So similar to Coke Zero/Diet Coke.
To be clear, that is the only sense in which I distinguish artificial/synthetic and natural substances -- those words are heavily loaded now and carry with them all kinds of connotations to the point of not even being particularly useful, but if we're going to use them we should at least be correct!
> Erythritol is manufactured using enzymatic hydrolysis of the starch from corn to generate glucose.[25] Glucose is then fermented with yeast or another fungus to produce erythritol. A genetically engineered mutant form of Yarrowia lipolytica, a yeast, has been optimized for erythritol production by fermentation, using glycerol as a carbon source and high osmotic pressure to increase yields up to 62%.
So I feel like your specific wording is just as misleading as calling it "artificial".
If Erythritol is artificial based on that processing, then sugar from sugar cane sure is too
And what does that matter for the context of this conversation? Honestly?
The conversation isn't about whether or not it's synthetic sweetener. It's about the total amount of added sweeteners in the product. Therefore, any sweetener, synthetic or natural, count toward this end, correct?
Switched to diet Coke, and drank that for a few more years. Then decided that was probably just as bad, and now drink sparkling water.
I no longer have any desire to drink sweetened beverages of any sort.
Being older, I decided to stop eating all ice cream, cookies, candy bars, pie, etc., about 2 months ago. This is difficult. I've tried that before, and failed.
Heh that's usually what gets everybody who visits Germany for the first time: what's with Germans and that sparkling water? I never realized it isn't really a thing in most parts of the world.
And it seems pretty divisive to folks visiting from outside Europe. Some think it's disgusting, some get used to it after a while and like it.
I drink both, plain water and sparkling water. Sometimes I feel the urge to have something more than just water, especially in the summer returning home and being really thirsty, and usually sparkling water is enough to fool my senses. So depending on where you are, maybe you wanna try it for some time if you're trying to get off coke or other soda.
US: https://nutricost.com/collections/protein/products/nutricost...
AU: https://www.bulknutrients.com.au/products/whey-protein-isola...
edit - I should add, you can get a bit of an idea of the quality of the protein powder by just looking at the percentage of protein in it. Nutricost is 85% and Bulk Nutrients is 87%. Doesn't leave much room to shove other ingredients in with protein levels that high.
You can also go buy 20kg bags of WPI from NZ (which is where I think most of these retail products get their WPI from) https://www.nzmp.com/global/en/products/ingredients/types/pr...
[1] Quest brand: https://www.questnutrition.com/collections/protein-powders/p...
[2] essentially powdered egg whites are easy to find, for example: https://www.amazon.com/Its-Just-Protein-Non-GMO-Unflavored/d...
https://canadianprotein.com/products/bulk-grass-fed-new-zeal...
They ship to the US for free, too.
If purity is particularly important to you I'd recommend "isolate" over "concentrate", it will have even lower amounts of lactose, which can benefit people who are severely lactose-intolerant.
Pretty good stuff :)
Just regular ol' water is eternal
I'm still ok with honey, and every once in a while I have a hankering for a single scoop of ice cream or custard.
A few times a year I get a migraine or super bad headache. A can of coke, when you don't ever drink it otherwise, is super effective against headaches.
The carbonation makes it acidic which is one of the two elements that makes carbonated soft drinks the best way to rot out all of your teeth as quickly as possible (the other element is the copious amounts of refined, simple sugar).
Nothing beats plain old water, except maybe tea.
So when adults say, 'I discovered I didn't need as much sugar', maybe they, like the children, are just following their biological urges.
I did a very quick look for research on the question but didn't find anything.
Kids do not have the wisdom to know which bitter foods are ok and which could harm you, so they avoid them all or die. By adulthood the selection pressure is much smaller because you will have learned what is safe to eat.
"About 30 years ago, a Dutch scientist identified the chemicals that made brussels sprouts bitter. He selected seed varieties with lower levels of the bitter chemicals and bred new high-yielding varieties that tasted less bitter."
source: https://www.iowafarmbureau.com/Article/Its-not-your-imaginat...
some of it is to do with age too though. :P
Note: do not brush your teeth immediately after drinking soda. The sugar (or rather the byproducts of the digestion of sugar by bacteria in your mouth) and the phosphoric acid in the soda will temporarily soften your enamel, which will then be partially removed by brushing.
...for now. There may be a "vaccine" for dental caries if this recently HN'd article is to be believed and isn't sponsored content:
https://www.cremieux.xyz/p/the-rise-and-impending-fall-of-th...
Though https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine suggests it may not be that simple.
[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/High-fructose_corn_syrup#Unite...
People can often notice the difference in products because of other factors like the water used to bottle them etc.
The water between those 2 are totally disconnected and yet both tastes fantastic compared to American fructose coke
It matters so much to me that I have a Costco membership just to buy the stuff
However, Coca-Cola the company realized they had an easy excuse to sell a “premium” product at inflated prices so yes it very much does taste different, just as intended. https://news.yahoo.com/mexican-coke-us-still-cane-sugar-1520...
Personally I very easily notice a difference between cans, plastic bottles, and glass ones. But that never seems to be a concern for most people.
Some other drinks (including Pepsi) have been reformulated with less sugar in the UK, but Coca Cola isn't one of them.
As someone who very rarely drinks soda of any kind, I find typical Coke or Pepsi products overwhelmingly sweet and feel sick if I actually drink a whole can. I can stomach Olipop though. (No paid endorsement here, I discovered these through my partner. She is a health-obsessed person with a sweet tooth.)
8g of sugar is enough for the taste but not enough for the crack effect to take place. Coca Cola et all did plenty of research into how to get their product to sell ever higher quantities (addictive properties).
As a sidebar, I really like British style baked beans. Trying to buy something locally made in the US with the same amount of sugar is impossible. For example, Heinz Vegetarian beans contains 31.5g! of added sugar per can. Even if you go to Whole Foods, the Amy's brand contains the same amount of sugar. The UK version only contains 12g, so I end up buying the imported beans.
I avoid processed foods whenever practical, added sugar among the reasons. Sugar (and too much of it) is added to a ridiculous % of products, for no good reason.
In your example: try dried (white) beans. Soak overnight, cook ~1 hour until the beans are soft, steep or add eg. potato starch to bind leftover liquid, and then: add tomato paste & salt to taste. Just concentrated tomato, not ketchup / pasta sauce! Personally I add some chili paste as well, various herbs / spices could also go in but are really not needed.
Tastes waaay better than the canned stuff from supermarket. Practically 0 sugar in it, and not as much water as in the canned stuff.
When I finally manage to cut them out, I will be incredibly proud. But, man, they've made them so, so addicting.
Also... I don't know. I drink bottled water, which has microplastics, eh? There's no winning.
I do have a filter as well, which I use to cook with and drink when out of bottled water.
We have two versions of Coke, both taste exactly the same except one kills you and one doesn't, and people will still voluntarily choose the one that kills you instead.
I can identify the taste of Coke Zero (or anything with artificial sweeteners) vs coke 100% of the time. They barely even taste similar to me. My wife can’t taste a difference at all.
(doesn't apply to Pepsi though - here the regular one also tastes bad now as it contains sweeteners as well, so I doubt I'd tell it apart from Pepsi Max unless trained beforehand - they're both gross, so I unfortunately had to switch to Coca-Cola for my occasional coke cravings)
You know the kind that's not even funny, the kind that makes you yourself gag from just a little whiff.
In mexico they sell horchate in plastic baggies with straws --boy, are they sweet.
It doesn't take malice to add sugar. It only takes people choosing to buy
How many people could have avoided diabetes or other health problems if coca-cola just set the standard that 8g of sugar is enough?