"You've never tried kombucha [1]?" a friend asked on a recent lunch date. She was utterly shocked. How could I be a health and fitness writer, a yoga instructor, and love the plant-based life yet not be obsessed with kombucha?

The truth is, I'm a water girl [2]. Plain water is always my beverage of choice. Sometimes I throw in a few slices of fruit [3] or a splash of apple cider vinegar [4] to mix things up, but I really just prefer nature's beverage on its own. I also drink a little tea [5] and black coffee [6], and sometimes have unsweetened soy milk with granola or in my smoothie, and rarely I'll have a protein shake, but that's about it. I don't drink soda, energy drinks, alcohol (the sugar kills my stomach), fruit or veggie juice, or apparently, kombucha.

Since I don't drink seltzer or beer, the idea of drinking a fermented beverage did not appeal to me whatsoever. But since it was made from tea, I took a swig. I was surprised that I actually liked how sweet, sharp, and fizzy it was — that's probably one of the reasons people guzzle down these bottles. That, and for its health claims [7].

The Experiment

In order to see for myself if kombucha really did deliver on its health benefits, including help with bloating, digestion, and fighting inflammation [8], I decided to drink it for one week. I added it to my weekly grocery list and was shocked it was so expensive! Maybe that's because I'm used to paying absolutely nada for water, I wasn't expecting to throw down $21 for a week's worth of kombucha.

I was worried I'd like it and end of paying $84 a month for my new addiction! I actually hid it from my husband because I knew he'd love it too (huge beer drinker), and we might end up having to pay $40 a week! OK, slow down, Sugar. You've had one sip of your friend's kombucha, so don't get ahead of yourself!

The First Few Days

I picked up a few flavours to add to the fun of this seven-day experiment. I went with the brand GT's Kombucha [9] (since that was the one my friend was drinking) and bought Gingerade, Lemonade, Gingerberry, and Original.

I drank that first bottle with my dinner, and I have to say, it was really hard to get all 16 ounces down, because the bold flavour and fizziness is not something I'm used to. Guzzling down a bottle of water is one thing, but with this kombucha, I had to take small sips or else it just felt too overwhelming. The yeasty flavour started to gross me out a little, but I've heard people say it can take a little getting used to, so I pressed on!

For the rest of the week, I made a point to open it while I was making dinner so I'd have a head start and just be able to sip on it over the course of a few hours. By the third and fourth days, I was kind of over it — it started to feel like a chore to drink with dinner; not something I enjoyed like my usual glass of H20.

After 1 Week

I was surprised by how the bubbly factor and pungent flavour filled me up in a sort of uncomfortable way. I felt so full, in fact, that I wasn't able to finish all my dinner (that never happens), which meant by bedtime I was hungry, and then by morning, I was even more so, when I normally don't get hungry until noon (I do intermittent fasting [10]). A full bottle was about 50 calories, and although it offered probiotics, it didn't offer much else nutritionally, so I felt like I was doing my body a disservice by not finishing my