C2, Pepsi Extra - Half as bad as diet.

[Kati Compton]

I haven't tried Pepsi Extra yet, to be honest. But I'm sitting here with a 20oz bottle of C2. And a unopened can of Vanilla Coke that I'd rather be drinking.

First off, and I think this applies to all 20oz bottles of soda/pop/soda-pop/soft drinks, why is a "serving" from this bottle only 20/2.5 = 8 oz, wheras a serving from a can is 12oz? Really, now. Fractional servings? Share this with 1.5 friends? At least make it 2 servings, people. But I digress, as this isn't pseudo-diet specific.

So, the C2 is half as bad tasting as diet coke. That said, it's half as good as a *real* coke. I wouldn't quite call it "best of both worlds" because if you can stand diet (not me - I'd rather drink water if I'm trying to avoid sugar/calories), it's even "cheaper" in terms of calories. And if you don't like diet, well... you probably won't like C2.

That is, unless you're on a low-carb diet (please save us all, but that's another discussion) but don't want to mentally stoop quite as low as diet coke (which as far as I can tell seems to have a primary market of teenage girls who weigh less than 100lbs and very large people eating the super-fried-nacho-supreme appetizer before their cheese-smothered-chicken-fried-beef-n-gravy-with-extra-greasy-lard-on-top), and you want to be more EXTREME! Because eating low-carb is EXTREME! Which, apparently, is supposed to be good or something.

The last ingredient on my bottle of C2 is "sucralose". Well, that's how I feel. When the drink loses the sucra, we all lose. :P

[manywhere]

Hmm... that's interesting. Over here, we've upgraded previous 0.3 litre (or is that liter ?) glass bottles to the 0.5 litre plastic bottles. I like the newer plastic bottles since when I'm thirsty, I tend to "need" that much liquid. Plus they are less fragile to dropping and really light. Furthermore, the Coke (not to make any commercial here) bottles are well suited ergonomically (thanks to the design of it) for training the ol' mouse hand and second best hand too... ;)

However the cans (same size, according to Google convert) aren't that popular as the price for them is uneconomical when you look at the price for each liter (aka. cash/litre). And, they are really hard to find in stores -- if not counting the odd energy drink, Jolt cola and alcoholic beverage.

As for artificial sweetners, I like to avoid them all but Xylitol (which, per se is not an artificial sweetner but can be artificially manufactured). Often, manufacturers like to make a "brady bunch" of sweetners in whatever the product is. The result is that my poor old stomach can't uhh.. "stomach it" (read: doesn't like it) :oops: And why kid your own body that it's getting sugar when it's not getting any? In the long run, that might be harmful -- I suspect. :roll:

Why don't I count in Xylitol (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Xylitol) then? Well, for some reason my body doesn't feel offended by it and it might be because it's of natural origins. Xylitol can, among other things, be found the sap/liquid produced by birches in the spring. It also has two positive sideeffects: it's good for your teeth and apparently can prevent ear infection (or milden the symptoms (see the link to Wikipedia above)). 8)

Oh, and when we're now talking about teeth, did you know that diet soda isn't better for your teeth than regular sugared soda? It's the carbonic acid (carbondioxide dissolved in water formes just that acid) that dissolves the protective enamel (is that right?) which leaves your teeth exposed to the acids formed by the bacterae that inhabit your mouth. Not nice, I know... :worried:

As a conclusion, are there any pros to drinking diet sodas? Sure, dieting as the name suggests. However, don't take any of my words for granted as I'm no doctor or well in the medical sciences. :oops: I however, will try to avoid any diet sodas for my personal well being. If I grow fat, well then I better start training some... :devilboy:

Hope that I didn't spoil your appetite, Kati, with this long reply and all... :eek:

[ignar]

super-fried-nacho-supreme appetizer before their cheese-smothered-chicken-fried-beef-n-gravy-with-extra-greasy-lard-on-top

Yum.. :)

[Janak Parekh]

Hmm... that's interesting. Over here, we've upgraded previous 0.3 litre (or is that liter ?) glass bottles to the 0.5 litre plastic bottles. I like the newer plastic bottles since when I'm thirsty, I tend to "need" that much liquid.
Kati's not complaining about the bottles, but rather the "number of servings" listed on the Nutrition Facts label on it.

And as for the rest of Kati's post: spot-on, down to the Vanilla Coke (although my default option is bottles, like you). 8) We need to form SodaThoughts.com so that she can do a frontpage review post... :lol:

--janak

[ctmagnus]

As a conclusion, are there any pros to drinking diet sodas?

Sure. They taste sweeter! :mrgreen:

(And Tim Horton's is much better than Krispy Kreme, for similar but different reasons.)

[Kati Compton]

As a conclusion, are there any pros to drinking diet sodas?

Sure. They taste sweeter! :mrgreen:
See, I've also heard the *opposite* argument that regular cola is TOO sweet, so someone preferred diet.

[JackTheTripper]

and very large people eating the super-fried-nacho-supreme appetizer before their cheese-smothered-chicken-fried-beef-n-gravy-with-extra-greasy-lard-on-top),

:P

That's why I drink diet! 8O

"There's nothing wrong with being a large mammal."

Signed, A big fat american. (Though I've been told TWICE in the last 2 weeks I "carry it well." "It" being 240 lbs. Is that what is called a back handed complement?

[Falstaff]

I had a can of the C2 the other day, I thought it was awful. I'm a Pepsi drinker anyways, but there is only a Coke machine where I work (I think coke is only decent when it is out of a fountain), so I got the C2 not knowing it was half the calories (thought it might be a new flavor).... I always just drink Pepsi out of the can (which I think tastes better than out of a bottle), and I could care less about calories and all that stuff, what I do want different, is a Gamer/Programmer's edition of Pepsi with twice as much caffiene, they are behind every other major drink in that category as you can see in this Slacker.com (http://slacker.com/things/caffeine.php) article. How hard would that actually be to produce, same other ingredients, just dump in some more caffiene. I suppose I could drink Jolt, but I'd have to order that from ThinkGeek....

[yslee]

What's a diet soda? A drink with half the fizz and none of the taste.

I have no ideas why all the caucasians I see here are drinking on a diet soda (especially diet coke) when they do take one. I personally think Diet Coke is one of the vilest drinks on this planet.

[Kati Compton]

What's a diet soda? A drink with half the fizz and none of the taste.

I have no ideas why all the caucasians I see here are drinking on a diet soda (especially diet coke) when they do take one. I personally think Diet Coke is one of the vilest drinks on this planet.
"Caucasians"? Well, being a whiter shade of pale myself, I say Down With Diet!

[kosmicki]

Can't stand any diet drink, I'd rather have water then something watered down.

Pepsi Edge is the 'best' of the diets i've tried (still half the taste, water > edge)

Everything else is pretty much nasty. I mean, generic cola tastes better then that crap to me. :P

BTW, Coke actually has more sugar in it than Pepsi (Normal versions) most people I hear about that hate Pepsi, love Coke, say its too sweet...

Pepsi fan myself, but I'll drink Coke if its the only thing there.


Dangit, now I want a Pepsi.

[milkman dan]

I think I am rather alone when I say this, but I despise ALL carbinated beverages. I don't understand why making something bubly for no reason is something we enjoy in a drink, with the exception of beer, but beer gets carbinated in its 2nd distilation process, so its not like they add the carbination for no reason, its to get alcohol out of it. If coke was alcoholic, things might be different :)

[manywhere]

Kati's not complaining about the bottles, but rather the "number of servings" listed on the Nutrition Facts label on it.

And as for the rest of Kati's post: spot-on, down to the Vanilla Coke (although my default option is bottles, like you). 8) We need to form SodaThoughts.com so that she can do a frontpage review post... :lol:

Granted, I just got a bit carried away with the topic... it's still off topic right? :lol:
But, the Soda Thoughts idea sound cool. If you start it today, then I'm with ya! :wink: (The domain is still unregistered, so Jason should get it registered asap. :mrgreen: )