How bad is sweet tea?

I was wondering. I'm from Virginia, so I grew up on it, and some times I have it up to 4 glasses a day. I have really tried  to cut back and limit the amount. I notice when I get it at the market, its about 100 calories a glass. But thats not quite as bad as cokes or something.

Does the extra sugar cause weight gain even if the calories are within the right amount? I still have 40 lbs to lose, and so far Im kinda stuck, so I'm thinking about cutting out the sweet tea. Or maybe limiting it to a few times a week.

What do y'all think?

It appears you're addicted to sweet tea like I was addicted to Coke and Pepsi.  I solved that by switching to Crystal Light drinks.  I LOVE the peach tea flavor, as well as the raspberry.  I would still love to have a cola, but since I limit myself to about 1200 calories a day, that would consume too much of my daily allowance for real food.  I find the Crystal Light satisfies my craving, and I get the liquids I need, too, since I'm not a water drinker.  I wish you luck in your effort to limit the sweet tea, as well as continued good wishes in losing that 40 pounds.

I am also from VA and definately prefer my tea what I like to call Calolina sweet - really, really sweet!  When my son developed a taste for it, I decided I needed to find away to cut the calories.  Now I brew it with the Splenda for Baking mix.  It takes 1/2 cup of this to make the tea as sweet as it would be if I brewed it with 1 cup of sugar.  We can't tell the difference in the taste and it really drops the calories. 

Yogi Tea (brand name) does one called Green/Kombucha that is rather sweet naturally and once you add a little (very little) blog of honey to it it's very sweet. i usually brew up a bunch, cool it in the fridge and drink that. because it is a green tea it has all the antioxidents and EGCG's that are associated with weight management, and Kombucha is great for the digestive system.

Original Post by richmondbread:
Someone mentioned honey instead of sugar- that would be different, but I think I could certainly go for that ! 

 

A Tbsp of honey has almost twice as many calories as a Tbsp of sugar.  Why not try Stevia?  I use the liquid and find a couple drops is plenty, although I will admit my sweet tooth has calmed down alot in the last several months. 

If your sugar/tea fits within your calorie count for the day, then it's okay (barring dental issues).  Not the best way to spend your calories, IMHO, but hey, it's your choice as it's mine.

Try watering it down, a little at a time till you're more comfortable with less sugar.  Sugar's not "good" for you, so learning to be less dependent on it is good for you.  You'll find, too if, you give up most of the processed sugars, that fruit and other naturally sweet things will taste sweeter and make the sugar cravings go away.

Up here in Canada almost ALL of our cold tea is sweetened, and that bugs me typically, as I spent a year in Korea drinking yummy cold green jasmine tea.  Anyways, in terms of sweetening tea, may I recommend trying a 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup to 1 cup of tea?  I also would add lemon to that.  The beverage is then only 20 calories.  If it is not sweet enough for you, you could put a tbsp of maple syrup, which is 40Kcal.  Many people were mentioning honey, and yes, it is calorically the same, but because it is sweeter than sugar, you can put less of it for the same punch.  That makes it calorically different.  Take a look at the glycemic index.  Maple syrup and honey are both good alternatives, and both are sweeter than sugar, so less is required.  Oh, but I'm talking real maple syrup here, not that processed s---. 

But, a fav of mine is cold green tea with lemon and honey.  Just control the amount of honey you put in.  Processed sugar is not our friend, so natural alternatives are preferable, as our body likes them better.  I think of my caloric limit as a budget, and I don't fancy spending 400Kcal of my budget on tea, so I would find a substitute!

I couldn't give up tea either. I drink at least a pitcher a day. I use Splenda so it makes it 0 calories. Splenda tastes pretty good and I'm so use to it that now I don't like anybody elses tea. I actually carry a big jug of tea to work.

I enjoy sweet tea, and tea itself is good for you.  There is antioxidant value with tea, soda is not good for you at all!  But calories are calories.  So I count them into my day's allowance.  I also dilute the tea in half.  This way I have a nice large glass and half the calories!  You get used to it not sooo sweet.

Hey! I'm from Florida and I do love Sweet Tea.  I don't know if this makes the calories any less, but it does make it not as sweet.  I get half sweet and half unsweet.  Just a thought to try, maybe that would help you go to drinking it unsweet and then sweetening it with splenda.  I'm new to this whole thing so I hope this helps!

Original Post by aislign:

Up here in Canada almost ALL of our cold tea is sweetened, and that bugs me typically, as I spent a year in Korea drinking yummy cold green jasmine tea.  Anyways, in terms of sweetening tea, may I recommend trying a 1/2 tbsp of maple syrup to 1 cup of tea?  I also would add lemon to that.  The beverage is then only 20 calories.  If it is not sweet enough for you, you could put a tbsp of maple syrup, which is 40Kcal.  Many people were mentioning honey, and yes, it is calorically the same, but because it is sweeter than sugar, you can put less of it for the same punch.  That makes it calorically different.  Take a look at the glycemic index.  Maple syrup and honey are both good alternatives, and both are sweeter than sugar, so less is required.  Oh, but I'm talking real maple syrup here, not that processed s---. 

 I love maple syrup and honey and I do agree with you when you say that eating them sparingly is the best idea but I just wanted to point out that they're both considered simple sugars so their GI is high. A good low-GI sweetener is agave nectar or stevia, which are sweet tasting but they don't raise blood sugar levels like simple sugars.

I used to drink 2-3 20oz. of Coke a day at work, then down most of a 2 liter at home.  I realized that I could probably lose most of my weight just by kicking this habit, so I've been working on doing that.

I started with tea.  I bought Lipton sweetened lemon because it has 16g of sugar to Coke's 27.  It also has 60 calories per 8 oz. to Coke's 100.  Like you, I don't like unsweetened tea.  Also, I've always had a mad sweet tooth, and cutting out sweet altogether would have lead to relapse.  I've done it before.

Initially, I drank about 3 16oz. glasses of this tea a day, and staggered it with water.  After 10pm, I drank water only so that I could sleep at night.  This was a significant reduction in calories and sugar than I was getting, almost over night.  I was also getting those health antioxidants, and less acids.  Also, it accounts for a pretty dramatic drop in caffeine.

Over time, it became harder and harder to fit those 360 calories into my diet and still stay full.  I started adding ice and gradually dropping my glass size from 14oz, to 12oz, and eventually down to 8.  I also stopped drinking tea after work altogether.  I drink milk to meet my calcium needs, and water.

Currently, I drink a single 8 oz. glass of tea in the morning, for caffeine.  I drink water throughout the day at work.  I drink water while I'm working out, and drink a glass of milk when I come back from the gym.  The rest of the night, I drink water.  I've gone from about 1000 calories a day in soda, to 320 in tea, down to 60.  I don't count the milk calories because I drink that for the vitamins and calcium, not to have something sweet to drink.  I've also gone from about 300g+ of added sugar from beverages, down to 96, down to 16.  It's taken me about a month to do this.  I have lost 10 pounds in the process.

I still get a sweet tooth from time to time.  There are ways of dealing with it, without all the extra calories.  Sometimes, I just have a single hard candy (about 30 calories) and limit it to one a day.  I prefer to get some vitamins with my calories, however.  Chocolate milk or Cocoa krispies are good ways of dealing with a need for sweet.   Also, when I need an ice cream fix, fudsicles are only 100 calories, and actually have more nutrients than tea (marginally so, but sometimes you just have to have ice cream).

I hope this helps.

--J

Like you, I also grew up on sweet tea. As I moved out and started making my own, I've cut back on the sugar I use and also split it in half with splenda. I agree that unsweetened tea is awful, and I can't even bear to drink a sip of it. But if you slowly cut down on the amount of sugar you use, you can't really tell a difference. Now when I go to my mom's and drink her sweet tea, I gag from how sweet it is, haha. Sugar and splenda combined, I use about half of what my mom uses in her tea.

I've also tried other things that have helped me to cut back. Like someone suggested, you can use honey (although I'd still cut that in half with sugar to keep the flavor the way I like), but I've never personally tried that. I've used agave nectar though, and it turns out really good. I actually used to use a combination of agave nectar, a little sugar, and splenda, and that was my favorite, but a pain in the ass to make.

You can also try going for a lighter tea sometimes to mix it up/take your mind off of cutting back. I'm a fan of black tea, the stronger ones like earl grey. But I noticed that if I make green tea mixed with an herbal tea, or even green and black tea mixed, I don't need anywhere near as much sugar to get the sweetness I like. Then when you switch back to black tea for the next pitcher, its easier to use a little less sugar. It's a long process of cutting back, but its well worth it. This is coming from someone who has been drinking only tea since I drank from a bottle. It also helps to start out having two different kinds of tea, maybe an herbal green tea mix (which you'll notice needs less sugar) and a pitcher of black tea.

It's not easy, but you can definitely make it bearable and even unnoticeable to cut back on your sugar. Because the simplest answer is yes, the sugar does make you gain weight/stop you from losing weight. I lost 20 pounds just by cutting down my sugar and splitting it with splenda. You can't taste the splenda when you mix it with sugar, and its worth it to re-train yourself to use less sugar.

I am a Florida girl who grew up drinking sweet tea that was as sweet as syrup. When Im counting my calories I try to mix it with unsweet. If you are in a restaurant you can ask for half and half (half sweet half unsweet) that cuts your calories to closer to 50-60 cals a glass instead of 100-120. If you buy it in the grocery you can do the same. Buy one gallon of each and just mix them. Maybe try weening off of the sweet tea little by little until you tastes adjust to less sweetness.

Good luck to one sweet tea fan from another!

I can relate - I grew up in NC and moved to PA in high school, and balked at the idea of unsweetened tea.  Even unsweetned tea with sugar added (when cold) was no substitute.  At first I thought it was disgusting, but I gradually transitioned to drinking unsweetned and my waistline appreciates it.  Here's some things I did to make it easier:

-Try it half & half: mix half sweet and half unsweet tea.  (Or start at like 75% sweet, 25% unsweet, and gradually change.)  You cut the calories in half instantly!  Even restaurants were happy to do this for me when I asked, so there's no excuse.

-If you make it yourself, use the same amount of sugar as usual but add an extra tea bag and brew it super strong.  When you put it in your pitcher, add water (or extra ice) to dilute it.  (This is different from mixing unsweet & sweet tea IMO, since there is definitely a different taste when you brew it with the sugar vs brewing it plain.)  You'll end up with more tea than before due to the extra water, but retain that 'southern flavor' .. so the same size serving tastes about the same, just a little less sweet and therefore less caloric.  Gradually add less sugar when you brew it.

-If you make it yourself, try using a sweetner besides sugar - Splenda, Stevia, whatever you like.

-A GREAT alternative is making iced herbal teas (with or without sugar, I like them without since they have more flavor than black tea) - particularly the naturally sweet herbs.  A lot of them have health benefits too!   Try these flavors: [2 bags pomegranate & cranberry + 1 chamomile], [2 bags black tea + 1 peppermint], roiibos (a red tea from South Africa... particularly delicious! Naturally kind of sweet, it's an easy transition from sweet tea).

I still make sweet tea often in summer, but with reduced sugar.  My roommates love it! 

Good luck!

I'm like you man, sweet tea was its own food group for me so trying to wean myself off it has been rough. It sucks b/c I hate Splenda and Sweet'n Low. What I have been doing is I cut up a lime, squeeze it and then put it in the drink. Its been good for me. I know that if I drank all the soda and sweet tea I used to before CC I would be using all half my calories alone. Its like switching to Diet Coke. I HATED DIET COKE but I just realized that I needed to use those calories for other things and not sugar. Now its drinkable.

Sometimes you just have to do it and realize that this is not just a diet but a lifestyle change and some sacrifices are required. Good luck man.

This is exactly it ! True sweet tea is not just tea with sugar added in. Its actually brewed with the sugar in it while its hot, so that the sugar is  almost crystalized and saturated throughout the tea. When I go any place north of Fredericksburg, Virginia,  it gets harder to get real sweet tea, and any place north of Virginia, they just give me a funny look if I order a 'sweet tea" they just say- oh the sugar is right there for you on the table

Uh- thats not sweet tea!  Thats just tea thats been sweetened, lol

That being said, I think that artificial sweenters are far worse than real sugar, and sweet tea uses natural sugar, which although not great for you, is better than that cancer causing stuff.

I have never even heard of Sweet Tea, let alone tried it! So I guess that means it is possible to live with out it.

I wanted to cut back on caffeine so got into drinking green tea instead of coffee and it is totally delicious and I drink it hot  (I'm English) and like it with lemon.

If you like your tea sweet (I never add sugar) then try white tea. Is cleaner tasting than green tea and has a hint of natural sweetness and I promise you that it is totally moreish once you get started.

And for those who think hot tea or sugarless tea is bitter then you might be making it with water that is not quite at the right temperature or perhaps you are leaving it to brew too long for that way of drinking it?

If you are going to drink tea cold then it is usually allowed to brew for a significantly longer period of time that for if you are going to drink it hot and sugar of course takes away any bitterness due to not using boiling water for black tea or non-boiling water for green and white teas.

I'm from Texas... I know what you mean. But what I'm saying is sometimes you need to sacrifice what you what for what you need. You dont need sweet tea. You need hydration. I'm not saying that the occasional glass of sweet awesomeness is bad; but what I'm learning from this is moderation and realizing what I'm putting in my body. Before this I ate 3 McDonald's double cheeseburgers a day. Did I need to? No. I needed something to eat. Now I havent been there in over a month and I havent missed it. Try tea with half the sugar, then a quater of the sugar, then switch to Splenda. Eventually you realized that youre not really missing it. Good Luck.

It is true that calories are calories. The problem with sweet tea is that you are consuming a large amount of calories that don't fill you. I used to drink 5-6 glasses of this stuff a day. It doesn't satisfy your hunger so you eat just as much as you would without it. So, you end up taking in extra calories unless you exercise more to burn them off.

Original Post by fredajones:

And for those who think hot tea or sugarless tea is bitter then you might be making it with water that is not quite at the right temperature or perhaps you are leaving it to brew too long for that way of drinking it?

If you are going to drink tea cold then it is usually allowed to brew for a significantly longer period of time that for if you are going to drink it hot and sugar of course takes away any bitterness due to not using boiling water for black tea or non-boiling water for green and white teas.

 

My grandmother added a dash of salt to her coffee, because it would take away some of the bitterness.  Contrary to popular belief, salty is the opposite of bitter, not sweet.  With really sweet tea, however, the sugar just kinda overwhelms everything else.  You think "Whoa, that's sweet", not "Hey, that's bitter." (I don't really like my iced tea very sweet, and I actually like it watered down, like it's been sitting with ice melting all day.) 

Try not drinking as much sweet tea and drink water instead. Especially when my family eats out I order water with LOTS of lemon. I use 2 packets of Splenda and make lcalorie-free lemonade. It's quite delicious. Good luck!  I still have a good 20 pounds to lose myself.

Ursula Akridge

Warner Robins, GA