Is flavored water OK?

[kellygirl2]

On my last trip to the grocery store, I found this great sparkling seltzer water with mandrain orange, lemon, or lime flavoring that is so great (store brand) and is 34 fl. oz and 33 cents a bottle. No sodium, carbs, sugars, etc. The ingredients on the bottle are carbonated water and natural flavoring.

I hope it is acceptable for Atkins towards water requirement. Anybody have any thoughts?

[californiacasey]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Well, yes and no. It is best to drink regular water. If you shoose to drink "sweetened water" then you need to make sure you don't go over you 3 servings of artificial sweetner. The biggest "side-effect" is that the sweetness can cause cravings for more sweets and it becomes much easier to cheat and get off your plan.

[kellygirl2]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Hi, CC, the water has no sweetners listed on label at all, no sugar, no aspartame (sp), no carbs, no protien. It contains just carbonated water and natural flavorings.


The label states no sugar, no carbs, or no sodium.

[californiacasey]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Does it contain aspartame?

[kellygirl2]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

If it does, it is not listed in ingredients list or on the nutrition label. It says only:

Carbonated water and natural flavoring.

If it contained any artificial sweetner or even natural sweetner, hopefully it would have been listed. THat is why I was curious about what other ADBB thought.

[fiddlejen]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Most stores now carry a good selection of selzer water that does NOT have any sweeteners added. It has only, apparently, a few drops of flavoring per bottle. You can buy the same stuff- selzer - aka carbonated water - PLAIN and add your own lemon slice. A few drops of lemon extract or orange extract will flavor an entire bottle of plain carbonated water.

My first job was in a fast food restaurant. There are all sorts of tubes going to the soda machines. Some of them lead to packages of syrups, ie coca-cola syrup, 7-Up syrup, etc. There's another tube, that takes the local tap water - hopefully well filtered - and mixes it with CO2 from a CO2 tank. THIS is fizzy water, aka selzer water, aka carbonated water.

Standard soda is made of carbonated water + flavoring + syrup. Plain carbonated water (also known as selzer) has NO more calories, carbs, etc, than plain old water. (Just extra carbon to make the bubbles.)

What is sold in stores as Selzer Water generally only has some sort of extract for flavoring. If your label says only "Carbonated Water and Natural Flavoring," then I'm sure that's what you have and you don't need to worry about it. You will know that there is no sweetener because when you taste it it will not be sweet.

I myself drink plenty of this stuff as it settles my stomach. (In fact, the first time I ever started Atkins, I would have had to quit due to nausea if I hadn't started drinking selzer on a regular basis.)

*** HOWEVER -- In most stores, the drinks labeled "Flavored WAter" are usually, actually, a sort of non-carbonated-soda. They're often sweetened with some kind of alternative sweetener. You have to carefully check the labels on those. They like to PRETEND they are only water, and thus "healthy," so in the ingredients they often put the chemical name for the sweetener, and on the front put "no sugar" in big letters.

[kellygirl2]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Thanks, Jen!! This water is so good, I gulp it down easily compared to the plain water.

You are right about some of the other selzer waters. Some did say aspartame in the ingredients, which I didn't buy.

If anyone has trouble drinking water, this has been a great alternative for me.

[ttdriver]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

I drank Seltzer all through the phases without ANY problem.

ENJOY IT.

Betty

[Richt]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

I would be more concerned with what the "natural flavourings" are. If its natural flavours, then surely it must be coming from somewhere. If its an orange flavour then it will have natural orange etc etc. (I'm not aware of the flavour of your water though).

Surely this wouldnt be allowed during induction!?

[fiddlejen]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

If I purchase orange flavoring at the store, the ingredients are: sunflower oil, organic orange oil. (LOoking at label right now.) A few drops of this will flavor a whole 2-liter bottle of plain selzer, about as strong a flavor as what's sold as "selzer, mandarin orange flavor."

(Or, equivalently, a large glass of plain selzer is flavored exactly by a lemon wedge into it. But the makers are using flavoring or extracts. If they used real lemon juice the drink would be a bit cloudy.)

Not that I recommend getting plain & adding extract - it doesn't mix in well -
a drop too much makes it undrinkably strong.
My point is simply that for a 2-liter bottle of unsweetened selzer, to get the flavor of the flavored & unsweetened store-bought selzer, doesn't require but a few drops of extract; they can't be putting in any more than that or it would taste wretched.

(Actually, lots of people think selzer tastes wretched anyway. I happen to like it myself - but- once you taste it you'll have no doubt, it's NOT sweetened. And, there's not that much flavoring at all because, without sweetness, too much flavoring is worse than none.)

[Isabeau]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

I would say drink it, but don't count it towards what your daily water intake should be. Just like coffee or tea (decaf of course!) shouldn't be counted towards your water intake.

[fawn]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Actually, you can count seltzer in your daily intake. It just has co2 added to it. co2 does not act like caffeine.

I just found a flavored water that I love. No artificial sweeteners at all. No co2 either. It is called "O". I will try to find the manufacturer.

[not2late]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

According to the book, the only thing you can count towards your daily water total is water:
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...ead.php?t=6781

Be sure to drink a minimum of eight eight-ounce glasses of water each day, including:

Filtered water
Mineral water
Spring water
Tap water

Additionally, you can have the following:

Clear broth/bouillon (not all brands; read the label)
Club soda
Cream, heavy or light (limit to two to three tablespoons a day; note carbohydrate content)
Decaffeinated coffee or tea*
Diet soda made with sucralose (Splenda); be sure to count the carbs
Essence-flavored seltzer (must say "no calories" and should not contain aspartame)
Herb tea (without barley or any fruit sugar added)
Lemon juice or lime juice (note that each contains 2.8 grams carbohydrate per ounce); limit to two to three tablespoons

Seltzer is allowable but is in addition to the 64 ounces of water (filtered, mineral, tap or spring).

Apparently the Atkins Center got a number of questions regarding what water was, so they came out with this:
http://www.atkinsdietbulletinboard.c...ead.php?t=6779

As is spelled out in Dr. Atkins New Diet Revolution, it is vital to drink a minimum of eight 8-ounce glasses of "pure water" every day. Pure water means either filtered tap water or mineral or spring water. Diet soda, herbal tea and seltzer water are not included. Drinks with caffeine including the new, caffeinated water, do not count toward those essential eight either, because caffeine can cause unstable blood sugar. Decaffeinated herbal teas, diet soda and seltzer water are acceptable, but drink them in addition to your eight glasses of the pure stuff.

So, per the book, drinking seltzer is allowed in addition to the daily water intake of water. It is not to be counted as part of the daily water intake.

Re: Natural Flavorings. The United States Food and Drug Administration FDA Code of Regulations 21CFR101.22 defines "natural flavorings" :

The term natural flavor or natural flavoring means the essential
oil, oleoresin, essence or extractive, protein hydrolysate, distillate,
or any product of roasting, heating or enzymolysis, which contains the
flavoring constituents derived from a spice, fruit or fruit juice,
vegetable or vegetable juice, edible yeast, herb, bark, bud, root, leaf
or similar plant material, meat, seafood, poultry, eggs, dairy products,
or fermentation products thereof, whose significant function in food is
flavoring rather than nutritional. Natural flavors include the natural
essence or extractives obtained from plants listed in Secs. 182.10,
182.20, 182.40, and 182.50 and part 184 of this chapter, and the
substances listed in Sec. 172.510 of this chapter.

They have an equally verbose definition of artificial flavorings (as well as other food definitions).

[Richt]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Thanks for that post Megs. I am sure thats cleared up a lot of doubt.

Rich

[kellygirl2]

Re: Is flavored water OK?

Thank you so much, Megs, for researching my question. I am so glad I asked the ADBB, as always, a font of info!