From what I see here any drink that may cause sweet cravings should be avoided correct? Even if they are sugar free/low carb or zero carb? I always choose water first and all day.
I did read today that zero carb sodas are ok but not the greatest. I drink zero carb soda very infrequently but occasional 1-2 swigs is refreshing.
I’ll give 1 example and maybe you can give some feedback. Note that I would not consume more than 4 ounces/ 8 max in a day.
Zero Calorie Minute Maid pink lemonade - 0 sugar, 2g carb per 8 ounces, ingredients include lemon juice from concentrate (red flag?), grape juice concentrate (red flag?), modified cornstarch…yegads maybe I’ll go no further. AND…is it sufficient to knock me out of ketosis?
I read somewhere that lemon juice in water with stevia is acceptable.
Any other suggestions welcome too. Thanks.
Drinks
Well, a lot of us feel that way. It all comes down to what works for you. There have been alcoholics who lost their sobriety from drinking non-alcoholic beer, because the taste was a trigger for them. So a sweet taste might be a trigger for you. If it is, you might not want to subject yourself to that, because avoiding sweetness might just be easier for you. If it’s not a trigger, then there’s no reason to avoid it. But you need to know yourself well, in a case like this.
I’m not sure what you mean when you mention “zero-carb” soda. For example, personally I wouldn’t worry about Seltzer water or club soda, but I might have a concern with something flavoured that was 0 carb. If you live in the U.S., you also have to be on guard against such shenanigans as the manufacturer setting the serving size so low that they can legally say 0 g of sugar, because the amount is under 0.5 g.
So if the label says 0 g of sugar per serving, but sugar is listed among the ingredients, then I assume it’s 0.4999999 g/serving, and multiply the so-called “serving” size by how much I’d really be drinking to get the actual amount of sugar. So if the “serving” size were a third, say, of what I would actually drink, then I assume that I’d be getting 3 x 0.4999999 g = just under 15 g of sugar. For me, that would be a pass. I have better things to spend my carb allowance on. Of course, someone else might come to a different conclusion. It all depends.
Honestly, I enjoy 1 can of Virgil’s Cola Zero a day. They use monkfruit as the “sweetener”. I have no problems with cravings, etc. I just enjoy it. Other than that I drink morning coffee, water and an electrolyte water a day. It works for me.
But if no sugar is listed in the ingredients you would think it was ok?
I thought fruit concentrate would have sugar in it.
I could really take a pass on anything I am just trying to get a feel for right and wrong.
Sometimes sugar isn’t called sugar on labels. Go figure.
The word ketosis means nothing to me, honestly. Keep it under 20g total (not net) and you’re in ketosis. It can be pretty simple once we get the hang of it.
BUT… where you get your 20g carbs from is up to you. You can have it all in one sweet treat, or some green beans. The big decider is this… do the sweet carbs make you crave more?
If you get your carbs from sweets and experience cravings, UGH!
Why make it harder on yourself?
The greatest gift of keto, for many of us, is the lack of cravings. It’s certainly a first for me in ll my life of “dieting’.
If there really weren’t any sugar in it, then I’d be okay with it. I don’t enjoy the taste of a lot of the artificial sweeteners, however, so I’d probably pass if one of those were in the product.
My main drink is black coffee. After I stop with the caffeine for the day, I’ll have either herbal tea or Seltzer water. Although the water where I currently live is quite tasty, the last place I lived had a lot of calcium and other minerals in the well water. It was okay if you made coffee or tea with it, but you would never want to drink it plain, so I got in the habit of drinking Seltzer instead of tap water.
P.S.—I forgot to mention that sometimes in lists of ingredients sugar is disguised as “agave nectar” or “cane juice” or some other deceitful term. Be careful! Do a forum search on “names for sugar”; I believe you’ll find quite a list.
MAY? Nope 
If it does cause sweet cravings and even problems due to it, you should avoid it.
If you feel it’s all fine and dandy even with your whatever kind of drink, it’s up to you (okay, it’s up to you anyway, it’s your life but you understand. if you get a good deal, I mean it helps or gives you joy while not harming you at all, why not?).
I am against too processed and artificial things but that’s me. I drink water, carbonated water, tea, coffee, cocoa, egg milk and similar things, all made by simple and good enough ingredients.
I see no problem with juice concentrate if it’s tiny (not like I would need such a thing but you aren’t me, maybe you need this crutch)… CORNSTARCH in that drink? Oh my, food industry always manages to surprise me, after all this time…
It’s up to you what you drink, I would say lemon juice in water is okay if you aren’t too strict and it’s quite nice and refreshing 
Okay, sorry. My sweet tooth just go on holiday when it’s about my drinks, not everyone is like this and I remember my younger years. I drink very very diluted drinks anyway so it’s not too sour or bitter.
And I got a surprise last November when there was a water only challenge (that I didn’t do but made steps towards it). Warm water is a pretty good drink! I wouldn’t have thought as I HATE lukewarm water with a passion. I like it cold and never really tried hot before. But I like it now. I can’t just drink cold water all the time, I need variety and warm water is a totally different thing =)
And @PaulL is right, it can’t be zero carb, it has fruit juice! I prefer drinking my own fruit juice diluted in water, it only has water and fruit then anyway. Not like I would do it often, I only drink it when we have a tiny bit leftover after my SO ate canned fruit (our own fruit, no added anything). Just a little at a time. But my primary fruit is lemon, I use some drops here and there, well not in my drink, usually but when there are elderberry flowers or mint leaves, I drink some “lemonade” (it’s that to me but it’s unsweetened so maybe not right to call it that).
My water is insanely hard, making cleaning more painful. It has tons of calcium in for sure - but it’s tasty. Minerals (in moderate amounts) make water tasty too, it’s the total lack of them that is bad - and yeah, if some are too much. I drank water very, very rich in iron (oh once I lived in a house that had water with calcium and iron galore, cleaning the tiles in the shower wasn’t a joy), it was fun but I would hate it drinking every day…
But the absolute worst is chlorine in water, much of it, I can’t drink that even as coffee… Ew.
People with good tap water, be very thankful for it. Mine is okay just super hard. Well sometimes not clean but I am still living. Still better than chlorine, mine never get that treatment.
My Grandma’s house had great water (well originally it had none, the well was 200m away or something. I still loved being there and learned how to use very little water to wash myself and the dishes too), very tasty (mine is just tasty/okay) and unusually soft. Hungary usually have hard water but that place doesn’t. I inherited and sold that house ages ago and I still long for that water sometimes. That was good.
When I was searching for a house, I always asked for water. I needed it to be drinkable. What would I do if it’s not good? Buying plastic bottles galore? Almost anything but that. And it would affect my cooking too like soups. Water quality and taste is precious.
I don’t weigh myself regularly, but since beginning (mid January) I have gone down 12 lbs (a Dr visit), but more importantly I have gone from large to medium tops and 14 to 10 jeans…that’s what tells me I am doing it right!!
Although we focus on glucose and ketones, much of this serves as a proxy for insulin. So, putting aside cravings, calories, taste preferences, there’s another reason to be cautious about artificial sweeteners:
Some individuals have an insulin response to artificial sweeteners simply because of the brain’s learned connection with “sweet” tastes firing up insulin release, regardless of nutritional content.
If you’re one of those individuals, then you’re not doing yourself a favor by drinking “sweet” stuff given the rise in insulin (which, ironically, might serve to lower blood sugar, not increase it).
If your ultimate goals in going keto involve reducing your insulin levels (and there are varying goals that come back to this central objective), then artificial sweeteners may not be helping your cause.
[DISCLAIMER] As noted by others (here and throughout this forum), what works for one of us at any point in time may or may not work for another one of us at any point in time. In short, you’ve got to understand where you’re at and understand what works for you from there.