144 beautiful Diet Cokes

Now, most of you know that we enjoy a good diet drink (Tab is usually the beverage of choice due to its fabulous nutrional content) but Diet Coke is also a fan favorite of ours.

I have been known to buy many 12 packs of these drinks at a time. But even I have to say that I was impressed as I walked by this person's car...I did not know the person and I usually do not spend a lot of time staring into the backseats of peoples cars, but its backseat contents made me stop and admire.

Yes, there are at least 12 of these 12-packs in the backseat. The reason that I love this is I can just see this person buying all of these 12 packs, and as you can see by the picture, they are not put in the backseat in an orderly way--they are just thrown back there. What does this mean? The person was probably so embarrassed to buy that many that they filled the shopping cart, paid for it and then jogged out to the car with the cart and hurriedly threw them in the back of the car so that nobody could see what they just bought. C'mon Diet Coke drinker...no need to be ashamed, be proud of your Diet Coke consumption. Its truly a badge of honor to be able to drink that many before they expire...and yes people, soda drinks usually expire--usually within 3 months of when you purchase them.

Now, if that car had that many Tab 12-packs in its backseats, lets just say, I would have stolen that car within a minute and being in Tab heaven.

Rule #235

I have many rules that I live by. Brodi is hounding me to add the following rule to the list:

#235: When you put a drink in the freezer to get it extra cold, remember to take it out or better yet, don't put it in there in the first place.

You can tell how impressive this frozen-can explosion was in our freezer by just seeing that its entire top was blown clean away. It is tragic though to lose a Tab in the process.

Bad back or a Bad case of the Sodas?

So yesterday, I am walking around my office and all of a sudden, I doubled up in pain. Terrible pain in my lower back. I could barely walk. Now you all know me as a 'rough and tumble', 'greek god-ish', 'tough as nails' kind of guy, so it would probably surprise you to know that I was basically in the fetal position in my office. As co-workers teased me, I just sat there groaning and moaning about my fate. For about 10 minutes, I was in bad pain, but I finally picked myself up and hobbled to the car. My lower back was in terrible pain, I felt like I was going to puke and it felt like I needed to go to the bathroom. Trust me, that is not a trifecta that anyone would want.

I got in the car and started to drive home. Still in terrible pain. I had broken out in sweats (windows open, air conditioning full blast). On I-15, I finally had to pull over on the shoulder of the freeway so that I could get out and puke. I dry heaved a few times and got some nice honks from cars passing me. I got back in the truck and continued driving home. On my way home, all of a sudden, I felt my back loosening up and it was gone. Gone like the wind.

I got home, got out of the car and felt great, like nothing was wrong. The good thing about my family is that I had a dad that has had back problems, a brother in law that has had a bad back, a brother in law that is a doctor/surgeon, another brother in law that is a family doctor and a father in law that is a pediatrician. So, I had all of the advice and knowledge at my fingertips.

The diagnosis--probably a kidney stone (the ones pictured at the left are not mine, though that would be pretty cool to save one of those bad boys). A freakin' little rock wrecking havoc on my insides. My back feels great now...but kidney stones can feel like a bad back but with the presence of the need to puke and go to the bathroom as well as it disappearing after less than an hour seem to point to it not being a back problem but a kidney stone problem.



Now you can read the research about soda drinks causing kidney stones. I still have a hard time believing that Tab could cause some of these problems. Tab is so toxic that it is probably eating away all of my organs, not contributing to forming little rocks in my body. With that said, maybe I should cut down on my diet drink obsession...I will probably get fewer kidney stones, but I will definitely get more headaches and be angrier. Not sure which is the best option.

Some truly terrible Diet Drinks

There are some bad drinks out there. Some real bad diet drinks. I have put four that deserve a special award for simple awfulness. This is also in response to my earlier post of the best diet drinks on the market:
http://samandbrodi.blogspot.com/2008/03/diet-drinks-tasty-best-of-best.html

I have limited this to soda drinks. There are some bad 'diet' drinks out there like some of the crystal light flavors but this is just for the regular diet drinks. If you have not had your breakfast/lunch/dinner yet, you may want to skip these four drinks because it will undoubtedly cause your stomach to churn just a bit.

Diet Cherry Chocolate Dr. Pepper: Seriously, did some guy at the soda plant just start thinking: 'OK, I love Diet Dr. Pepper. I also really enjoy cherries. And who is kidding who? Everyone loves Chocolate. Lets bring them all together and we have liquid gold on our hands.' Let me put it this way: I love spaghetti, Twix candy bars and turkey. But I aint going to put those bad boys in a blender and drink it down. Who knows, as I continue to drink this, I may fall in love. But its hard to fall in love with something that makes my lips and teeth red/brown from drinking the stuff as well as the continual urge to stop the dry heaves. It is a limited edition drink meaning that if good taste prevails by the general public, we will never see this drink again.




Diet Coke Plus:: This is a poor attempt at a company to package Diet Coke and try to make it healthy. It adds a few 'healthy' things such as niacin, zinc and magnesium and a few others. This drink has some kind of smooth awkward taste as it tumbles down your throat. I was actually excited to try this...I made it thru a half of a can. Since I had a full 12 pack (11.5 of them left), I tried to pawn it off to family and friends. They either ran for cover to get away from it or they tried it to their disgust. Lets just say that I had 8 of them still left after begging people to take them off my hands. They sat for a few months in my truck, well past their expiration date. I was tempted to try it thinking that it only could have gotten better (hopefully thru fermentation) with age, but I didn't have the guts to try it and they all ended up in the garbage where it is probably contaminating some landfill out west.





Coke Blak: Now, I have a disclaimer right off the bat. I have yet to drink this. This is marketed as combining two of your favorite things--coke and coffee. I can not think of one good reason why this would be a good combination. I can't convince myself to even put down 50 cents for this abomination. But I have to give it kudos for giving it the name of 'Coke Blak' without the 'C'...I am not sure what it means, but it does add to the coolness factor.





Diet Coke with Lemon: For years I have tried to find a drink that tasted like paint thinner. And then diet coke with lemon came along and my needs were met. Fresh nice lemons in a diet coke are fabulous...fake lemon taste in a diet coke is brutally bad. What is shocking is that some of my co-workers actually like the stuff. There are two reasons why they like it: They have zero taste buds, or they have never had a lemon in their life and they think that lemons should taste like that. Whatever reason they have, they are dead wrong. Yuck.

So there you have it...you have been warned.

Diet Drinks, the tasty best of the best

Some of you probably just threw up a little in your mouth thinking about Diet drinks. But c'mon, they are a tasty treat with shockingly enough, zero calories. Over the past 15 years, I have had probably 10 sodas that were not diet. It has been years since I had my last one. I am a Diet soda drinker.



First off, I was shocked to see that Diet Sodas were not somewhere on the food pyramid. Yes, I know that every one of these diet drinks is probably cutting a day off of my life. Yes, I know that my stomach liner is probably in tatters due to drinking this stuff...but how can something so good be so bad? It can't be, so I ignore what people say and I sit back and enjoy the fake colored calorie free Diet Drinks.

I like some variety to my drinks. That is why you will find cases of diet drinks in my house of every variety and of every taste. Brodi on the other hand is all Diet Coke, all the time. It is rare for her to have some different diet drink. I like some spice in my life and I mix it up and Here is the top 10 rankings of the best diet drinks on the market.

10. Fresca--This barely made the top 10 just barely beating out another 'citris' type drink Sprite, 7-Up and Diet Mountain Dew. Good breakfast drink because it makes you feel like you are drinking something healthy even though carbonation is the main ingredient. This is also included for sentimental purposes as this was one of the original diet drinks from years ago.



9. Cherry Coke Zero--Coke got it right somehow moving to the Zero line. Diet Cherry Coke is not too good...but this Zero product of it is a much better option. In fact, the entire zero line from Coke is well done and it ends up being closer to the diet pepsi product line in taste of its drinks.




8. Diet Dr. Pepper-One of the originals. Pretty good taste. This is one of the real popular ones. People really like it and say that is the best of the diet drinks, but I have to say that they feel that way because their taste buds are not truly experienced. If these people had experienced tastebuds, then they would know that it only merits a #8 on a list.


7. Diet Pepsi Vanilla--A sweet taste that can be real good but often feels a bit too sweet. These are drinks that I love, but I can usually only have one of these during the day because of its sweetness.


6. Diet Coke--the old standby. This is the drink you have when you are exhausted and just taking it easy late at night. I imagine this drink being like a shot of whisky for someone needing the relaxation of alcohol. Diet Coke is the reliable drink to calm the nerves.



5. Diet Pepsi Lime--A sweet taste. This is one thing that Pepsi does well...its flavored drinks have a much sweeter taste than its Coke counterparts.








4. Coke Zero--Now Coke did something right. Its Cherry Diet Coke, its Diet Lemon Coke just don't cut it...but its 'Zero' line is terrific. A nice sweet taste and a good drink.





3. Pepsi Max--Seriously, what is not to love? First, it has a 'real' sweet taste unlike Pepsi One. Second, it has twice, TWICE the caffeine. The biggest drawback that I have noticed is that I can't drink two of these bad boys in a row or I start to get a headache. And I can't have three of these during the day or I start not feeling well. It reminds me of JOLT cola without the sugar.



2. Diet A&W Root Beer--this is a beautiful drink. It has a smooth taste and it is one of the few diet drinks that does not taste markedly different from its sugar non-diet brother. Drinking one of these bad boys following up just having a Pepsi Max is a good way to go.





1. Tab--We have already discussed my love of this drink. About 5-years ago, living in DC, is when I was re-introduced to Tab by my brother. Josh would keep a 12-pack in the backseat of his truck and he would pick me up from work in downtown DC. He would pop one of those Tabs open (and really, it would be 95 degrees outside, so the Tab sitting in his backseat would be warm to the touch) and start guzzling it down. I still can't do that, but my love was re-newed and the drinking begun. One note though--Tab takes a bit of time to get used to it. It took me about ten 12-packs before I actually liked the drink...now I can't get enough of it.


So, there you. Next week, I will post the worst Diet Drinks of all diet drinks. And trust me, if you think that the diet drinks that I have mentioned so far are bad, get ready to learn of some drinks that would make you sick just thinking of them.

The near perfect diet solution: Tab and PopTarts

Now, I know what you are thinking--the 'near perfect' diet, why wouldn't Tab and PopTarts be the perfect diet? Well, simply because PopTarts are too addictive. You can't stop at 2, or 4, or 6 and then the calorie intake is just out of control and even though Tab has zero calories, your caloric intake is too high. So, if you can control your obsession with poptarts and only eat 4-6 in a day and supplement it with nature's juice, Tab, then it is the absolute perfect diet.

TAB--Yes, I know, this drink may take some time to get use to it. But seriously, this is a fabulous drink. Not only has it been around for decades, but it keeps on going strong. I had not seen a TAB in years until about 5 years ago back in DC when my brother and I went shopping and there was a 12-pack sitting there. We picked it up and I have not looked back since. I have a feeling that the TAB cans still on the shelf may have in fact been there for the past 15 years...no matter, it is as tasty and refreshing as ever. Yes, TAB may be slowly eating away at my stomach lining, but I have no doubt that TAB is keeping me youthful and 'healthy.' Some people say that TAB tastes like paint thinner--to be honest, I have no idea, I have not tasted paint thinner so its a good thing that I found TAB first.



Brown Sugar PopTarts: Seriously, I am addicted. Donuts used to be my downfall, but that is no longer the case. These poptarts are a terrific breakfast, mid-day snack or a terrific compliment to any dinner. I don't care much for any of the other flavored poptarts, but I can down the brown sugar ones like it is going out of style. Important note--I am not a fan of toasting which is good so that I don't have to waste time cooking them with a toaster, I can just grab them out of the box and eat them. Brodi does not appreciate me throwing poptarts at the kids whenever they get healthy. I have checked the nutrional content of poptarts and they are pretty impressive: 10% of iron and Vitamin A!!!! It also contains 1% of your needed calcium. Add one poptart with a glass of milk and you are at about 41% of needed daily calcium, thanks in no small part to PopTarts.


TAB with Brown Sugar Poptarts may not be the perfect diet, but it just may be the ultimate breakfast. It does not get better than that.