Random thought offerings here, take what you want and like and throw the rest away.
I don't quite know exactly how or when, but I've gotten away from the "sugar water" drinks. And no, I didn't switch over to the "synthetic man-made sweetener water" drinks, either.
A quick note on synthetic sweeteners: We were listening to a local health talk radio show, perhaps about 3/4 of a year ago. The health practitioner that was on at the time mentioned something about artificial sweeteners, something about "recent studies" and "brain". I can't recall specifics (obviously) but I can tell you that the upshot of using artificial sweeteners wasn't positive. Something about reduced brain... something. It wasn't horrible news, simply less good.
And of course I'm sure we've all heard other negative references to artificial sweeteners on some level, somewhere. That said, I've heard some great results from at least one person who switched over to Sucralose (drinks, ice cream, etc). By the same token, I know a cancer survivor who, for good reasons, has completely cleaned up his diet, citing Sucralose as being something risky. *shrug* YMMV, that's all I'm saying.
I've got a link kicking around which I can dig up if you're interested. It's about this one guy (in his 20's I think) who ended up moving to Japan for a period of time and made the radical switch to Japanese bottled teas. I've found his recommended brand over at Whole Foods, tried one and... found it to be not quite to my taste. Mind you, maybe I chose the wrong flavour. Still, I can get you that link, if interested.
Somewhat related, and maybe this might help you: About 10-15 years ago I made a pronounced effort to try soy milk. I tried one brand, didn't like it, then discovered other brands and realized my first experience was with something pretty horrid. Basically, anything in the 1-litre boxes are a pretty good bet, like Edensoy. Get the vanilla-flavoured version if you want to play it even 'safer', flavour-wise.
For me, that got me to switch from **94** one or more glasses of milk a day to **94** one or more glasses of soy milk a day. My bovine milk intake dropped significantly. Today, I don't really drink much of either; if cherri is mixing milk-based booze drinks, she'll make it with regular milk, and that's my preference as well. If I'm pouring myself some cereal, I pour in the vanilla soy milk. And drizzle with honey, not sugar.
The big problem is that going to any restaurant, if you're not buying booze, then your options are basically limited to sugar-waters, synthetic sweetener waters, iced tea (which might be sweetened) and coffee. Which kinda sucks for options.
You might want to consider squeezing fresh lemon into a glass of water, at least while at home. Not only is the taste decent, I think it's also considered to be good for you.
Other than that, your options are severely limited, at least while out. Maybe bring a lemon with you, or one of those plastic lemon juice squeeze thingies, and just ask for a glass of water. It'll be more interesting to the palate than plain ol' water, at least. Plus you'll have the chance to establish new habits.
Note: You'll probably end up with some serious cravings, at least short-term. Breaking a carb addiction like that is tough.