Being a regular soda drinker I've always wondered about the ingredients harming my teeth and body. I typically get headaches about 3-4 times a week and I'm always listening to friends and family tell me that it's the aspartame in my diet soda. While I'm pretty careful about the processed food that I take into my body I felt like I should do some research and see what changes I could make.
I started with cutting out soda all together and that lasted about two weeks before I realized that I hadn't had a good night sleep during those two weeks because I was drinking more coffee throughout the day. Then I tried to cut down the coffee and I started getting dehydrated because I wasn't interested in drinking enough water. It didn't take long to realize that I'm better off drinking soda rather than be a grumpy, tired girl.
My friend Stephanie introduced me to SodaStream. I've seen these things on TV before, but I've never used one or tried the soda from one. SodaStream is a machine that allows you to carbonate water and add the flavoring that you like to customize it to your own taste. When they promote this product on TV they talk about how much money you'll save, how you're waste consumption will go down and about the more natural ingredients that they use in their syrups.
I started with cutting out soda all together and that lasted about two weeks before I realized that I hadn't had a good night sleep during those two weeks because I was drinking more coffee throughout the day. Then I tried to cut down the coffee and I started getting dehydrated because I wasn't interested in drinking enough water. It didn't take long to realize that I'm better off drinking soda rather than be a grumpy, tired girl.
My friend Stephanie introduced me to SodaStream. I've seen these things on TV before, but I've never used one or tried the soda from one. SodaStream is a machine that allows you to carbonate water and add the flavoring that you like to customize it to your own taste. When they promote this product on TV they talk about how much money you'll save, how you're waste consumption will go down and about the more natural ingredients that they use in their syrups.
| I put the machine to the test. The first thing I did was test the SodaStream out. I filled up one of the bottles to the indicator line on one of the bottles that comes with the machine. I just used cold tap water. Then I lifted the lever so I would have easier access to the nozzles. I screwed the bottle into the nozzle until it was tight. I slowly moved the lever back down. Then I pressed the button on the top once and held it down until it stopped fizzing. Then I pressed it again and waited. Then I did it a third time and it made a loud air buzzing noise. After that noise I knew it was time to release the bottle. After making a huge mess in my kitchen I would suggest unhinging it slowly by lifting on the lever SLOWLY. You'll hear the air being released from the bottle and some of the fizz with rise. (Or all of the fizz if you do it too quickly) |  |
The next thing I did was pick out my flavoring. Because I'm trying to stay away from aspartame I decided to pick flavors that were sweetened with Stevia or Agave. I decided to use the Stur product line, which has a lot of fruit flavors. I squirt it a couple of times into the bottle, but I realized that I needed a lot of the syrup to sweeten it. After my drink was sweetened I poured a glass and enjoyed. I will say that the carbonation in this drink is stronger than most soft drinks. The flavor was a little on the weak side, but that could be because I was trying to go with a more natural approach. Either way I decided that I like the SodaStream and I'm planning on using it to curb my cravings for diet soda and aspartame. Maybe now some of my headaches will go away.
SodaStream Pros
| SodaStream Cons
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