Mango Tango

I won't even keep boring you with all the reasons you should stop drinking regular or diet soda.  You can just visit my old post Diet Coke {rehab} and read it again. And again. Until you have decided it's time. 

It's been well over a year since I have quit Diet Coke (ok, 17 months to be exact).  My husband still continued to drink the dreaded chemical cocktail this whole time. I truly believe you can't make a person want to change. They have to want it at their own time. You can give information and support, but not willpower.

I stopped buying Diet Coke months into the detox for him. If he wanted it, he would have to go buy it himself and make that decision. I wasn't supporting that habit any longer. Weeks turned into months, and he kept justifying his DC habit by saying things like "I don't do meth or other drugs, this is my 'thing' " (which I still get a good laugh at) and "I drink plenty of water to make up for the DC I drink, it's fine." We all make excuses.

I could tell he has been thinking about it lately. It was like he knowingly  wanted to say goodbye to an old friend but wasn't sure what day that friend would leave. (yes, I am still talking about Diet Coke here)  Well, he decided on December 31st that he was going to say goodbye to that old friend. He is not far into his detox but I am going to share his journey with you all. And support him along the way. He has made many comments about how he doesn't have sugar cravings like he used too. It's amazing.

It's VERY hard to get off of aspartame and the habit of drinking soda daily. He's lucky in the fact that we don't have any other aspartame in the house at this point. It's in many products including flavored waters, coffee creamers, and many sugar-free foods.

It's smart to have an action plan. Plan other things that are {clean} to drink before you decide to stop.  And if you are used to the caffeine you will need to plan to get your caffeine in other forms or you will CRASH. My husband missed the carbonation day one. So we set out on a journey to get educated on the {clean} options for him to drink. I have many to blog about and will get to that soon. I promise.

Here's an option that tastes great and gives him the fizz he misses. Plus, this is something my kids LOVE and think it's cool to make their own fizzy cocktail. Keep in mind it still contains around 15g of sugar per 12 ounces, but that is 1/3 less than a 12 ounce can of regular soda. This exact one contains 65 calories.

Mango Tango

Ingredients:

• 8 ounces of Sparkling Orange Water {all natural} (we used Poland Spring )
• 4 ounces of Orange Mango {100% juice} (we used 365 brand at Whole Foods)
• Ice

Stir ingredients together. I recommend, if you have the time, to let the juice and the water chill in the refrigerator before making one so it doesn't get watered down with melted ice.  You can always add more juice and less water but this keeps the sugar amount down.

Overall Cost for this method:

Juice: $2.69

Water: $1..00

Total: $3.69

It will make 5 -12 ounce drinks. Cost is approx .80 a serving. However, I know I can find larger containers of 100% for the same price. This would bring my overall cost down.

NOTE:  I am not recommending you drink more than one of these a day. Dumping one bad habit and picking up another is not the {clean eating} way.  However, this is a great "treat" beverage without the caffeine, aspartame, or huge amounts of sugar in sodas.