Drinks

During the beginning of my diet, I started to drink diet root beer because I had sweet cravings. I usually had one per day. I also drank 4-5 cups of coffee at that time, sweetened with Stevia, and a cup of herbal tea in the morning. Even before I started the Superfoods diet, I tried to lower my sugar intake for coffee, so I went from one-and-a-half teaspoons to one-half. Luckily, I never added sugar to my tea, so there were no issues with my tea once I started the diet, except that I wasn't sure which sweetener to use. I didn't like artificial sweeteners but I had them in my diet root beer anyway, so I tried Stevia and I liked it. But somehow, during my diet, my palate started to change. I didn't need sugar with my coffee and I started to avoid diet root beer. Then, just for fun, I tried pure black coffee, without cream or Stevia. And I liked it!

I'm pretty sure that my lowered sweet tooth was caused by the Superfoods lifestyle, probably because of the fruits that I ate daily and because I didn't eat any wheat bread or pastries. After less than 6 weeks, I stopped drinking diet root beer completely (in the last 4 weeks I had a diet root beer maybe once a week) and I stopped adding Stevia to my coffee. During the last 4 years, I have had a half-full small bottle of Stevia in the top drawer of my office desk, as a reminder of my sweet coffee days. I lowered my coffee intake to 2 cups per day, and I started to drink green tea in the afternoon, in addition to one cup of herbal tea (sage + mint being my favorite), which I drank in the morning. When I wanted to drink something cold and refreshing, I had a sparkling mineral water or soda with quarter of a lemon squeezed in. I also had one 5-ounce glass of red wine in the evening, but not every day. If I was invited to a party or if I was entertaining, I'd drink red wine.

Please avoid diet sodas because they're full of nasty chemicals. (They’re okay for the first few weeks while you’re still parting with processed foods, but avoid them once you lose your sweet cravings.)

Artificial sweeteners in diet sodas create a negative hormonal response in the body that increases fat-storing hormone production. They also increases your craving for more sweets and refined carbohydrates in the time period immediately after consuming the diet drink. The best alternatives are sparkling or regular water, club soda with lemon, or unsweetened iced teas. You have plenty of options with teas – green, white, black, and mint. Be creative in making your iced teas and you'll enjoy them more! Plus, you'll get a more diverse array of antioxidants. I’m not a fan of fruit juices, even freshly squeezed ones. I prefer to eat fresh fruit and with additional fibers found in fresh fruit. The choice you should make regarding fruits is, therefore, obvious!