On the subject, is there a tea maker that makes it by the gallon or more instead of by the quart?  

The only drawback to switching to tea is brewing enough to last a more than a few cups and most tea making machines do it by the quart or two.

Get iced tea.  Sweet tea is grody.

Just quit altogether.  Don't let a chemical addiction control you.   You're bigger than that.

Do you even insulin resistance, bro?

I have gotten myself down to one or two sodas a day, and a lot of water, at least 16 cups a day.... I'm stopping there.

I've given up smoking, I've massively improved my diet and have lost a decent amount of weight, don't FUCK with my Coke dammit!

Sparking water is what you seek. No sugar/sweeteners, add a slice lime/lemon/orange.

40 bucks at walmart.  44 cup coffee maker, makes tea just fine.  Bought a three dollar box of 80 bags of bigalow black tea, 5 go in the basket, then when done brewing take the basket and the stem it sits on out (it's cheap plastic, not metal like a real commercial urn).  Cons, it's uninsulated so it has to run to keep things warm on it's auto warming setting, so with coffee I'll do smaller batches (min is 10 cups).  Commercial percolator urns like this can be found pretty cheap on craigslist too, and are a lot higher quality.  But for the same price as most 12 cup makers I figured fuck it.  

My per cup cost is .005 cents.  WAY, WAY cheaper than buying jugs of unsweet tea at the store. 

OR, anything that can make coffee, will make tea, so if you already have a coffee maker, you're all set. 

Christ.  I can't believe anybody still believes this bullshit.  There is no chemical difference between high fructose corn syrup and sugar.  The effects on the body are identical.  Science bitches.  How does it work.

Sure.  Lipton's sweet ice tea has less calories than classic coke.... 5 calories less.
Per 12 fluid ounces, Liptons has 135 calories while the coke has 140.  


So no, it's not really "healthier".

Another option, if you want to get rid of soda... carbonated water.  It has the fizz, but none of the calories of weird  crap that's in soda.

I quit pop about 20 years ago, it was killing my stomach , doc said spastic colon.

I gave up pop, but still kept coffee and sweet tea, both of which have caffeine , which the doc said is causing my issues.

But it went away and for the most part has stayed away.

Soda to flavored seltzer.

Thats what i did.

Polar seltzer had 0 calories.

I stopped drinking pop by guzzling the shit out of unsweetened tea whenever I felt like drinking pop. 
I stopped smoking (didn't mean too, body stopped letting me), and started doing a keto style diet at the same time.  It was pretty rough. 
BUT plus side, by doing so I've dumped over 30 pounds since the end on January by basically eating a quesadilla a day, and snacking on pepperoni and cheese, and draining tea like it's going out of style. 

I was HIIIIIIIGHLY addicted to Mt Dew (well probably still am) and basically just tried every day to put off drinking any as long as I could. Then, come evening, tried to quit drinking any as early as I could. Eventually the two met in the middle.

I kind of feel like trying to switch to sweet tea isn't going to help anything, since you're still feeding the same addiction, just with a different taste.  In fact some sweet teas have MORE carbs from sugar than pop. 

What he said.

I suppose it depends on how sweet you like your sweet tea. Down here I call sweet tea "diabetes juice".

Science? Weird science. You couldn't be more wrong. Do you work for Monsanto?

Ok, so post up your sources in support of your argument.

Milos makes a great tea!

His source is "teh feelz"

I'm interested in whether this is going down the "gluten is the debil eat organic" route or the "government is controlling our minds with HAARP" conspiracy road.

You should see bottled/canned iced teas and how much sugar they contain.  It's almost a sin, because people think that they're drinking something healthy--because it's tea!

I was in a CVS and they had a cooler with HONEST tea in it, maybe 4-5 different flavors and they had 23-25gm of sugars in a ~17oz bottle of 'natural' tea, lol!

That's up to 100 calories of sugars right there.

It wasn't hard for me to give up sweetened drinks, but we shouldn't replace one bad one with another 'seemingly' good one.

Chris

Just did a quick Google search to give you some links since you are incapable of searching it for yourself.

http://www.princeton.edu/main/news/archive/S26/91/22K07/
http://drhyman.com/blog/2011/05/13/5-reasons-high-fructose-corn-syrup-will-kill-you/
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/dr-mark-hyman/high-fructose-corn-syrup_b_4256220.html
https://draxe.com/high-fructose-corn-syrup-dangers/
https://authoritynutrition.com/why-high-fructose-corn-syrup-is-bad/
http://www.sfgate.com/health/article/Sugar-coated-We-re-drowning-in-high-fructose-2794906.php

FPNI

No, but from what I've researched, the modern American diet of excess bread and other grains & simple carbs causes a host of health problems which our ancestors did not experience in today's numbers. Especially obesity.

I also believe genetically modified foods are causing problems we've only begun to discover.

Our food today would be unrecognizable to our forefathers.

I don't know what HAARP is.

Unsweetened green tea is really good.

If you're used to sodas, though, you'll need to wean off the sugar slower so sweet tea may be okay.

The problem is that sweet tea is loaded with sugar.  You'll do better to get unsweetened tea and then add sugar and Stevia.  You can slowly decrease the sugar/Stevia as your taste buds readjust.

Yes, tea of any form will be better for you than soda.

LoL.   No, not really.    Diabetes is in your future, either way.


Unsweetened tea is ok for you OP.

Careful, bottled sweet tea can have just as much sugar. Brown Kool-Aid.


This is one of my favorite bottled teas.

Make your own and try going with a flavored black tea variety w lemon or lime, no sugar, maybe a tablespoon of honey for a gallon, max.


Sugar's bad for you, m'kay?

Starting with the princeton link. That was a psychology experiment that doesn't sound like it controlled the amount of HFCS consumed by the mice. So, yes, if you can't control yourself and eat more HFCS than you would regular sugar then you will, necessarily, gain weight. This doesn't support the argument that HFCS is inherently worse for you. I also opened "authority nutrition". They make the claim that "HFCS adds unnatural amounts of fructose to your diet", which is false: honey, fruits all have similar levels. The other links don't look like they are worth reading: huffPo, sfgate.

I'll repost the sources I posted previously. Both talk specifically about what constitutes HFCS and are from journals with impact factors exceeding 5 (not sure about nutrition but it would be quite good for engineering).

"a broad scientific consensus has emerged that there are no metabolic or endocrine response differences between HFCS and sucrose related to obesity or any other adverse health outcome. This equivalence is not surprising given that both of these sugars contain approximately equal amounts of fructose and glucose, contain the same number of calories, possess the same level of sweetness, and are absorbed identically through the gastrointestinal tract."
http://advances.nutrition.org/content/4/2/236.long


Also:

"The glucose-to-fructose ratio in HFCS is nearly 1:1; similar to the ratio in sucrose, invert sugar, and honey. A similar ratio is also found in many fruits and fruit juices. The only practical distinction in composition between sucrose and other fructose-containing sweeteners is the presence of a bond linking fructose and glucose (sucrose chemical name: ß-d-fructofuranosyl-a-d-glucopyranoside; 17). The glucose and fructose in HFCS, invert sugar, honey, and fruit is principally monosaccharide (free, unbonded). Thus, when HFCS historically replaced sucrose in formulations, no increase in dietary fructose occurred.

Invert sugar is the name given to sucrose in which the bond linking fructose and glucose has been hydrolyzed. This may be accomplished either with acid or enzyme (invertase). Acid-catalyzed inversion of sucrose is accelerated by increased temperature and reduced pH and takes place within time spans as short as minutes to as long as months (9). Because carbonated beverages are low in pH (colas are near pH 3.5) and are stored in warehouses at ambient temperature—sometimes for weeks before they reach supermarket shelves—considerable inversion can take place before the product reaches the consumer. It is a sweet irony that purists who must have their sucrose-sweetened sodas end up drinking a sweetener composition more similar to HFCS and have been doing so since the first cola was formulated in the 1880s."
http://ajcn.nutrition.org/content/88/6/1716S.full

Same here, and I was a soda pop drinking fool (3-4 2-litersof Coke a week) until I switched to water or unsweetened tea a few years ago.  Then I got a sodastream for carbanation and add a little lime or lemon juice.

I started drinking orange juice but it's too sugary for me most of the time.

TL;DR

Calories in 16 oz of Lipton Sweet tea is 170.  Calories in a 12oz can of Mountain Dew is 170.

Both have high calories, both have lots of sugar.

If you're worried about being "healthier" why not go with water?  Grab a thing of bottled water, and grab some propel water packets or whatever flavor shit you want.  Use it to kick the soda.  I went from drinking 4~6 cans of Mountain Dew a day, to drinking none.  I started first week of March, haven't touched another soda since.  Have been drinking nothing but water and water with propel in it.  Lost 10 lbs so far.

ETA:

Should have said, if you do kick it altogether, get yourself some extra strength Excedrin....the caffeine will help you with your awesome headache for the next week or two.

The phosphoric acid in Coke, Pepsi, and         Dr Pepper is hard on your kidneys.  Also the high fructose corn syrup in sodas is horrible for you. It causes your body to crave it almost like a true addiction sort of way.

Sprite and 7 Up use Citric acid in their drinks and it is less harsh on your kidneys.  I would suggest like others have try making your own tea then slowly reduce the amount of sugar in it.

Also Sugar (cane sugar and High fructose corn syrup both) is a major inflammatory trigger for a lot of people, also causes fluid retention the same as salt.

It might be marginally healthier, but you're still loading up on sugar. Just stop drinking sweetened garbage.

Sugar is sugar, doesn't matter how you consume it.

I switched from sodas to sweet tea years ago, eventually my dentist commented on the staining,

I hardly drink any of that shit anymore, occasional diet gingerale with my whiskey but i tend to just use sparkling lime water

Don't buy premade sweet tea, make it. Control and slowly reduce sugar.

Coke Zero is what you're looking for.

Sweet stuff is for kiddies. 

High Fructose Corn Syrup


Arizona is pretty much non-carbonated soda, so if you're looking to improve your health, this will do absolutely nothing for you.

I'll throw it out there...I know my loose leaf teas, blacks, greens and whites and I, much like coffee, use a few methods to brew the half gallon + of iced tea I go through everyday, just about.

Here's how I do it.  

Get a 3 qt. tea kettle, either electric, or old school.  I use a 25 year old Calphalon traditional tea kettle made in Ireland.  I have a 30+ year Rubbermaid pitcher that is well seasoned but holds a bit more that 64oz, closer to 75oz when filled to the brim.

Whatever vessel/pitcher you use, get a good one that's not going to leach nasty toxins/odors, or has other shit like BPA, although that's less of an issue than the noxious taste and those pitchers are out there.

Use filtered/spring water and fill the kettle up with 32oz-40oz and bring it to a boil.  Get your two family size tea bags--I use Tetley, Luzianne, or Liptons ICED TEA, not cold brew bags and while they all have a subtle taste difference, I buy on price.  I go through them all and I go through them quickly.

Once the water has boiled, remove it from the heat and let sit on a trivet for 30 seconds (off the rolling boil) and add it to the PYREX pitcher, or Rubbermaid.  Add the teabags and dunk a few times.  

Set your kitchen timer to 8 minutes, agitating every couple of minutes with dunking.

Remove bags and add either ice, or cold water and let cool down.  Garnish with a squeeze of lemon, or whatever.

That's my way for about 25 years and I make a good iced tea.

Now, when I go to my GF's place on the weekends, I use her $25 Mr. Coffee iced tea maker, but you're blowing through a lot of ice.  It works well without coffee filters and it's cold and ready to drink, because you add a fair amount of ice to the pitcher before brewing.

Chris

I switched to water with sweet tea MIO (and the Walmart version which is cheaper) and it's definitely helped me keep my weight down.

I went drinking waaay too much soda to none overnight with La Croix. Though I think the Dasani ones have a little more flavor. It's a tough transition since these have such a subtle taste, at first it tastes like nothing but dirty water. But it grows on you. The lemon and lime generally go well with bitter carbon flavor. 

Been about 2 months for me being soda free. 

I was drinking 7-9 cans a day of diet dr pepper.

I used the sweet tea from Wal-mart to help.  I cut it back slowly over the course of a few weeks till it was just water and a cup of green tea in the morning.

Edit:  I feel no different being off soda and caffiene.  

This x 1000

If your going to drink tea just drink it like a man and not sweetened. Get off the sugar teet. Its bad for you.

DRINK WATER and lots of it. Start now. Do it!!

Bite the bullet and go unsweetened tea, you'll thank yourself in no time flat.

And if you need fizz, drinker seltzer. Hated the stuff when I first had it now it's the go to when I want something other than flat water or tea. And like has been said, you'll feel 1000 times better without the sugar.

Second time I've posted this a few days.

Lipton Cold Brew. 3-4 bags in a gallon pitcher in the fridge over night.
I'm a bit of a tea snob and the lipton brand actually makes pretty good tea. I very rarely drink soda anymore for the last couple years. Saves money and is better for me, win-win.

Their Arnold Palmer will change your life.

I quit soda 5 or 6 years ago, substitute with water.

Now its water, coffee black, hot tea and a occasional adult beverage, no sugar or artificial sweeteners.

+1

I drink gallons of this stuff.  Sometimes I add a little sugar-free Torani to it.

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