what about diet soda? there is no way I could live without my caffeine hit of diet cola each day, although I tried to cut down how much by drinking carbonated (soda) water instead- is that seltzer?? 1 thing I do urge you to think about tho is artificial sweeteners. They are so full of toxins/poisons it is really scary, but some food manufacturers sneak them into their products anyway. I only found out this morning that the tin of pears with 'no added sugar' and a low cal count and carb count on it was 68% pears, with the rest water and sweeteners. It was not advertised anywhere on the tin. And also on this line, if you do decide to use a sweetener, be careful that it doesn't cause a stomach upset. There is one particular one that I react to so badly I get, among other symptoms, terrible stomach migraines. (don't know if any of this will help, but maybe something to think about???).