Healthy Obsessions: Zevia Diet Soda

I don't drink or smoke. I have never done drugs and I tend not to gamble. But I have one serious vice: I love soda. I love soda of all kinds and can drink it non-stop. In college I would drink 10-12 cans of regular, sugary soda a day! (And I wonder why I'm pre-diabetic) I switched to diet for awhile, but as a person with an interest in avoiding chemicals, all that aspartame wasn't really working for me either. Enter Zevia, my newest love and soda replacement. With a main ingredient of stevia, it's an excellent, natural and healthy replacement for soda. It tastes like regular coke, without the sugar, carbs, and chemicals (minus the BPA in the can lining, but that's a story for another day). It does not effect the glycemic load. So if you're like me and would put your face under a soda fountain and drink in sugary bliss until your teeth fall out and your pancreas explodes, Zevia is for you.

Stevia is a natural sugar replacement from South America called "sweet leaf" as the leaves of the plant are so sweet. In the summer, I actually grow this in my backyard and boil it, using the sweet water to add sweetness to tea and lemonade. The plant, which costs me around $2, lasts all summer, and proves much cheaper than buying the processed version in stores.

Stevia can be purchased at most health food stores including Whole Foods in the sugar section, in either liquid or powder form, the powder form usually containing fiber and marketed as a supplement. Stevia is just now gaining popularity, as the sugar and sugar substitute industry lobbied against stevia growers in the eighties and may have falsified reports regarding its safety. Thus it can only be sold in the United States as a supplement, despite the fact that it is merely just a natural sweetener. A word of warning: Stevia can be a little strong for some people, including my Dad who said, "I'd love it, except for that strange aftertaste." Check it out, see what you think!