Day 12

Here is a practical tip for today: sparking water. Soda is a great evil. Not only is regular soda packed with calories, but diet soda is packed with chemicals. Both of them increase the body's desire for food, and I don't know about you, but every variety gives me a headache. I love Coke Zero. There, I said it. I think Coke Zero is absolutely delicious and every once in a while I indulge. But I used to have a 3 Coke Zero a day habit. That isn't helping anyone. It is wasteful in the amount of cans I am tossing into the recycling every day, and I just don't need that much soda. I used it as kind of a replacement sweet. But I realized that it wasn't really working, and it just makes me want real sweets.
When I was growing up, my parents were pretty strict with our diets. Mom cooked real dinners for us most of the time, and we always ate well-balanced meals. Sugar wasn't encouraged and was even vilified  (a circumstance which everyone suspicions is why I have such a hard time resisting sugar as an adult) and soda wasn't allowed at all. On family movie night we would concoct a "soda" to enjoy with our popcorn that was simply sparkling water mixed with juice. At the time I thought it was nerdy and a poor substitute, but I have grown to much prefer it. Club soda with grape juice is highly satisfying, and so is club soda with orange juice. Those are the classic standards. But, I have lately started experimenting with alternatives, and I have found that sparkling water makes pretty much everything you can drink better! Try pomegranate juice blended with pineapple juice, and splash about a half a cup into a tall cool glass with some ice, some sparkling water, and a sprig of mint. Heaven. Full of vitamins and antioxidants, and good for you.
Juice is rather high in calories, and nobody who is really tightly watching their calories wants to drink calories or points or however you are keeping track. But I don't see anything wrong with treating yourself to something that is as lovely as it is healthy. It is far better for you to drink juice diluted in calorie-free sparkling water than it is to drink a whole glass of juice, and it is just as satisfying.
Another idea is to blend vegetable juice with sparkling water and poor over crushed ice. It is kind of like a Bloody Mary, but obviously nonalcoholic, and less intense. There is nothing that will make you feel more summer-slim than sipping icy cool savory veggies from a tall bubbly glass.
One thing that my family did have that I don't now is a water carbonator. We didn't have to buy cans of sparkling water or club soda, we could make carbonated water with canisters of CO2 and a special bottle. I think I am going to look into investing in one of those, if I can figure out which way of consuming sparkling water has a smaller carbon footprint.