How to spot a diet drink: Avoid sugary surprises at restaurants
You go to a restaurant and order food, along with a zero-calorie drink. After a while, the waiter brings your order, and you start consuming it. Suddenly, you reach for the cola and realize it isn’t what you ordered. How can you avoid this?
Surely, you've received mixed-up or incomplete orders more than once. Instead of sweet potatoes, you might get regular potatoes, the pizza sauce might be missing, or the drinks might not be what you ordered. Today, we'll focus on that last issue. It turns out that customers often receive different drinks than they ordered. It's not about getting Sprite instead of Mirinda or orange juice instead of apple juice, but something completely different. This is where the famous cola zero comes into play. In a glass, it looks almost the same as the regular one, but fortunately, you can tell them apart.
Zero-calorie drinks vs sugary drinks: How to tell them apart
An interesting post appeared on Reddit. A user asked how to distinguish cola zero from regular cola:
At McDonald's, I got a sugar-free cola and assumed that "sugar-free" = safe for diabetics. But about an hour after drinking it, I noticed that my eyes couldn't focus, which I believe is a symptom of too much sugar. The last time I drank sugar-free cola, I didn't have any problems. Is there a way to check if I'm drinking diet or regular cola? Fast food employees are usually too busy and don't have the opportunity to check, and the person handing out the order is usually not the one who filled the cup.
The user received a lot of responses, some of which were very interesting. One person recommended applying a thin layer of the drink to the outside of your lips. If it dries and the lips don’t stick, it means you are drinking a zero-calorie beverage. Similarly, there is a method of dipping a finger in the cola. If it feels sticky, it means there is sugar in the drink. Another important rule that many people forget is simply buying drinks in a bottle or a can. We don’t always know what is in the dispenser.
How to distinguish zero-calorie drinks without "finger dipping"
We often realize we've received a sugary drink after taking the first sip. However, just one glance at the glass may be enough to differentiate the drinks. It’s simpler than you might think. The difference lies in one rather inconspicuous detail: the color of the drink.
Cola Zero, the sugar-free version, typically has a darker color. Why does this happen? Classic cola is more carbonated, meaning it has more bubbles, which lowers the concentration of other ingredients. That’s why it appears lighter. Cola Zero contains less air and is more concentrated, hence its darker shade. Now you know how to distinguish zero-calorie drinks from regular ones. Really, just a few simple tricks are enough.
