I’m trying to cut out my diet soda intake in an effort to cut back on sodium, aspartame, caffeine and whatnot. Does anyone have some good suggestions for a replacement (excluding water as I already down a gallon a day)? I have a habit of going overboard with Diet Coke and Diet Dr. Pepper. I did a search and found seltzer water and some type of flavored water that Walmart sells. How about the flavored green tea products? Crystal Light…any better as it also has aspartame and if memory serves correctly about the same sodium content? Thanks in advance!
I just replaced my sodas with beer. Hee hee hee…kidding.
I quite drinking sodas backin '95. It was due to the same reason as you. OVERconsumption. Especially during pre-contest. So, I stopped. Just went "cold turkey". I even stopped drinking Crystal Light. Now, I'll have a Sobe (prefer the Oolong tea mix), every so often - but that's a rarity, too. I'm not big on bottled juices, teas, etc. Tea (loose or bag), is a good substitute. I do drink alot of hot tea, too.
However, as I said, I just stopped. Within a month or two, the idea of drinking soda was so alien to me. Still is.
Meant “quit” not “quite”…Patricia 
Yeah, I am more or less addicted to the stuff. If I can get by w/o regular soda (I used to pull off a 12 pk. of Dr. Pepper almost daily) I can surely learn to 86 the diet as well. While I’m definitely not a diet soda “alarmist,” it surely isn’t good to drink as much as I tend to (12 pk. of caffeine-free Diet Dr. Pepper yesterday…ouch).
I saw on another thread that someone suggested mixing green tea w. raspberry tea. I’m not big on raspberry, so I may look into one of the flavored green teas such as lemon, mint, etc. I’m a big believer in green tea’s health properties.
I already posted on this previously, but I found that the biggest appeal in drinking soda is the carbonation… the bubbles are what I crave. Drinking plain seltzer curbs my craving for sodas, and I haven’ t had a Coke or any other flavored soda in at least 6 months. Try it, you may learn to like it as much as i do.
If you can find Diet Rite, they use sucralose as a sweetener instead of aspartame, and it’s caffeine free. Tastes better than other diet sodas in my opinion. Can’t say I recall the sodium content off hand though, as that’s not something I worry about.
Well, what about squeezing a little lemon or lime in water. You could do this along with drinking green tea.
One thing I've done is to limit my diet soda consumption to times when I eat out. The rest of the time, I choose to drink water (90%) or green tea (10%).
Define “overboard”. Diet Coke isn’t bad for you, despite what some people on the “aspartame is the devil” bandwagon. I drink 3 or 4 a day and have for 10 years. Of course I also drink the 1.5 gallons of water. Now, if your trying to get ready for a show, I’d axe them, it does seem to make a slight difference in my physique on contest day. But it won’t hinder fat loss. To try and cut back, why don’t you just set aside 3 or 4 a day, and when you drink them, your done? You have to have a lot of willpower, since you are a weight training athlete.
Green tea is Great substiute for diet coke. I drink about 5-8 glasses a day. Patrica is also right about Crystal Light. If you need flavor Crystal Light is the way to go…
Like Marc said Diet Rite is aspartame and sodium free.