Soda junkies: It's high time you find some healthy drink alternatives to soda. 

You don't need to be a nutrition expert to realize that those bubbly beverages shouldn't be your go-to drink of choice. If you needed further confirmation, a 2012 study from Yale University found most respondents want to decrease the amount of sugary beverages they drink. Most also agreed that sugary drinks like soda are bad for overall health and contribute to obesity and other health problems. 

So why have so many of us become slaves to a soda? 

Part Habit, Part Calorie Blindness 

Truth be told, cracking a cola is partly out of habit and partly because people don't realize that those two liters are packing on the pounds. "Many people either forget or don't realize how many extra calories they consume in what they drink, yet beverages are a major contributor to the alarming increase in obesity," Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina Interdisciplinary Obesity Program, tells WebMD. 

Here's another surprising stat: Americans get 21 percent of their daily calories from those damaging drinks, according to an article in the American Journal of Preventive Medicine. 

If you've got a soda habit, you might be tempted to switch to diet instead to skip all those calories. But diet soda is hardly a healthy drink alternative to soda. Studies have found the artificial sweeteners used can have some nasty side effects and can trigger weight gain. 

When your body expects something sweet, it prepares itself for a calorie rush. When you give it something with no calories instead, you're left with a craving for more sweet stuff, which leads to overconsumption in other areas of your diet, reports MSN Healthy Living, citing research studies from the University of Texas Health Science Center and Purdue University. 

MSN Healthy Living also cites a Harvard Medical School study that found a link between diet soda and kidney disease. Women who drank only two diet sodas a day during the 11-year study doubled their risk of declined kidney function. Scary stuff for something that's supposed to be a healthier drink alternative to soda! 

Diet soda drinkers also have much higher rates of tooth decay. Diet drinks tend to be more acidic, wearing away tooth enamel faster. If you want to live healthier by drinking smarter, diet soda isn't exactly the way to go. 

Quit Your Favorite Colas 

Prepare to go cold turkey. Believe it or not, it's best to cut the soda out completely instead of switching to a diet brand. The good news is you don't have to deprive yourself, either. Here are 10 healthy soda replacements to quench your thirst and keep your taste buds happy: 

1. Iced tea. It's cold, it's flavorful and if you get it unsweetened, you can control the kind and amount of sweetener in your drink. Iced tea is a perfect soda replacement at restaurants, and it's quick, easy and affordable. Simply boil some water, steep a few tea bags for several minutes, squeeze in a little lemon and refrigerate. 

2. Fruit juice mixed with seltzer. Some fruit juices are loaded with as much sugar as sodas, so avoid them on their own. But if you're craving some carbonated fizz, add just a splash of fruit juice to a glass of seltzer for the taste and experience. 

3. Fresh fruit juice. Take your juice game a step further and cut out the middleman by squeezing your own juice. You'll get all the health benefits of a serving of fruit without the added sugars and preservatives. Invest in a juicer to max out the health impact by adding kale and other greens and vegetables into your juice rotation. 

4. Iced coffee. We're not talking about the syrup-flavored kind that your favorite barista makes you. We mean freshly brewed coffee on ice, with maybe a little bit of sugar and low-fat milk for those who can't tolerate it black. Iced coffee is a healthier option if you look to soda for your caffeine fix. 

5. Infused water. Let's face it: Water is bland. If you can't get over the hump of replacing soda with plain water, kick your H20 up a notch. Keep a pitcher in the fridge with slices of citrus, some mint sprigs, berries or other fruits and fresh herbs for a surprisingly refreshing drink. 

6. Coconut water. It's an acquired taste for some, but if you try it and like it, you'll have a replacement for soda and sports drinks. A serving of coconut water has plenty of potassium and is loaded with electrolytes without mounds of sugar or calories. Just avoid coconut water with added sugar. 

7. Kombucha. This exotic-sounding drink is basically fermented tea, and it's loaded with B vitamins and probiotics that are good for your gut. It's a far healthier drink alternative to soda. 

8. Lemonade. It's a quintessential summertime sipper, and like iced tea, is easily found in restaurants as a soda replacement (just be mindful that some commercial lemonades are packed with sugar). Making your own at home is super-simple: Squeeze some lemons, dilute with water and add a little sweetener to balance it out. You control the sweetness, which can cut down on your calorie intake drastically. 

9. Homemade soda. If you just can't quit the fizz completely, make your own at home. When you control the ingredients, you control the health quality, too. Those who own a soda machine can prepare their own pop. If you don't have a machine, just wing it. It's just sugar, water and fruits for flavoring, combined with a small amount to some sparkling water. It might not be the perfect solution, but you could lower the sugar content. 

10. Water. It might not be as jazzy as the other options listed here, but we should all drink plenty of water every day. The general rule of thumb is no less than 64 ounces a day for optimum health. Start by subbing out one or two sodas a day with a glass of water and work your way up from there. Even starting small will cut significant liquid calories from your diet. 

Going soda-free doesn't have to mean going taste-free. There are plenty of healthy alternatives to soda that taste good and won't do the damage done by excessive cans of cola.