I'm struggling to find a drink alternative - any suggestions?

[Pigeon-Lotus]

Hi everybody I'm new and I've been struggling a lot with changing my diet;

So, I don't like water

Or tea

Or coffee

Our fridge isn't large enough to keep a stock of home-flavoured water.

I'm not going to attempt coffee - the flavour is just way too much and the chocaholic in me absolutely despised coffee flavoured chocolates so there's no way I can get into coffee - even the highly sugared ones.

As you can imagine, our fridge isn't large enough to keep on stocking it with smoothie stuff also but that's not recommended as an all-the-time drink anyway

I'm trying to find a Better Alternative to what I have now (pop / fruit juice / cordial) even if it's not The Best Alternative. I don't want to feel dread having to drink my beverage as I end up avoiding it, and avoiding drinking means I'm not going to be hydrated enough. I've already been avoiding eating because I'm also struggling to figure out my new diet and I don't know what I'm doing. I was diagnosed a few years ago now but I was never told about dietary changes. It was only by chance that I noticed the other day.

I found flavoured water just yesterday and it was lovely, surprisingly, and I thought I solved the problem... but I had forgotten to check if it had sweeteners and yes, it has sweeteners. In fact, all of them I can find in my local stores have sweeteners. I've tried looking online for water that does not have sweeteners and everything I'm getting is very American-centric if not insanely expensive.

I'm looking for an all-the-time drink I can stock up on and not worry about. Maybe in the future when I have my own home I will prioritise a larger fridge, but as it is, our kitchen is tiny and therefore our fridge and freezer are tiny. I cannot do the infused water thing. I have ADHD and depression and I won't keep on top of the smaller batch on the daily, its absolutely not a feasible recommendation for me.

I'm also trying to find a hot-drink replacement. Currently I only like hot chocolate and that's it. I've tried green tea, but I don't like it. The one I've tried is apple and pear flavoured so I'm going to see if adding some apple juice to it makes it better for me. I also didn't like turmeric milk, I've tried it and I can't say its nice at all. If I'm going to drink milk, I'd rather drink it on its own and if I'm going to have turmeric, I'd rather have a curry.

Does anybody have any suggestions on what I can drink?

**And I don't like alcohol at all the taste is horrible so red wine is also out - not that it could have been suggested as an all-the-time drink replacement

Thank you for reading,

Pigeon-Lotus

[Hidden]

I have Cawston Press canned drinks-no sugar, lightly flavoured, only natural ingredients not very fizzy, some nice gently flavourings. Try it!

[Pigeon-Lotus in reply to Hidden]

Thank you for replying! I will have a look for them

[alohalu]

This is a weird suggestion, but have you tried drinking water with a straw? some people find it way easier to drink like that. Also, if you don't like tap water, try using a filter or bottled water, water shouldn't taste like anything.

[Pigeon-Lotus in reply to alohalu]

Unfortunately I don't like bottled water either, but what I have done is conducted a blind taste test with my boyfriend for all the bottled waters available at my local store (and tap water). The two winners happened to be both of Scottish origin. I have watered down my flavoured water with this bottled water which does work very well. I think the flavoured water has a strong enough flavour that the dilution isn't that bad

(as you can imagine the tap water sample was very easy to pick out - you only needed to see the deep cringe on my face)

[alohalu in reply to Pigeon-Lotus]

Glad to hear you found something that works for you!

I rarely drink tap water, but I lived in Scotland for a few years and their tap water was actually very good! Now I live in England, but I have a filter and makes a big difference to the taste.

[Pigeon-Lotus in reply to alohalu]

I thought about a filter too, but our kitchen is so tiny we don't have room for both a kettle and a microwave (so we don't have a microwave) let alone anything else. The same goes for storage space and I didn't know what the taste would be like so I couldn't entertain the idea, sadly. The thought of reducing plastic bottle waste is a good one, but it's not realistic in my current household.

Thank you for the suggestions

[Carly93]

There are a variety of great teas for pcos spearmint , peppermint , green tea , black tea , fruity herbal teas , chamomile tea etc. Hot chocolate can be a great option (pure cocoa powder) sweetened with stevia/erythritol. Milk can be a good option. Some pcos women have dairy/raw. If insulin resistance is a big issue for you , I think a dairy free alternative like almond milk might be a better alternative due to casine and lactose. Your health should be of up most importance to you. You don’t like water ?my advice, keep trying it until you do. Water is in everything and it’s the most available healthiest and cheapest option. I was brought up on fizzy pop , I drank nothing else. Water was not an option for me , to me it tasted like poison. With having to tirelessly compete with my brothers over the pop , sometimes I drank water. Eventually water was what I preferred. I don’t feel hydrated from anything else. Buying a water infusing bottle could be a good option for you. Add in some whole chopped fruit in the infuser section and your water in the other. If you still consuming sugar , a lot of drinks and food can taste bad to you because your used to the sugar. If you haven’t already , cut out all refined sugars and fructose. After around 2 weeks you should start feeling the benefits and more so the weeks ahead. Hope this has helped in some way . Hope you find your way soon x