stopped drinking pop when I started college. I didn't drink it for a few years, except of rare occasion. After I got married to my pop guzzling husband, I drank it more often, but I've never been a regular pop consumer since I quit. I gave it up for Lent this year to try and get back to not drinking it at all, and I only have a glass if I'm eating pizza or something, and my husband barely drinks it now.

I hate it, hate it, hate it. I only drank it because it was so ubiquitous--I didn't know you couldn't drink it, unless you were crazy like my mom, and forbade all sweets. Then, one day I was swilling down another Diet Coke and I realized 'hey, I don't really like this,' and haven't had one ever since.

To be honest, I don't see the problem with sodas. If you're healthy, soda is fine. I'm trying to lose pounds, so I indulge in diet soda once a day instead. I like the taste, the carbonation, and the way it quenches. I find the acid argument to be a bit bunk, since I brush my teeth often. As long as you're not downing a a twelve pack of Mountain Dew a day, or subsisting off of nothing but Diet Coke, there's nothing wrong with enjoying soda.

Don't drink it, was never allowed it as a kid, don't like it now. I do occasionally like a root beer with pizza, but only do that once a year or so.

I do find that almost all the people I know who struggle with weight tend to drink soda regularly, and diet/regular doesn't seem to make a difference. It just seems like not so good stuff to be drinking regularly.

I grew up drinking diet coke; it's the only thing my mom drank and she didn't seem to have any of the issues other parents did about diet being bad for kids. But somehow it was really just a take-it-or-leave it thing for me and I kinda grew out of drinking it. Never "decided" to stop or had to "give it up," I just never really wanted it much by the time I was in high school. I don't have strong feelings for or against the taste, and I do like Fresca-although haven't had it in years-but I really hate feeling overly full from a drink when there are so many good things to eat, and I couldn't tell you the last time I had any form of soda.

I didn't grow up drinking soda, but took to drinking too much of it during college as a bit of a rebellion.

Now years later, post-pregnancy without any soda, I find I just don't like it. My soda-chugging husband doesn't understand it, as I can now only drink about 4 ounces with some foods (pizza, wings, anything fried) before getting sick from the funny feeling of it stuck to my tongue.

Isn't that a sign not to drink it?? Soda somehow coats your tongue and teeth in an odd way?? Not in a good way like some flavors, but in chemically-odd way??

I cut out most pop a few years ago, both at home and restaurants. I used to drink diet coke almost exclusively. Now it's the occasional tonic for a gin and tonic or a very occasional regular coke. I had a diet coke for the first time in about a year last month and it tasted exactly what I imagine fibreglass insulation would taste like.

I don't drink Coke/Pepsi/Dr.Pepper/7Up that often, but I do have a thing for club soda. Like the bubbles. As I have aged (gracefully, I hope), I have given up lots of things that aren't good for me. Basically, I drink black coffee and tap water with ice on a regular basis. I live in the South so sweet tea is a given, though I tend to drink water when I am out as well. Once in awhile I will have a ginger ale out. Oh, and every so often I have to have a can of Dr. Brown's Cream Soda. I lost 25 pounds one year when I gave up soda all together.

i just officially "quit" soda 2 weeks ago, with a few lapses in between (baseball game, hungover lunch--you know, the usual). i'm pretty happy about my decision. free ice water @ the cafeteria certainly feels better than ponying up $1.50 every day for a diet coke that i never even really like all that much!

i know that there will definitely be exceptions, and i'm fine with that. i mean, well whiskey really doesn't do it for me unless there's ginger ale involved...

I drink the shit out of Diet sodas, and I'm not ashamed of it. Though, I get the feeling I should be. [shrug]

I didn't drink soda in high school since I ran track and cross-country and it's carried over to adulthood. I drink maybe 5 cans a year and it's INSTANT HICUPS! LOL

well once again hallelujah ink & sausages.
What the hell will we drink with whiskey??? I drank mine straight from the freezer but most nites I won't do without the coke!

Dayum I love me a Coke. So refreshing, its delicious effervescence hypnotizes me. Having said that, I try to limit my intake, gotta watch the waistline. And no I do not drink the diet, that stuff is wack. My friend spilled some in her kitchen and the ants actually detoured around the stuff. If ants wont touch it what does that say?

I was mildly disgusted to hear a network news story last week about a proposed tax on sodas containing sugar. Not so much by the idea of the tax, but by the implication in the report that the government would be taxing an ESSENTIAL FOOD PRODUCT and thus possibly depriving people of a god-given right. I drink a carbonated beverage maybe twice a year, although I drink coffee and tea daily. I gave up sodas because they're just empty calories, but mostly because I'd prefer to spend the money on something else. I think at least some people would be appalled how much they spend, especially on ones consumed in restaurants. The whole thing is a real triumph of marketing over common sense.

@ChloeA: I hear you! I belong to a fitness website and when a topic was started about taxing soda, many people were upset and said that the gov't wanted to control what we ate blah blah blah. To me it's a win win for the gov't. It can either help reduce obesity or bring in a lot of revenue to pay for gov't programs.

1. Count calories
2. Brush your teeth
3. Juice, milk, and other non-water beverages are often as expensive if not more
4. Personal preference
5. So?
6. So?
7. So?
8. Aluminum is recyclable, and every beverage requires water.

I don't drink much soda because I don't care for most flavors or the carbonation, but it's not the devil's drink either. Everything in moderation! The anti-soda temperance movement is getting worrisome.

basically i dont drink soda because i dont like the fizz. that's it. sometimes i would put a glass of coke in the fridge, and drink it the next day, when it's just a fizz-less sugary drink. i know it sounds disgusting but i get a craving for it once in every.....10 years maybe.

I gave it up 5+years ago, and dropped 40 pounds of which I've kept 30 off. I carry a stainless steel water bottle and drink good ol' tap water instead. I'd rather use my calories for delicious solid foods instead!!!

the only time we have soda is when one of us is sick. flat coke and ginger ale with ice chips are really good for those tummy troubles. if we want an ice cold fizzy drink, we mix seltzer with some homemade lemonades or fruit juices we have in the fridge. ( honestly, Coke scares me- it really does work as a rust and paint remover- if you soak something in there long enough!)

Once in a great while I have an ice-cold coke....which, to me, is the best beverage ever. It's a special treat....I can live without soda and find lime flavored sparkling water does it for me.....as long as I have my "bubbles"...Wal-Marts "Members Mark" key lime sparkling water is inexpensive, 0 calories and not sweet at all

I enjoy diet coke, but I usually only buy it to drink at home once a month or so. My fresh-brewed iced tea quenches my thirst better. But some meals just have to be accompanied by soda, like take-out sushi or pizza.

As an aside, the iced tea has stained my teeth wayyy more than soda ever did.

Folks! What about mixed drinks (eg, Dark & Stormy, Cuba Libre, Gin & Tonic) that use soft drinks as mixers?

Surely, you're not suggesting people give up those!* :-)

----------
* Tongue (mostly) in cheek

@mdashkin--
i 2nd'ed your comments above--alcohol definitely needs a soda friend sometimes.

I used to be addicted to Pepsi but haven't had one in awhile. We got rid of soda in our house a few years back. My husband began to drink seltzer and that is all he drinks at home except for iced coffee.

I do have one once in awhile - mainly Jones Soda and also Diet Coke with Lime (only 1-12 pack lasts me a really long time and I buy one about 2x a year). Otherwise I drink Crystal Light - most of the flavors mixed with water OR I make all kinds of different iced teas for myself. Also during the summer I buy a 12 pack of Cheerwine, a cherry soda that is only sold in North Carolina - when we are there I buy a 12 pack to bring home. I drink one can a week until it is all gone. That is treat for me though.

Hi my name is Pavlov.......... and I drink soda.

Sounds like I should be gathering with other soda drinkers in an undisclosed location and wondering, just how hungry are the lions at the coliseum?

I love the "In my house we have been off soda now for a couple of years, and now we are more popular and our kids are smarter" comments... To them I say this... GET OFF YOUR HIGH HORSES PEOPLE. As with everything in life, moderation is the key. Sure I'm not as handsome as some, but I would bet that had more to do with genetics than with the ocassional can of moxie.

If on the other hand you are one of those folks drinking a 108 oz. belt buster fountain soda every 10 minutes... good luck with the diabetes, and don't forget a side of fries with that.

I don't drink soda unless I'm mixing it with booze. During the week I only drink water or iced tea with no sugar. That's pretty much the only thing I drink other than beer on the weekends. It's not often I drink alcohol, but when I do, it's normally rum and coke, Jameson and coke, vodka and whatever is available.

I will admit that once on a while I'll have a Coke as a treat.

I love soda of all kinds and love carbonation! I used to drink 3-4 a day, diet Mountain Dew Red was a favorite. Also love coffee and caffeine.

Now that I'm an old lady with osteoporosis (and I'm NOT blaming soda for that, the evidence is still far from conclusive), my doc suggested cutting out sodas, especially the ones with phosphoric acid. Again, nothing's been proven but as she said, what could it hurt? I like the carbonation as much as the taste, so switching to fizzy mineral water was easy. More expensive, but easy enough.

A couple of months ago lorelei76 posted about her new SodaStream, and I bought one immediately. It's great! Small footprint, no cords, super simple to operate! Now I can make any flavor of soda I want. The SodaStream flavors aren't very good, but it's easy enough to find something you like at the store or just use pieces of fruit in it, or even cucumbers. (Thanks for the great suggestion, lorelei76!!)

Anyway, everything in moderation. I also love red wine, but if I drink a bottle every day, well, it's not going to be good. I hate to see perfectly good foods vilified because a segment of the population overindulges in it. As many have pointed out, foods that used to be considered treats are now daily fare.

Does anyone here remember way back when drinking a soda in the morning was considered a very strange thing to do? Now it's as normal as coffee. I can't say that I haven't done it - diet Mountain Dew Red, remember?

About 4 times a year I might have some diet pop, but it always tastes very chemical-y to me. Otherwise, I don't drink soda. I make my own with seltzer and fruit juice. Yum!

it's really not all that hard...i used to drink the stuff like...well, like it was water. about six months ago, though, i got on a diet that forbid any form of the stuff(diet or otherwise), and i more or less immediately lost like ten pounds...ever since then, i haven't kept it in my house...water, juice, coffee, beer, wine...there's enough alternatives that i really have no need of the stuff. Every so often i'll have a soda at work--but we have these really tasty Blue Sky organic sodas, and i bust my ass at work, so i feel like it's OK then.