Its no secret I have an extremely poor diet consisting of mostly red meat and dairy products. But I have definitely cut back on sugar intake over the past couple of years. I'll still eat candy and sweets now and then, but I drink soda maybe a few times a year when something interesting comes out. (Like Dr. Pepper Cream Soda 🤤). I'll drink a glass or two of sweet tea when I go out to eat, and on holidays. But outside of that its coffee and water daily. I haven't put sugar in my coffee in probably 15 years. A few months ago I got into sparkling water because I miss soda, but at the same time I don't... I really don't enjoy it as much as I use too, but water gets awful boring sometimes. La Croix is fucking nasty, I already knew that well before this. But with the sudden explosion of new rivals I took a tour of whats available. Pepsi's Bubly is ok, The apple is probably my favorite out of all of them. Coke had Desani sparking water which was actually pretty good. The lime almost tasted like sprite... but they discontinued all of it for this new AHA shit with weird ass flavors. I tried Blueberry Pomegranate because it was the most normal one, and it seriously went flat before it even got room temp. I sat it down for a few minutes and when I took another sip all the carbonation was gone, wtf? San Pellegrino makes decent ones as well. But the best IMO is Perrier. I'd say Strawberry is the best, followed by Watermelon and Peach. It has a caveat though. There is something magical about the can. You have to drink it out of the can ice cold, and the flavor is good along with the different style carbonation (apparently it's natural). Once you pour it into a glass or get one of those plastic bottle versions, its not the same. It tastes flat and flavorless. Its very odd.
But anyways. I don't enjoy sweet drinks anymore at all outside of tea. Maybe its a mental thing because it bothers my acid reflux, but it all started with the alcohol I drank, I moved away from rum or anything mixed as I stopped liking sweet liquor. Then it just kinda carried over to my daily beverages. I treat the rare soda as a dessert now. I can't stomach more than 1 in a day. I have no idea how I use to throw back 3-4 a day when I was a teenager.