healthy alternative to crystal light??

[snugglebug14]

maybe this is just wishful thinking....my boyfriend drink crystal light all the time. He says he hates and plain water so this is the only way he can get water in him. He thinks its good for him because it doesn't have sugar so "it's basically just water with some flavor". He's really overweight so him watching the sugar is definitely a good thing. Problem is, now my kids are always asking for "Jay juice" becuase its in the house. I limit it to One VERY small glass a day. My biggest problems with it are the fake sugar and the fake coloring. Any idea if theres an all natural alternative?? Something that will keep my boyfriend happy and not poison my kids? Obviously I can't just tell the kids they can't have any or offer another healthy alternative but I hate seeing my boyfriend drink that stuff all the time too. And he loves the convience of bringing the little pouch of instant stuff and just filling his water bottle at work or on the go! thanks so much for any ideas

[kjbrown92]

How about just water with lemon, or lime?
"fake sugar" tricks the body into thinking it's getting calories. And when it doesn't, your body craves more calories to fill the gap. Maybe you can show him those articles on how bad artificial sweeteners are for him...
And you could still keep your kids from drinking it. You can say it's an adult beverage (as in, an adult can make the decision to eat/drink unhealthy things, but you get to still make that decision for them). You can tell them they can't drink it just like you'd tell them they couldn't drink a beer. Know what I mean?

[cocoanib]

How about instead of "Jay's juice", just give them a small glass of real fruit juice. Home made or a 100% store bought one.
As for your bf, if he wants flavor to his water, have him add some real juice or lemon/lime. IMO, drinking 1/2 water 1/2 juice would be way better for him then fakey crystal light.

[Princess ConsuelaB]

We have water with a squirt of lemon and a pinch of stevia

Oh and a couple of frozen berries popped in there for ice cubes colors the water too.

[Sailor]

Putting lemons or oranges in water flavors it. Stevia is a natural, calorie free sugar - but there are varying accounts on this in terms of safety. I use it myself, sometimes, and think it's way better than regular artificial sweeteners. I don't know about drinking it daily, in large quantities, though.

Could you just give your kids real juice instead? They have some organic, sugar free juices that are very tasty.

Otherwise, you can always say "Jay juice" is for grown ups. I actually think artificial sweeteners should fall under the "grown ups only, use at your own risk" labels!

There are a lot of things that you can mix with water to make it taste better that are sold in health stores. Hemp powder comes to mind. Chia seeds - though tasteless, do add fun/interesting texture to the water.

[EMS]

Watered down fruit juice? Or iced herbal tea? (You can add stevia, but depending on what kind, you may not need to.)

[noobmom]

DS doesn't like it when I water down his juice with regular water, but when I do it with selzter water it becomes a "special" drink. I don't do it every day because I'm not sure if the carbonation is bad or not, but maybe that would work?

[paxye]

Emergen-C might be a good alternative...

http://www.emergenc.com/

It is natural, tasty and full of vitamins and easy to bring along...

[Ola_]

I have a similar issue in that I dislike plain water. I use fruit syrups, which I'm sure are not the healthiest (not like plain water) but I'd much rather have actual sugar than aspartame/sugar substitutes. I have been getting used to putting less and less syrup in my water, so that is still has some flavour but isn't very sweet anymore.

I grew up in Poland and it's a very common drink there. I tried lemon and lime slices but the acidity upsets my stomach. Orange slices may be better, I'll have to try those! I'd try some chilled herbal tea with a bit of lemon or honey in it. For example DH is a big fan of peppermint or roobois teas - he makes a big pitcher and stores them in the fridge.

[Therese's Mommy]

We make lemon and lime "ade"s using stevia. We have a 1 gallon jug (I think that is about how big it is) and we put 3/4 c of lemon, lime or a combo and about 1/3 tsp of stevia. We love it.

[AuntNi]

I drink an Arbonne green tea supplement sweetened with stevia, and I'm crazy about it. It tastes very similar to Crystal Light, but without the aspartame. It's kind of pricey, though, so I limit myself to 1/2 serving as a treat after a workout.

I hear your concern/frustration. My DH brought home Crystal Light from work over the weekend. Even though he knows how anti-aspartame I am, and how much I want him to drink healthier alternatives. Of course, my DD was all over that, and now I'm the bad guy because I told her she can't have it.

I need to do more research on stevia and kids. I'm not sure I'm comfortable with it. But DD drinks 90% water, with a 100% juice box for lunch, so I don't know if one HFCS-sweetened drink a week is that bad for her.