As I mentioned recently here, my options for liquids to drink have narrowed in the last few years . Don't like coffee, tea, fruit juices, milk, etc. Can't handle anything with carbonation or artificial sweeteners. For the last 4-5 years, it's been only water and about once a day, a Jay Robb protein shake made with water.
My water of choice has been Crystal Geyser, which I buy in cases and have throughout my house. I had home delivery of Sparklett's for a time but I wasn't thrilled with the water and I had all sorts of problems with them delivering bottles I didn't want, no matter how I told them not to. I also like having liter bottles all over my house and there's always one on my desk. Crystal Geyser comes in liter bottles.
It's obtainable, by the way, under a number of names. At my local Whole Foods Markets, they sell gallon bottles of Crystal Geyser for $1.25 apiece. Next to it on the shelves, there are gallon bottles of the Whole Foods house brand for $1.00 each. Little do some unsuspecting Whole Fooders suspect but they're the exact same thing: Same H2O from the same source, same bottle, same piece of tape for a handle, everything. Only the label is different. At Walgreens here, they sell a brand called Roxane, which is also Crystal Geyser…and I'm not sure if it still is but for a while, the Trader Joe's house brand in my area was a matter of the Crystal Geyser folks slapping yet another label on their output. The tip-off is if you look at the label and find some reference to "CG Roxane."
So that's what I've been drinking. Recently though, I've discovered a bunch of new products with which to flavor one's water. They're new drink mixes made with Stevia…which is not, as some folks think, an artificial sweetener. It's a real sweetener that lacks calories and which can be quite effective in certain applications. Years ago, I tried a couple brands of flavored Stevia and they were awful. Somehow though, someone has mastered it, particularly in a new product called Truvia. These new drink mixes come in little packets that you add to a 16 oz. bottle of water, then you shake it up and drink. Recently, I taste-tested three…
Hansen's Natural Fruit Stix – Natural Strawberry Lemonade
This was my least favorite of the three I tried, probably because it didn't taste like Strawberry Lemonade to me. It tasted like Hawaiian Punch…or at least what I remember Hawaiian Punch tasting like the last time I had one, which was in the seventies. If you like that, it's probably great but I thought it was too sweet and that its taste didn't relate to anything that occurs in nature. Hansen's sweetens with Truvia and one serving has 5 calories. For something advertised as "natural," the ingredients list sure had a lot of names I recall having in my old Gilbert Chemistry Set. Anyway, they also have an Iced Tea flavor, a Blackberry Tea flavor, a Natural Berry flavor and a Fruit Punch flavor. Since their Strawberry Lemonade tastes like Fruit Punch, I'm wondering if their Fruit Punch tastes like Strawberry Lemonade.
Crystal Light Pure Lemonade
I liked this one (also containing Truvia) but not as much as the next one. One of these has 15 calories and again, it has a rather chemically-oriented list of ingredients. The Crystal Light Pure line also includes a Grape version, a Tropical Blend, a Strawberry Kiwi and a Mixed Berry. The lemonade was fairly good and I might have stocked up on it had I not found…
True Lemon Original Lemonade
This one says on the box "made with lemons," which is always a nice sign. The ingredients list read more like a real beverage and one serving has 5 calories. Best of all, this one actually tastes about as close to lemonade as any mix I've ever had. So I'm stocking up on True Lemon. They also have a Raspberry Lemonade flavor which I haven't tried.
Are there side effects to Stevia and Truvia? There are anecdotal reports on the Internet…but on the Internet, you can find people who will tell you that they had a bad reaction to oxygen. I've had what I believe were bad reactions to Splenda, NutraSweet and saccharin but so far, no problem with Stevia. (There's Stevia in those Jay Robb protein shakes I make.) Like any food product of even slighty-questionable safety, you need to decide for yourself about yourself…and I would think that limiting one's intake of it would not be a bad idea. I limit mine to one every few days and it's a nice change o' pace from water, water everywhere.
This concludes my report. Updates will be posted as soon as they become available…like if anyone makes me happy and puts out an orange version.