Homemade Sugar Free Soda Pop with Stevia

As I’ve mentioned before in this previous post, facing the possibility of developing gestational diabetes in my pregnancy really motivated me to find alternatives to the sweet treats I was eagerly inhaling. It’s interesting to me how your tastes change while you’re growing a little human. Before, sweets were… well… sweet, but sugar has certainly become more in demand for me since pregnancy and continues on now, whereas savory has always been my top priority. Is it because you require more calories when you’re baking up tiny little bundles of love, and when you’re breastfeeding? I’m not sure, but that does seem to be a plausible explanation.

Combined with the calling to sweets was my calling to carbonation (explain this one to me, someone), which meant I wanted to drink pop all the time. Being that soda pop is loaded with sugar (among other not-so-health-conscious ingredients), I had to cut it out.

As a sad attempt to replace pop I was combining a bit of apple juice with carbonated water. This was alright, and helped to quench my craving for carbonation, but in order to get the amount of sweetness I wanted I would have had to add a lot of apple juice. As fruit juice still contains a ton of sugar – albeit natural sugar – I stuck to just a splash and made due.

I wish at the time I knew about the following fantastic little recipe for sweet, delicious, carbonated yum.

Now, when you’re pregnant and trying to figure out what is “safe” or not to consume, wear, apply or look at when you’re pregnant, you’ll realize fairly quickly that there is a ton of information out there – both from reliable and independent sources – and most all of it is contradictory. Actually, this carries on throughout parenthood, and I quickly realized that we each have to do our own research and decide what is best for us and our families individually, and trust our guts (if you want to read more about this, you can check out this post). That being said, Motherisk is the best site I’ve found that helps women who are pregnant or breastfeeding find information about what is and is not recommended for them, which my amazing midwife introduced me to.

In my quest to find a suitable sweetener to replace sugar, I came across stevia. I did my own research, consulted with my doctor and my naturopath, and feel confident for myself that stevia is a healthy alternative to sugar, while I try to stay away from aspartame and other artificial sweeteners. I’ve specifically been enjoying the NuStevia products made by NuNaturals.

This is why I’m loving these products so much: They are completely free of MSG, soy, gluten, milk, sugar, synthetics, artificial colours and flavours, saccharin, aspartame, sucralose, GMO, or artificial sweeteners. The natural flavours (vanilla, orange, lemon, peppermint and cherry) are from pure plant extracts. There are zero calories, zero fat, they’re not bitter like many stevia products out there, and if it’s not on the label, it’s not in the product. Exactly the kind of replacement I was looking for, that I feel is a healthy choice.

So, without further ado, here is the recipe you’ve all been waiting for.

Homemade Sugar Free Soda – Cherry Vanilla

You will need:

• Carbonated water (Soda water)
• Pure Liquid Cherry-Vanilla NuStevia
• NuStevia Simple Syrup

Now, this is the really tough part. Don’t get your nickers in a twist trying to follow this recipe.

1. Add 8-12 drops of Pure Liquid Cherry-Vanilla NuStevia into a glass.

2. Pour in carbonated water to almost fill your glass.

3. Add a splash of NuStevia Simple Syrup to taste.

4. Drink your refreshing and delicious beverage.

If you don’t have the simple syrup, you could just add the pure liquid NuStevia drops, but the simple syrup really does add that extra dash of sweetness to make it taste like the colas I’m used to. Also, if cherry vanilla isn’t your thing, there are a lot of other Pure Liquid NuStevia flavours to choose from: Orange, Lemon, Peppermint, Vanilla, as well as a non-flavoured option. So much deliciousness!

With the warm weather teasing us here on the West Coast, I’m geared for sunny days on the patio with my guilt-free, sugar-free soda in hand.

If you’re curious about these tasty little sweeteners and want to try them before you buy them, you’re in luck! It’s giveaway time! The great people at NuNaturals are offering four of you fabulous folk a chance to win a prize pack of NuStevia product. Each of the four (4) prize packs will include ( 1 ) one bottle  of the  Cherry Vanilla  Stevia Liquids, a 50 packet box of our NuStevia White Stevia Powder packets, PLUS a bottle of new Cocoa Syrup, and a bottle of the new Mint Cocoa Syrup – a retail value of $ 54.00! As if that package isn’t enough, NuNaturals will also throw in a FREE BONUS PRODUCT!

Because you read it here, you will receive a 15% DISCOUNT on all orders placed on the NuNaturals website: www.nunaturals.com. To redeem, enter the DISCOUNT CODE :  BLG0615  at the checkout page and receive – 15% off your entire order (excluding other discounts – EFFECTIVE UNTIL  JUNE 30, 2015) . In addition to the NuNaturals website, you can also visit the NuNaturals Facebook page for more information about finding and ordering products.

Also, if you’re in the continental US, you get free shipping on any order over $35.

Giveaway open worldwide. No shipping to PO boxes, sorry!

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*Disclaimer* While I did receive some fabulous goodies free from NuNaturals, the thoughts and opinions within this post are truly and uniquely my own. I only support what I feel good about! You can see my full disclosure policy here.

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