# Soda or juice?



## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

Which do you guys prefer--- soda or juice (or water like me)?


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## Headphone Hermit (Jan 8, 2014)

^^^ I've never understood what 'soda' is ... apart from bicarbonate of soda, caustic soda etc etc. 

I suspect it is an Americanism? (my dictionary confirms this) - I certainly don't think I have ever tasted such a thing


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

If you mean soda-pop then I have to say soda even though I don't drink much of it - I prefer the occasional bottle of Lucozade energy drink to something like cola. As regards juice, I eat fruit rather than just drink (overpriced) extract.


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## brotagonist (Jul 11, 2013)

I never drink pop and experience a similar distaste for energy and sports drinks. I consider them to be little more than coloured sugar water. I don't drink much juice, but do occasionally buy it (when it's on sale or, occasionally, when I'm on a road trip); I prefer to eat fruit. I am not fond of the syrupy sweet chocolate concoctions commonly available.

I meet most of my liquid requirement with tap water, tea and some coffee (with lots of milk). I also drink some cocoa, that I make with a teaspoonful of pure cocoa in a cup of hot water to which I add milk and, occasionally, a bit of honey.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

They both have a lot of HFCS. Water is your best bet.


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

brotagonist said:


> I never drink pop and experience a similar distaste for energy and sports drinks. I consider them to be little more than coloured sugar water. I don't drink much juice, but do occasionally buy it (when it's on sale or, occasionally, when I'm on a road trip); I prefer to eat fruit. I am not fond of the syrupy sweet chocolate concoctions commonly available.
> 
> I meet most of my liquid requirement with tap water, tea and some coffee (with lots of milk). I also drink some cocoa, that I make with a teaspoonful of pure cocoa in a cup of hot water to which I add milk and, occasionally, a bit of honey.


2 glasses of Cabernet at dinner meets my fluid requirement


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

Unsweetened fruit juice is healthy in very small amounts. Too much natural sugars to be healthy in excess. Soda pop (soft drinks) are unhealthy in any amount, though small amounts won't hurt you much. Water is the most healthy. I have to filter mine since my local tap water tastes bad to my palate. I have a soda syphon, so I often carbonate my filtered tap water.

I seldom buy fruit juice because I cannot resist the urge to drink it all at one go, but I drink it sometimes. I don't buy soft drinks either, though once in a great while I'll add artificially flavored, artificially sweetened, artificially colored syrup to my carbonated filtered tap water. Not often. Just once in a while. Mostly I drink water, and 2 or 3 cups a day of decaf coffee, since caffeine affects me badly.


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## Antiquarian (Apr 29, 2014)

Fruit Juice. And Iced Tea, since I want to blend in with the natives (in Florida).


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Headphone Hermit said:


> ^^^ I've never understood what 'soda' is ... apart from bicarbonate of soda, caustic soda etc etc.
> 
> I suspect it is an Americanism? (my dictionary confirms this) - I certainly don't think I have ever tasted such a thing


Americans are geographically divided as to whether to call it soda or pop. Some Bostonians call it tonic ("tawnic"), while around Atlanta, I'm told you never say anything but Coke.

As to the OP's question, I prefer juice to soda pop.


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## GreenMamba (Oct 14, 2012)

Triplets said:


> They both have a lot of HFCS. Water is your best bet.


Juice has no high fructose corn syrup, unless you choose to buy a blend for some reason.


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## SixFootScowl (Oct 17, 2011)

Juice or water. Never soda.


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## KenOC (Mar 7, 2011)

Here in SoCal, any coke we but is bottled (yes, bottled) in Mexico. They use cane sugar, not HFCS like American made.

But I'm more likely to drink fruit juices, not in large amounts.

BTW carbonated soft drinks are generally called "pop" on the West Coast.


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## ptr (Jan 22, 2013)

When Artmusic (?) quizzed this last year I declared "Soda" as wile, have not changed my mind, much prefer non carbonated H2O! (I only drink Juice when I can make it from fresh local fruit/wedge myself!)

/ptr


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## Guest (Feb 20, 2015)

Beer.............


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## Triplets (Sep 4, 2014)

GreenMamba said:


> Juice has no high fructose corn syrup, unless you choose to buy a blend for some reason.


You have to make sure it is specified as "unsweetened". Most juices in the States are not sold that way


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

Triplets said:


> You have to make sure it is specified as "unsweetened". Most juices in the States are not sold that way


In my opinion, a sweetened drink that contains some juice is not juice. Therefore, I do not call it juice unless it is unsweetened.

From a health perspective, however, the difference between different kinds of sugars is minor. In moderation none of them will hurt you unless you are diabetic and have to control them closely, but all of them are empty calories and therefore harmful in excess. The difference between fruit juice and sweetened drinks is not the type of sugar, but its quantity and the nutritional content. Many sweetened drinks have large (perhaps excessive) amounts of a few vitamins, but real fruit juice has a much broader array of nutrients. Still, it's far healthier to eat fruit than to drink juice and in effect discard the fruit solids. The same applies to vegetables: whole vegetables are much healthier than vegetable juices from which the solids have been removed. That said, I love many kinds of fruit juices as well as carrot juice. But I take them in moderation.


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## Art Rock (Nov 28, 2009)

Alcohol-free: mainly water, milk, coffee, tea, and a glass of orange juice with breakfast.
Alcohol-rich: mainly wine, whisky, cognac, occasionally beer.


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## Kivimees (Feb 16, 2013)

Kali (kvass)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass


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## Jos (Oct 14, 2013)

Fresh juice, 5 days a week, from two oranges.
Soda, if this means carbonated softdrink; never.

Water, beer and espresso


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## Couchie (Dec 9, 2010)

GreenMamba said:


> Juice has no high fructose corn syrup, unless you choose to buy a blend for some reason.


The dangers of high fructose corn syrup are extremely overstated. It contains 40-55% fructose. Refined table sugar is 50% fructose. Fruits (fructose literally being "fruit sugar") contain variable quantities of fructose but always an appreciable quantity, especially as a juice.

You are always well advised to avoid soda and fruit juice as best you can. The only sugar you consume should be from whole fruit.


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## ArtMusic (Jan 5, 2013)

Water then juice (in moderation).


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## Bridgetower (May 9, 2013)

Soda in moderation, preferably root beer. Juice is good as long as it is relatively healthy. Let's see, what else. Water is a must have, sparkling water is fine every now and then, and a good Guinness or two to celebrate won't hurt either.

This question is so simple, and yet I can't seem to think of a less complicated answer.


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## 20centrfuge (Apr 13, 2007)

I never thought I'd become that "Diet Coke Guy", but I am.


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## Cosmos (Jun 28, 2013)

I used to drink soda all the time, I've started to drop it.

I don't even drink that much juice anymore, I just do water. If I'm going to be drinking something full of sugar, I'd rather it be a fruit or veggie juice than pop


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## hpowders (Dec 23, 2013)

Yeah. Juice is better than soda. Fresh fruit is better than juice.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I drank too much soda this week .


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

When I lived in Mexico I loved the carrot juice at the mercados. Even though whole veggies are much healthier than juice, that was some really good carrot juice. I probably had it a couple of times a week, any time I was out for a long enough walk to hit the nearest mercado. That was a two hour round-trip walk. A three-hour walk could take me past two mercados, and fresh-squeezed orange juice at the second one.

At the place I'm going to in a month and a half, on an island off Belize, they provide washed and halved oranges in the morning, and the kind of squeezer with the big lever you pull down on. It's a lot of work, but really good, and you can have all you can squeeze.


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## Albert7 (Nov 16, 2014)

I try to drink one glass of spinach juice every morning.



spokanedaniel said:


> When I lived in Mexico I loved the carrot juice at the mercados. Even though whole veggies are much healthier than juice, that was some really good carrot juice. I probably had it a couple of times a week, any time I was out for a long enough walk to hit the nearest mercado. That was a two hour round-trip walk. A three-hour walk could take me past two mercados, and fresh-squeezed orange juice at the second one.
> 
> At the place I'm going to in a month and a half, on an island off Belize, they provide washed and halved oranges in the morning, and the kind of squeezer with the big lever you pull down on. It's a lot of work, but really good, and you can have all you can squeeze.


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## Fox (Feb 20, 2015)

Triplets said:


> They both have a lot of HFCS. Water is your best bet.


Water you say?

*Water...​*










*+*








*Magic Beans​*
*=​*


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## elgar's ghost (Aug 8, 2010)

Kivimees said:


> Kali (kvass)
> 
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kvass


Nice choice - I remember a brand of Kvass being available in cans for a short time at my local newsagent - never saw it before and I haven't seen it since but I liked the taste of it.


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## joen_cph (Jan 17, 2010)

definitely juice for me (orange, apple, peach, grapefruit), but I sometimes mix it with fizzy mineral water.


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## spokanedaniel (Dec 23, 2014)

albertfallickwang said:


> I try to drink one glass of spinach juice every morning.


Where do you get spinach juice? Or do you make it yourself? If I was into juices to the degree of owning a juicer, I'd have a different kind every day. I like spinach. I've never had the juice of it, though. When I had my big garden in North Dakota I grew Swiss chard instead of spinach, because chard does not bolt to seed in the hot weather the way spinach does. Very similar taste, but chard is more productive in hot climates.


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## georgedelorean (Aug 18, 2017)

I do like soda. Drink the stuff like it's going outta style. Especially Coke, Pepsi, and Dr. Pepper. However I really like some good old-fashioned orange juice, as well as cherry-cranberry juice.


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## Totenfeier (Mar 11, 2016)

Water close to 85% of the time. The rest is divided between decaf green tea, decaf English Breakfast tea, orange juice, decaf coffee (rarely, anymore), and Caffeine Free Diet Coke (maybe three times a week if I'm on a bender).

Alcohol is right out, at least anymore.


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## Krummhorn (Feb 18, 2007)

Ice water is my main thirst quencher 98% of the time. I also like to chew ice. 

Coffee about once a week, sodas infrequently and then only the diet varieties without aspartame. Aspartame and me do not get along.


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## Harmonie (Mar 24, 2007)

I don't drink either. I stopped drinking pop over a year ago, when my heart started acting a little funny and I had to stop and think about the absurd amount of the stuff I was drinking and how bad it was for me.

My oboe teacher introduced me to sparkling water (without any sweeteners). Once I got past the bitterness there has been absolutely no looking back. I discovered it was the carbonation I needed, not the sugar or caffeine.

Juice is good, though. However, it being full of sugar I haven't drank it in forever, either.


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