Do You Drink Carbonated Soft Drinks?

[Siebenbürgerin]

Are they part of your regular diet? The drinks like Coca cola, Fanta, Sprite, Pepsi and more. Other regional names for them are fizzy drinks, soda, pop, coke, etc.
For me, it's only on occasion. I'm wary of their effects on health.

[Sturmbaon]

Only on ocassion.

Most of them is very bad quality. For example the coke (or cola?), you buy nowadays is not the same, as it was 20 years ago. It's cheaper and worse.
Naturally these are very unhealthy if you drink regularly

(Do you have new avatar, as I see?)

[Siebenbürgerin]

Only on ocassion.

Most of them is very bad quality. For example the coke (or cola?), you buy nowadays is not the same, as it was 20 years ago. It's cheaper and worse.
Naturally these are very unhealthy if you drink regularly

Hmm, what's the difference in the contents quality now? I'm not sure Coca Cola/Coke existed here 20 years ago. But there was a carbonated soft drink of oranges, called Brifcor, during the socialist years. Afterward, the soft drinks were bought from some special stands, with many flavours. They either filled you a glass, or you came with your own bottle to fill. That's when I first tasted the Cola flavour. It wasn't genuine Coca Cola, of course, but as the country modernised, Coca Cola and Pepsi became very common.

(Do you have new avatar, as I see?)

I've changed it indeed, but it's not very new, I've used it some times before. It's the bilingual sign of my city.

[Sturmbaon]

I don't know what is the the chemical difference, but i remember the taste and the consistence, that was better. Maybe it's cheaper to produce now.

If i remember well, Fanta, Sprite was not available here before the fall of communism, but Coca Cola or Pepsi was existing.


I remember that signage, but I've forgotten that's yours.
Are there any Hungarian language labels left there?

[arthor]

none of them taste particularly nice. None of them are as refreshing as water. I sometimes use a little cordial but am really quite happy with water.
When I was in the army, we used to leave dirty gas plugs of our SLRs overnight in coke. Bought them up gleaming so I hate to think what it did to teeth or stomach lining.

[rainman]

They replaced the ingredients with cheaper ones. Mainly they replaced sugar with high fructose corn syrup. This ingredient is in everything. It is made by chemically altering corn carbohydrates. A little of it isn't going to hurt your body much, but it is a bit hard on the body to metabolize and though its sweet it doesn't taste as good as natural sugar. Likewise for some reason when I drink or eat high fructose corn syrup it tends to make me thirsty. So I drink a juice or pop with this in it and I just get thirstier! That's the main reason I hate beverages with this in it. But at a few cents a gallon its profitable.

The ingredients vary from region to region though. I can guess that they've replaced several natural ingredients with "artificial flavors". Most artificial flavors are derived from petroleum by products. Seriously. They make gasoline or plastic and have some chemicals left over alter them a bit and there's your lunch. So there is a big difference between say vanilla (made from a natural plant) and vanillin (substitute made from altering chemicals).

The other thing is our overlords try to hook us on stimulants. Caffeine is the primary one. Red bull and other energy drinks as well. Likewise giviing riddilin and other stimulants to children to "calm them down" (stimulants can calm children). But they are addictive. The result is if they put you in prison or cut off your drug supply you become sleepy and slugish and unable to muster much of a fight. If you can't wake up without your cup of coffee you might want to think about quiting. I know people who are addicted to Coke-a-Cola as well. I think Coke has some additional ingredients because I don't see very many people hooked on Pepsi, but Coke seems highly addictive. They used to put Cocaine in their drink until they made it illegal. Who knows what they've found now. Though I know red bull was caught spiking their drinks with cocaine in Germany. Just because this stuff is legal doesn't mean its smart to use all the time. I'm not saying its bad if its used responsibly, but we weary. Caffeine is a highly addictive drug. Its also bad on your bones. Likewise the acidic nature of the carbonation is bad on your teeth. And about Caffeine: it dehydrates you as well. It makes you more thirsty. If you are doing a sport do not drink Soda-pop. It will dehydrate you more (between the caffeine and the corn syrup). I think they do this on purpose to get you to consume more.

I don't think its bad to drink this stuff on occasion but you should make sure you don't drink too much of it. Certainly be wary about giving it to kids. It should be a treat for occasional consumption, not consumed daily.

By the way they do sell some higher quality beverage. They have Coke retro or I forget what they call it but they make it with natural sugar and better ingredients like the old coke. Its very rare but you can get ahold of the good stuff if you look for it. You also should be aware that aluminum is toxic. You should avoid drinking out of cans too much. Or wrapping your food in aluminum foil. Here's a little experiment- take some aluminum foil and rub it on a piece of paper. What do you see? It rubs off and leaves blackish grey streaks. It rubs off on your food and you eat it. It will dumb you down and many think its linked to alzeimers. Small amounts wont hurt you but if you drink out of a can or foil everyday it will build up to toxic levels in your system. They do coat pop cans and cans of food with a coating but it will corrode under the acid. It still gets in there. Your lips are still touching it when you drink from a can.

[Sigurd]

I usually prefer Fruit Juices to Carbonated drinks, or Ice Tea if I'm feeling in the need for something "reasonably sweet", however I have a particularly soft spot for Scottish speciality Irn Bru.

[triedandtru]

I try to stay away from them because they usually make me feel sluggish and sickly, depending on what it is. More natural spritzers that do not include high fructose corn-syrup and dyes and such do not have the same effect, so I enjoy them very much on occasion.

[Bärin]

I drink Vita Cola occasionally. Or Fanta. But I prefer water to quench thirst.

[Sigurd]

I drink Vita Cola occasionally. Or Fanta. But I prefer water to quench thirst.

I tried Vita Cola when I was last in "the East", more specifically when I was visiting a music festival near Zwickau last October.

The first few sips were surprisingly pleasant and I thought about importing hundreds of bottles, but the further I got into the bottle, the more I regretted buying it.

But since the first taste wasn't too bad and it only got worse when I progressed with the bottle, I suppose it is perhaps a bit of an acquired taste, that one could get used to and like, in the end.