Can You Drink Flavored Sparkling Water on Carnivore Diet? Hard Truths!

We need to drink water to survive, but can you drink flavored sparkling water on a carnivore diet? This question comes up a lot in conversation within the community, and now we plan to address it in this article.

The quick and easy answer is probably “no,” but continue reading below to see the interesting and controversial reasoning behind the answer.

Carnivore Diet Food

The carnivore diet should be the simplest diet in the world…

1. You can eat animal products
2. You cannot eat plant products

Simple right!

However, even with food, there are some grey areas. Honey is one such issue, and we tried to tackle it with this article. Technically it is an animal-based product as it is made from bees. Yet, it is basically pure sugar which goes against a lot of the principles of the carnivore diet. 

I, for one, do not believe honey should be consumed regularly on a true carnivore diet.  But of course, that’s just my opinion, and I’m not a doctor or nutritionist. Just a guy that reads a lot.

Carnivore Diet Drinks

What you can drink on a carnivore diet is even murkier. You will see people in carnivore diet Facebook groups arguing for hours about Honey, but 90% of them are probably sat there with a cup of coffee next to their computer… a coffee bean is not an animal folk, and how many of them will have a bottle of wine every weekend? These questions always lead to these three articles:

1. Can You Drink Coffee On The Carnivore Diet? (Why and Why not?)
2. Can You Drink Alcohol On The Carnivore Diet? (Why and Why not?)
3. Can You Drink Tea On the Carnivore Diet? (Why and Why Not?)

Since the carnivore diet is so limiting and most people have no idea what to drink, we provided a quick read and list of suitable liquids.

What is sparkling water?

Sparkling water is water that has been infused with carbon dioxide gas. This makes it slightly fizzy. It can be drunk as a “natural” plain sparkling water, or it can have flavors added to make it more like a soda. 

What are the health benefits of sparkling water?

No too much, apart from the fact that it enables you to consume water which is obviously essential. 

Carnivore diet advocate and author of “The Carnivore Code” Dr. Paul Saladino says non-flavored sparkling water made by Gerolsteiner is a good choice because it contains trace minerals and electrolytes like magnesium.

Specifically to the carnivore diet, the biggest health benefits are probably mental. Many people from a carnivore diet have probably drunk a lot of sodas in their lives, and if they really enjoy them, then sparkling water is sometimes a nice transition drink to just drinking normal water.

It can also trick your body into thinking it is fuller than you are for a little while, which could be useful to some people, I guess. 

Some people also say it helps improve digestion; maybe it does. I never noticed any digestion improvements, but maybe it will work for you.

What I do know is that there are a lot of drinks that don’t work for the carnivore diet, which we cover here.

• 7 Worst Drinks for a Carnivore Diet

What are the health concerns with sparking water?

Sparkling water is a little more acidic than normal water, and there have been some concerns that it can negatively impact tooth enamel and bone health. This has never been proven, really, but I would not be surprised if it were true. 

If you really want to geek out on the goods and bads of carbonated water, then check this article by Healthline.

Why you should be wary of flavored sparkling water

If you made your own carbonated water at home, then I doubt there would be any huge issues, and if you added in flavors, you would know exactly what you were using and why. 

The problem begins when you start buying shop-bought sparkling water like LaCroix because you have very little clue what is involved in the manufacturing process and what flavorings they are using.

When using a manufactured product like LaCroix, you could be ingesting unwanted chemicals or substances that are less than appealing to your body.

The Real World

You must make sensible decisions with what drinks you have on a carnivore diet, just like you should with what food you consume. 

I notice many people advocate drinking LaCroix on a carnivore diet as they like to drink fizzy drinks, so they say it helps with things like adherence.

I am not sure if this is true long-term, but I can see how it would help short-term. 

The problem is as soon as something is made in a factory, the product gradually becomes more and more processed, more and more synthetic ingredients are used, and more profit is derived. 

LaCroix is a prime example of this, and it illustrates how you can be tricked into drinking things without realizing what you are drinking. 

LaCroix was sued for misleading labeling. They list the ingredients of LaCroix as carbonated water and natural flavors. 

LaCroix rightly argued that they have done everything by the book and that their ingredients fit within the FDA’s classifications of what is natural. 

In fact, they won the lawsuit as it was dismissed in 2020.

This, ladies and gentlemen this is what is wrong with our food and drink system. There is a government agency defining what is natural.

Surely, it should just be things in nature you can grow. That is what a lot of people think when they see an ingredient listed as a natural flavor.

If they were buying lemon-flavored sparkling water, they would probably think it was flavored with a bit of lemon juice. 

However, what happens is that it will be flavored with a chemical synthetically made in a laboratory that is found in nature.

For example, Limonene is probably used for flavoring, which is a chemical found in citrus peel oil, but how Limonene is derived, produced, stored, and how much of it is used is anything but natural… but it is qualified as a natural ingredient by the FDA. 

So, I have no problem with LaCroix trying to make some money; I just have a problem with the system they are working in because it is broken.  

Final thoughts

When on any diet and especially the carnivore diet, you must be mindful of what you are eating and drinking and why. 

Some things might look healthy and only have trace amounts of carbs. This could mean you might classify it as harmless, but do you know what is actually in it and how those chemicals affect you?

Personally, the only things I eat and drink daily are meat and water, (occasionally I go on coffee for a month and a month off). I will have other things, including flavored sparkling water, but they are only occasional “treats.” Besides LaCroix, these are the ones I have tried.

1. Waterloo Sparkling Water
2. Bubly Sparkling Water

Because I drink so little, whatever is in them is unlikely to have a long-term detrimental effect on my health. 

If you are drinking sparkling water every day, then I would suggest there is a mental or physical addiction there, and it should be looked into, and that is what I consider to be a hard truth.

If you are newer to the carnivore diet, I highly suggest getting the book title, “The Carnivore Diet” by Dr. Shawn Baker. This is a very informative book and dives into the world of carnivory.

Also, Dr. Baker helps run a Carnivore Diet coaching program at MeatRx, where you can book a coach. I, too, am a coach and sometimes available for a 30-minute chat. MeatRx is another great carnivore diet resource with awesome testimonials.

Don’t forget to check out our YouTube channel for easy-to-make carnivore diet recipes and carnivore content.

Disclaimer: I’m not a doctor or dietician, or nutritionist. Consult with and ask your doctor about any diet or medical-related questions. No information on this site should be used to diagnose, treat, prevent, or cure any disease or condition.