What bottled fruit beverage should I try next?

[Creole Ned]

I don't drink beer.

I also don't drink pop/soft drinks/colas/whatever you want to call them.

I am currently casting about for healthy and yummy fruit/water beverages. My main criteria is the beverage must be low in sugar/sodium and be, well, yummy. Or yummy-ish.

I have tried a few with mixed results. Aquafina's Flavor Splash is okay but seems to have a lot of sodium in it for some reason. The Dasani flavored water was disgusting enough for me to consider using it on people I don't like. Dole has a carbonated fruit drink but I'm not really big on fizzy fruit.

Suggestions, please!

[Circuit]

I've tried Vitamin Water (from a company called Glaceau) and it was pretty good. It's very light and, surprisingly, has almost no aftertaste unlike every other type of flavored water I've had. Most end up tasting like the leftover melted icewater from a cup that once had some sort of fruit drink in it, but the Vitamin Water is actually good. I'm fairly certain it's very low in sugar and sodium, but it might vary by flavor. The only downside for me is that it's a bit on the expensive side unless you can catch it on sale.

[Fitty]

People rave about the flavored water in Walmart for some reason. I hate the place so I would not know.

[Tai]

What's wrong with just regular water?

[Fitty]

regular water is not very yummy-ish

[Circuit]

Nothing. But who wants to drink nothing but water?

[Budly]

I had a Hansen's Fruit Smoothie power drink yesterday, very yummy as are most Hansen's Fruit Drinks.

ps. may be classified as uncarbonated soda.

[F7]

Can't go wrong with Nantucket Nectars. Any of them. All natural. Makes you feel even better supporting such an eco-friendly company too.

[Shadowrat]

I suggest one of the many beverages made of the fruit of barley, sugar, and the waste product of yeasts. It's natural and good for you.

[Sir Lucius]

I have a rule when it comes to fruit juices: if it does not require refrigeration prior to opening then it is no better for you than soda is.

It's a Apple Cider > Apple Juice kind of mentality, but it's a proven fact that fresh fruits are better for you than vitamin supplements, and I think this is a very similar thing.

Plus room temperature stored juices have a tendency to BS you on the actual product. I love pomegranate cider, but if you ever see pomegranate juice check out the label. You may be surprised to find the first ingredient is pear juice.

[Circuit]

I have a rule when it comes to fruit juices: if it does not require refrigeration prior to opening then it is no better for you than soda is.


Of course it's better than soda. Sodas have zero nutritional value whereas fruit juices, even if they contain preservatives, do. Preservatives are bad in mass quantities, but you're still way better off drinking V8 than Diet Pepsi.

[Shadowrat]

I look for the 100% juice badge. Otherwise it's loaded with High Fructose Corn Syrup. Many fruit juices have the same ingredients as soda minus the carbonation. Any benefit from the fact that 10% of it came out of a fruit is probably outweighed by the 90% that is crap.

[Sir Lucius]

Corn is a fruit, I don't see a difference here.

Also, V8 is more like vegetable stock than a beverage.

[Shadowrat]

It's just the concentrated fructose extracted from corn. In moderate quantities, i'm sure it's fine. The big knock against HFCS is it's in more stuff than you think and you can eat tons of it throughout the day. Its in weird stuff like ketchup and salad dressings.

The rumors say that natural sugars will usually contain equal parts of fructose and sucrose, and your body is built to take them in in equal ammounts. Getting just the fructose is supposed to screw you up and make you fat.

I still think Ned should take up beer. It's natural and wholesome. My dentist even recommends drinking beer.

[Shadowrat]

I like V8 too. it's like having a bloody mary. Unfortunately one can is something like 40% of your daily sodium. One v8 and one ramen noodles in the same day and it's hello hypertension.

[Creole Ned]

I lost my taste for beer many years ago and I have zero desire to cultivate it again. Mostly I want a healthy beverage to sip on when writing or working at the computer that's a little more jazzy than plain water.

Right now I am drinking a Nestle Pure Life "Lemon Splash" bottle of flavored water and it's pretty mediocre. It uses sucralose (artificial sweetener that is said to be 500 times sweeter than sugar) and according to the Nutrition Facts (section mandated by Health Canada) contains 4% of the daily recommended intake of sodium (100 mg). The aftertaste has actually muscled out the normal taste so it hits you first, second and third. Yuck. Even at free (supplied here at work) I still feel ripped off.

[Shadowrat]

Then i suggest scotch.

http://image.bayimg.com/ha/ae/da/ab/d.jpg

I hear it goes great with Canada.

[jackrabbit]

My mom worked at Wal*mart and would get the flavored water. This was back before Gatorade began tripling the amount of sugar and making it taste like crap... but I thought the flavored water was sweeter than Gatorade at that stage. I didn't think it was anything special and it was too sweet for me to drink after running around or playing sports. Of course this was when I was young. Now, after (during and also before) sports, and even sometimes when I'm just relaxing (every day, nearly Tai levels) I'll just have a beer.

I'd suggest herbal teas like black and green that you see these days. I don't know that caffeine is not added, but they are usually subtle and tasty. V8 also makes splash juices that are good. I dunno. I guess if I'm drinking water, I drink just water, maybe with a little lime/lemon in it, or a few slices of cucumber (thanks, Mrs. Shadowrat!)

[F7]

Fresca!

[Tai]

Well, if you won't take the beer advice, and regular water just doesn't ahve enough taste, then I suggest freshly squeezed oranges. Not out of a can or carton, squeeze the dang things yourself. Nothing beats it. Well, except for that frut of barley, sugar and yeast waste stuff that Shadowrat suggested.

[Tick]

Gatorade makes a flavored water named Propel. It's got a little sodium and some vitamins and stuff, but only like 10 calories per 8 ounces. It comes in various flavors (the Berry is the sweetest), and I like it quite a bit. It's light, but has better flavor than most flavored waters.

[jenn68]

I'm a big fan of Propel too - Gatoraid got too sweet for me, but Propel is great. I'm not a big fan of non-'yummyish' water, but know I should drink it - Propel makes me feel like I'm drinking water with some benefits... the mandarin orange version even has calcium :thumbup:

I'm also a fan of green tea - which I can't remember why, but I'm not supposed to drink pg, so I've been abstaining...

[Medic]

As a rule, when we're out on the field, we use a gatorade mix that is double the amount of water that is called for. This seems to give us the stuff we need, without overdoing the sugar. As quickly as I sweat out there, that seems to keep the headaches/nausea/lightheadedness away very well. Of course, the rule on the field is, 'drink as much as you can without having to pee before the fight, then keep it level throughout the day'.

Keeps me moving!

[Budly]

Yeah, I tell the guys 2 bottles of water to 1 bottle of gatorade/powerade.

[Shadowrat]

yeah, i have the same rule with gatorade when i'm on an epic bike ride. When i did the 100k in june, i filled my bottle 1/4 gatorade, 3/4 water.

The gatorade gives me something to keep my energy up but it's not good on it's own. One year i drank nothing but gatorade on a the ride, and i had the worst dehydration headaches ever.

[FoeKilla]

we use the high frustose Tropicana Twisters but dilute the living shit out of it. About 1 part juice, 5 to 8 parts water depending on who's making it. Those 1/2 gallonish sizes (the standard size) last about 2 weeks of several glasses a day at that rate too, so it's pretty cost effective. The stuff is so friggin sweet on it's own that even a splash of it can flavor a full 12 oz glass of water.

[samuelk]

I second Circuit's recommendation of Vitamin Water. The Dragonfruit flavor is particularly good.

I avoid any drink with sucralose (Splenda™), although I do like some foods that are flavored with sucralose, like chocolate, cake and cookies. For some reason, liquids flavored with sucralose are just nasty.