Time for a revolution!

I have been type 1 for 49 years, so I was diagnosed just about the time diet soft drinks were being invented. The first I remember was ginger ale, then Fresca, and Coca-Cola’s Tab came along about 1967. For all that time, the only diet soft drink you could get in a fast food joint was Cola of one kind or another, except at A&W.

Since diet drinks are consumed not only by diabetics, but by people who want to lose weight, you would think the fast food empires would pay some attention to their market demographics.

If a lot of people were to start emailing the fast food companies asking them, politely, to include other flavours in their diet soft drink offerings, do you think they might consider, and perhaps, actually do it?

Now I don’t need to hear that diet soft drinks are bad for you, or all the evils of aspartame, or how we can do just find on brown bread and water. Those of us that drink diet soft drinks want our diet 7-up and other non-cola treats, dammit!

If you too are tired of the barren soft drink landscape for those of us living with diabetes, and/or just wanting to shuck a few pounds, please consider sending an email to MacDonalds, Burger King and all the rest, asking them to increase the range of soft drink offerings in their establishments.

Cheers!
Roger Tulk

Does Taco-Bell still have diet Mountain Dew? That was wonderful! I think I will send an e-mail. Although I could exist on Diet Coke alone, it would be nice to see other options for people who don’t like it. SO went low carb with me (and has lost about 30lbs so far!) and hates diet cola. He would drink diet sprite/7-up if it were available.

On a happier note, I made many complaints to the person who stocks our vending machines at work (I work in a nursing home and have many type 2 patients and one type 1, along with myself). They went from only having diet Pepsi to having Diet Coke, Mountain Dew, and Dr. Pepper. I like having more options for a quick caffeine pick me up and it’s great seeing my residents choosing healthier options.

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IMO, Diet Pepsi is superior to Diet Coke because it’s not so sweet and has a “crisp” taste. Choice of a new generation and all that!

Our local Burger King has Diet Dr. Pepper. Yum!

[quote]IMO, Diet Pepsi is superior to Diet Coke because it’s not so sweet and
has a “crisp” taste. Choice of a new generation and all that! [/quote]

That’s so strange—my experience is almost the exact opposite. To me, Diet Pepsi tastes sickeningly sweet and seems almost flat. Diet Coke tastes less sweet and much more carbonated. I used to be a Diet Coke addict and found Diet Pepsi so disgusting that I’d often drink nothing or water if that was the only diet drink available.

I don’t drink Diet Coke anymore (or any other diet drink except occassionally Zevia), but advocating is (almost) never a bad thing. :​)

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Blech.I don’t like Diet Pepsi one bit, it tastes too “fake” sweet to me, different strokes, eh? However, when my BG is SUPER low and won’t come up, I prefer regular Pepsi over regular Coke.

This is a delightful distraction. Since I found Virgil’s Zero Root Beer–which tastes just like A&W–I don’t much care about the soda debate anymore. Plus I always have Zevia Ginger Ale (as well as Ginger Tea) on hand for nausea. Virgil’s is made with stevia–zero carbs and zero calories and I happen to love root beer…

However, in my youth, I lived on Diet Rite and Peanut M&Ms for all day tech rehearsals, transitioning at some point I don’t remember now to Tab. So I do understand the desire for choice…

As @MissMargie reflects—advocacy is a good thing when you care enough about a subject, so go for it. You will benefit many others if you succeed!..

Well, I like Diet Pepsi better than Diet Coke because it tastes sweeter to me. I cannot distinguish between Diet Pepsi and Pepsi, but I can between Diet Coke and Coke.Still, a cola is a cola is a cola. I would prefer ginger ale or iced tea with a meal, to a cola. There is a great variety of bottled diet products around, and I like many or them. Much better than the 50s and 60s, although diet soft drinks took off in the 70s, as did a lot of sugar-free products.

Virgil’s Zero Cream Soda is quite good, too. Also Zevia Dark Cherry. :yum:

Edited 11/25: That’s actually Black Cherry. And the Zevia website also has Ginger Ale on its list of flavors.

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I could never get into cream soda, or Dr. Pepper. I did like Vernor’s ginger ale, however, and I haven’t seen it, diet or not, for a long time.

[quote=“Roger212, post:9, topic:48836, full:true”]I did like Vernor’s ginger ale, however, and I haven’t seen it, diet or not, for a long time.
[/quote]

Vernor’s seems to be highly regional. I can get it here in Texas (HEB carries it) but none of the other stores do. Move a couple of states over and it’s everywhere.

OK, so far I have sent off two letters. This is a little more awkward than you would think, as most of these places want you to fill in an online form rather than email directly. I sent a letter to Wendy’s by their form, and since MacDonald’s Canada supplied a postal address, I’ve printed a letter to send by snail mail.

In the letter I suggest, light-heartedly, that having only colas available gets a little boring, and we would really appreciate something new in diet fountain drinks. I also suggest that they could tap the huge weight-loss movement. Half the population of North America seems to be trying to lose weight, surely they would thank the restaurant chains for more variety.

So give it a try. You have nothing to lose but your taste bud boredom!

Roger

I always have a large selection of diet drinks at home but I can safely say that most of my friends will never drink them…
Why should a business stock a product that just takes up space (gathers dust) and eventually just gets tossed out when it expires?

I solved your problem many years ago…I just take my own drinks with me and my wife even keeps extra drinks in her car, I just
order a glass of ice and have my favorite refreshment with my meal or snack…

I also never drink fountain drinks…You never know when someone has poured some of the wrong syrup in the cans or has plugged the wrong hoses into the wrong ports on the drink dispensers. The first meters we had could detect sugar in the soft drinks so I could test them but the new test strips are discriminant about the type of sugars they will detect and will not detect the sugar in most regular soda.

You can still get strips to test for glucose in urine, similar to ketone strips, at any pharmacy. Last I checked, they will detect glucose in drinks, and they’re also a lot cheaper than test strips.

I am seeing a change coming in my area. There is at several fast food establishments an automated vending machine where the choices are almost unlimited. I am a diet Dr Pepper fan and find in these machines diet DP as well as diet Cherry Dr Pepper. There are diet versions of almost every carbonated beverages. It is site to behold.

The reason most restaurants limit their choices is because of the limited number of taps available but with this machine all beverages are chosen on a touch screen menu and dispensed thru a single tap. This allows them to offer a much larger variety.

The sad part here is that I rarely visit fast food joints these days and seldom have an opportunity to witness the wonder of one of these machines.

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Yep some of the theaters here have CocaCola machines that will mix up and serve all varieties of CocaCola-brand soft drinks, both diet and regular. You select the category then the specifics.

@CatLady06… I love the Virgil’s line. Root beer is the only one I’ve tried…My sweetie might appreciate the Zevia Dark Cherry–I’ll mention it to him! Thanks…

@Judith_in_Portland, I mistyped, it’s actually Black Cherry. Hope your friend enjoys it!