Drinks for non-drinkers

I gave up drinking alcohol several years ago for health reasons. Thursday was my 52nd birthday and I cooked sauteed rainbow trout (it was delicious). But I couldn't think of anything to drink that went with the fish. I don't think milk goes with most fish and fruit juice was right out. Besides, I have type II diabetes and I've been told not to have more than 4oz (1/2 cup) juice at a time.

Well, I could think of drinks that went with trout - white wine would be great and a light beer like Corona would be another possiblity. But of course those are right out.

I'm in a rut of a few beverages. My parents always serve me Diet Coke when I visit but otherwise I never drink pop (or soda or fizzy drinks) at all. It's mostly milk and orange juice and I try to limit the juice. OJ doesn't go with very many things anyway.

Does anyone have any ideas about how I can expand my horizons?

EDIT: Clarified that I avoid all alcohol.

Honestly either some good dark beer or some Absinth. One beer or 1-2 short of hard liqueur is my limit (in terms of tolerance). So I tend to go for high quality stuff. :)

Hmm re-reading your post. I think you meant none-alcoholic. In which case tea, or Kefir.

UD

How about 'Shloer'? It's a sparkling juice drink that comes in flavours like white grape, white grape and elderflower, apple etc.

We always have it in the house for non-drinkers. 

Think you could probably find a good flavour amongst their varieties to go with different things.

Personally, I love the more 'grown-up' cordials.... Lime, ginger, elderflower, lemon grass.  The brands I buy are 'Belvoir' (pronounced like 'beaver'!) and 'Bottlegreen' but I'm in the UK and I don't know where you are.   If you mix just a tiny amount of those with some sparkling water you get quite an interesting, refreshing 'adult' drink that's not sickly sweet like colas or overpowering like orange juice

I don't happen to like the flavoured waters that you can get as I think they taste rather chemically and artificial.  But you never know, you might find a nice one where you are.

Is sparkling cider/grape juice/non-alcoholic wines OK for you?  I don't know how they do with diabetes situation.   Can you drink tea?  There are lots of flavored teas that don't have sugar.   Diet tonic water,  diet Ginger Ale?

I like to squish 1/2 a lime or lemon in plain water. You can also use 1/8 c or less of orange juice. It goes with most meals. I find the tartness of the lemon refreshing.

For fancy, you can grate the peel from a lemon lime or orange, mix with water, and freeze in ice cube trays. Add the prettified cubes to mineral water. That's only good if you don't mind the peel in your water though.

I like unsweetened unflavored iced tea - a difficult thing to find in restaurants sometimes in the lands of that syrupy "sweet tea". If you are used to iced tea sweetened, gradually reduce the fake or real sugar you add until you find you enjoy the taste of the tea by itself.

Mineral waters are nice because they're calorie-free, have the nice bubbliness of a beer, and some can have the tartness that would compliment fish.

You could try gooling non-alcoholic, no sugar drinks (or variations of that). I love Google!

You must. must. must. get

Fre wine from sutter house.

It is non-alcoholic, however it comes in a variety of types. It also tastes excatly like wine, and it even smells like it!!

They put the "grape juice" part and let it blend with the alcohol. However, they take out the alcohol after it flavors it.

Seriously, to all CCers and non alcohol drinkers, drink this up!

i love making shakes. theres trillions of possibilities- fruit flavors, spices, vanilla or chocolate, mint, nut flavors... pretty much anything you can put in your moth can be put in a shake. they can have milk, yogurt, ice cream (sugar free), water, or juice bases. shakes make good breakfasts, snacks, or desserts depending on what you do. they can be super healthy or really bad for you (which makes them good, lol!) anything from veggies to cookies. you can get really creative.

teas also come in about a million and one different flavors. herbs, fruits, spices... hot or cold... sweet or unsweet... you can put milk, honey, sugar, or lemon if you like. so that's just fun.

if you want something more sophisticated to go with dinner or a party, what about cider? this is what kids are always served as mock-champagne because it doesn't have alcohol.

juice is also really good. you can get low-sugar orange juice, but there's also really cool flavors like pomegranate, blueberry, grapefruit, passion fruit, and others. to make it low-sugar and more sophisticated you could mix half juice and half diet soda (club soda or sprite or something sort of plain).

just for something simple and sugar free, but more interesting than plain water, you can get packages of water flavorings. there's lemonade but also a ton of other fruit flavors. you can also get weird things like immunity booster, fiber, proten, metabolism booster, energy, antioxidents, and whatever else people are able to come up with and turn into powder form if you like.

have fun!

I love iced tea made with the flavored bags of tea, particularly raspberry, peach or orange spice.  No sweetener required.

I like elderflower cordial, mock sangrias, and sparkling mineral water - a good brand with a little lime juice is lovely.

I rely on tasty drinks to quell my cravings for calorie-laden sweets at night. I feel your pain. Around the house, I drink a lot of herb teas. Celestial Seasonings makes some good ones, like Mandarin Orange Spice, Lemon Zinger, and just about any other flavor on earth (chai, blueberry, mint, chocolate and vanilla...the list goes on). I sweeten them with Splenda so I can drink as many as I want with zero calories. Also, if you're in the States, I've been drinking a lot of this stuff called Life Water. They have a zero-calorie sugar-free variety which is surprisingly good. I always grab a couple of the Fuji Apple and Pear flavored ones when I'm out shopping. Also, Perrier or San Pellegrino is refreshing with lemon or lime juice. I know you said you don't like fizzy drinks, but this stuff has no sugar or calories, looks like a gin and tonic, AND it quenches thirst and gives you something to do with your hands while everyone else is drinking. (I used to drink fake "drinks" with swizzle sticks in them at parties before I was ready to announce that I was pregnant, to make sure that everyone was really surprised when I broke the news). There are also several varieties of diet juices now, with most of the natural sugar replaced with sucralose, but I have not sampled those and couldn't tell you how they taste. Hope this helps.