Sweet tea feels like my last little hold out of things I let myself continue to enjoy. Problem is, I know it's way to much. I drink it with breakfast and lunch. And I'm a gulper, I'm talking drink one of those styrofoam to go cups and get a refill before I leave. I drink water with dinner.

I can do unsweet with truvia, but it kinda makes me feel weird... is that any better?

Any tips on kicking the habit?

lotsofhp said:

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I can do unsweet with truvia, but it kinda makes me feel weird... is that any better?

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From a calories perspective, yes. It will be zero calories vs many.... But if it makes you feel weird, well then that is your call.

I don't personally get 'scared' of artificial sweeteners, but i also don't use them often. Only time I drink my calories is a protein shake or alcohol & I like to keep it that way.

My tip is to be disciplined........ Its not going to be easy and the first few days to a week will suck, but after that it should get better. It's really a mental challenge more than anything in my opinion.

Either set some ground rules around how much you will allow yourself and stick to it or just go cold turkey and embrace the suck.

I'm not a tea drinker, but if you're looking to keep it sweet and kick the sugar get some liquid stevia.

Stop being a pushy and quit drinking it.

Try hot tea. Temperature may not have you missing the sweetness.

Honestly, if that was the "last thing I continued to enjoy," I would keep drinking it. Just drink a little less.

aggiespartan said:

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Honestly, if that was the "last thing I continued to enjoy," I would keep drinking it. Just drink a little less.

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This is basically what I've been telling myself.

Just to be clear, when I say last things I let myself enjoy, I just meant in my diet. I enjoy other things in life other than sweet tea! didn't want y'all thinking I'm super sad or something

Just don't buy it anymore - problem solved.

Erythritol

At restaurants, fill most of the way with unsweetened, then top with sweet tea. I've found that at a lot of places there is so much sugar in the tea that you can do this and it still tastes sweet. Bonus, you can start to taste the tea itself which preps you to eventually cut the sugar entirely. You can also try starting with a glass of water with your food and take one iced tea to go. Between those two things you could cut your consumption of sugar by at least 80% but still satisfy your craving and not have to use artificial sweeteners.

Have you tried the flavored sparkling waters like La Croix?

My wife completely quit diet coke by switching to La Croix.

Is this the only sugar intake you're getting? If you're only drinking it in moderation and its the only sweet thing you're eating then it might be fine (aka no fruits, no snacks, etc).

I would suspect though that you're taking in sugar elsewhere in your diet and you can't kick the addiction.

I'm in my mid 40's and have kicked this habit FINALLY and it took me forever before I found something that worked. Here's what I did and I didn't start out trying to kick the sweet tea habit, I just kept going less and less and then one day any sweet tea was really too sweet. So for the longest time I would drink sweet tea at McAllister's and then half and half teas at other places and then one day I started doing half and half everywhere for a bit and then like the above poster mentioned, I would get mostly unsweetened tea and then put just a little sweet tea on top and then it all tasted pretty sweet.

I decided to cut out sugary drinks a few months ago and I have NEVER been able to stay with just unsweetened tea for more than a week with no sugar or sweetener in it but I started adding limes or lemons to it and it really didn't take long for me to get used to it after I had gotten down to the "little bit of sweet tea on top". I prefer limes BIG TIME to lemons and bought a large thing of lime juice from the grocery store and put 2 squirts in a 32 oz cup of unsweetened tea and mix it in and now I prefer it and when I have gotten some sweet tea, even mildly sweet, it's too sweet for me and I can't take it. I still drink a coke at the movies and like it but that's the only sugary drink I drink anymore and I've lost some lbs because of that too.

So try the lime/lemon juice or ask for limes or lemons at restaurants and you'll get used to it. I would do the eventual get there like I did though and not just cold turkey it. Good luck and let us know how it goes!

RockOn said:

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Is this the only sugar intake you're getting? If you're only drinking it in moderation and its the only sweet thing you're eating then it might be fine (aka no fruits, no snacks, etc).

I would suspect though that you're taking in sugar elsewhere in your diet and you can't kick the addiction.

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It's the only sugary thing I consistently eat/drink. No sodas, candy, snacks. I actually don't like fruit.

I have a gluten allergy that cuts out a lot of the sugary baked goods. But if someone happens to bring some gluten free cupcakes or something around, I do hit that up. But it's really rare.

I just need to cut back on it. Honestly probably should have even made the thread. But I do appreciate some of reply's with advice! Thanks guys

Thanks for the reply Gomer95. Glad you were able to kick it, I appreciate you sharing your method.

SoupNazi2001 said:

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My parents are in their 70s and drink unsweetened tea with sweet n low like crazy and are in great health. I'm in my 40s and the same way. I think there is way too much recent paranoia about artificial sweeteners.

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Same with my parents. I am in my 40s and have sweet n low with coffee but now prefer tea unsweetened.

It also should help that sweet tea is disgusting.

read a little bit about what sugar does to your body.

Hoosegow said:

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Stop being a pushy and quit drinking it.

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I read this in Sean Connery's voice.

Go a week without having it. Any. No substitutes. No unhealthy artificial sweeteners in unsweet tea. Just water.
Then have one. It'll taste amazing.
Now go two weeks.
Sweet tea isn't a beverage. It's a treat. No different than ice cream. You won't kick your addiction until you alter your thinking and make a habit of recognizing then double thinking your decision to buy it in the first place.

tv1113 said:

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It also should help that sweet tea is disgusting.

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Agreed. Grew up on sweet tea, my mom made a pitcher every night. I actually quit drinking it when I was in college, I drink a lot of water, or tea, and was just simply too lazy to add sweetener to my tea when out to eat every 5 minutes. Got so used to the flavor of unsweetened tea I can't stand sweet tea anymore.

Not accepting suggesting from people who say sweat tea is disgusting because these aren't real people

I kicked my soft drink habit using tea. Started with half and half, and went gradually to virtually no sweetener or unsweetened for 6 months or so while carb cutting to drop bad weight. Now I do anything from unsweetened to maybe half and half at most, but full sweet is overwhelming to me now, and is terrible. I generally make a big cup of cold brew and put maybe a teaspoon of sugar in it for a hint of sweet. 15 cals of sugar in 24 Oz isnt going to kill anyone. 600 with sweet tea sure the hell will.

Yeah I used tea to get me off of sodas years ago.

I just assumed back then tea was better than soda. Obviously still a lot of of calories and sugar though.

I'm just starting by cutting way back. Getting water with the meal and then one tea to go instead of having several refills though out the meal

lotsofhp said:

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Not accepting suggesting from people who say sweat tea is disgusting because these aren't real people

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I'm pretty sure we can all agree: sweat tea is nasty tea.

Depends on whose sweat it is

After my kidney stone in August I'm down to just a cup or two of hot tea a day. I cut out sweet tea years ago and now cutting my iced tea almost all the way out. Not gonna lie I miss it, but I NEVER want another kidney stone.

Water, water and more water.