Sparkling water? Mineral water? What's a GOOD TASTING thirst quencher for normal down time? [View all]

[UTUSN]

One of the remnants of my fringe-Hippie years is a tiny, pretend effort at "health foods". That is, after the Hippies died out, went on to become Street People, druggies, or guru followers of spiritual or exercise fads - it all sort of came down to a whimper, "Don't eat FRIED FOODS!1"

Health foods and vitamins were something to try. Not much. But back then I stopped whole milk totally - "milk fat is the WORST" - to this very day. All skim, what little I consume at all. Once I overheard an elderly, common sense couple in the the dairy department, and he said, with enviable moderation, "2 per cent. I like a LITTLE bit of taste..."

Anyway, I'm not consistent about much, but years ago stopped having soft drinks at home. I still occasionally have a "combo" fast food meal that includes a soft drink.

I don't use juices because of the sugar. In the past year I tried iced tea as the main beverage besides water. Plain water seems to bloat. But tea seems to give a carbohydrate type of bloat. (Yes, the Diet tea.)

I seem to want a bit of zip or zing. A couple of months ago, tried sparkling water, at first the "plain". Sort of like soda without the flavoring. It was fair. Then tried citrus flavored carbonated water. Sort of bitter.

Is carbonated the same as sparkling or mineral water? Does mineral water lead to MINERALS petrifying in the kidneys or somewhere?

What's a THIRST QUENCHING, FLAVORFUL, non-petrifying beverage?!1