Seems weird to me as I can't stand sweet drinks in the heat. Used to have a little lawn business and when customers offered me drinks I'd always opt for ice water. Working outdoors at Lowe's this past spring and summer, I'd chug the free bottled water and nothing else. Hell, I'm an alcoholic and don't even want beer when I'm working and sweating.
The difference could be linked to a number of factors: Those with higher incomes often have more reliable access to safely drinkable tap water. They tend to work in indoor environments, where air-conditioning may mean there is less need to stay hydrated. And they may be more aware of the potential health consequences of high sugar consumption.
When you are the 99% and are sweating your ass off I think people are thinking more of a cold drink to cool down more than, "oh man I better stay hydrated". And a lemonade tastes ace compared to another glass of water. And if you have enough money to have door to door AC it only makes more sense that like other food related things, if you have the means to have better your going to likely have better.
We eat well. We cook. We grow vegetables. We even bake our own bread. However, I feel called out by this in that my hot summer evening splurge are those flavorice popsicles in the plastic tubes. I don’t even gravitate to sugar or trash food generally, but those things hit the spot in the heat of summer.
Pedialyte (electrolyte drink aimed at sick kids) comes in freezer tubes and they're awesome when you're over-hot and dehydrated.
Yes, but those probably don’t taste like childhood.
They're pretty sweet, but also salty. Very tasty, like frozen sugar free Gatorade. (because real sugar+sick kid=bathroom sadness)
So use sugar alternatives.
The issue is that some alternatives are worse than the thing they are replacing, and alternatives are also not as "mainstream" and often more expensive. And if you're buying a drink you're getting whatever is in the mass produced beverage, unless you're going to spend the time to label shop and are prepared to leave empty handed.
I've found that True Lemon/Orange/Lime/Grapefruit packets combined with Nutrisweet (saccharine) tablets is cheaper than store bought drinks, have no health downsides, and taste better since I can dial-in the sweetness to be less sweet than store bought drinks.
That also works for tea purchased in bulk, which can be re-brewed (even cold) multiple times from the same batch to save money.
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