Authenticity can’t be replicated or faked. You’re either real or you’re not. ~ Bibi Bourelly

Making Happy Choices

So my early adult life was quite exciting and I certainly owe that to the fact that I was heavily indulging in a number of vices. This of course had it’s downside in terms of drama, life issues and damn near clinical levels of depression. But it was never boring. Now that I’m older my vices are a lot less exciting, I gamble a little bit and probably my biggest vice, if you can even call it that, is that I like soda too much for my health, and as a diabetic having any Cokes are a bad idea.

So when the idea comes forward that there’s a soda out there that doesn’t have a lot of calories, very little sugar and still tastes like a Coke, well it’s a temptation too hard to pass on for me. Of course this is a familiar promise, over the years there have been lots of forms of Coca-Cola and Pepsi to claim to have the same taste but none of the sugars. There have been lots of other fake sodas created, each making similar claims. But, technology advances and Poppi especially has been getting a lot of press. So I took a chance on both Olipop and Poppi sodas. They are billed as probiotic sodas with the same taste as the real thing.

First, they’re expensive, a 12 ounce can at my supermarket was $2.49 for Poppi, $2.79 for Olipoppi. The initial taste on all of them wasn’t bad, the Watermelon actually was very tasty. However not quite like the real thing, the root beer and cola reminded me of the cheap store brand root beer and colas we used to get anytime my family threw a party as a child. I always thought the grape and orange value brands tasted ok. I’d put the watermelon Poppi in that category, value brand fruity soda. The problem with all of these sodas, just like most of the other non-sugar sodas, is that there’s an aftertaste that lingers that I just don’t like.

We’re all always looking for happiness in different ways, and when we can’t get it the way we want it, we often look for a suitable substitution. Like me drinking these alternative sodas. The fact is, often we can get what we need to be happy, but we feel the cost for whatever reason is too high, so we settle for the alternative. I’m sure if I drank Poppi Cola long enough I’d come to deal with it, the so-called acquired taste, which of course means it doesn’t taste that good in the first place, you’ve just gotten used to it. For me, settling for substitute happiness just isn’t enough, not in having a Coke or anything else in life. I fully believe that if you want to be happy, make the effort, pay the price and get the real thing, you’ll have happier days my friends. ~ Rev Kane