Summer Sipping

Guess what’s your healthiest drink option for your garden party?

I know the suspense is killing you, so let me help you out here: It’s … WATER! If you’re anything like me, you can barely contain your excitement now. Not. I have found that I’m fine in the winter, when I drink plenty of herbal tea throughout the day, have nourishing soups for lunch, and maybe a nice stew for dinner. However, once summer rolls around, I get dehydrated. Fast. Water just is not all that appealing to me, and getting to my recommended daily intake is a bit of a chore.

What’s worse, on some of these warm summer nights, the dehydrated me is invited over to garden parties, town events or happy hours with plenty of beautiful, refreshing and tasty – but alcoholic – beverages, which dehydrate me even further, and leave me feeling less than fine the next day.

The solution? Make healthy drinks so tasty you are not going to want to a) drink too little or b) go for the booze. Need ideas? Here they are:

Add zing to chilled water and make an infusion: Instead of purchasing expensive flavored waters at the store, try adding some of these to a pitcher of ice cold water:

• Lemon and lime slices and herbs like fresh mint, lemon verbena or basil (crushed)
• Muddled berries (strawberries, raspberries, etc.)
• Sliced ginger and orange
• Cucumber slices

Make it bubbly: Have some sparkling water with a splash of juice. My favorite is a Pomegranate Sparkler (100% juice, not ‘cocktail’ or ‘beverage’), in an 8:1 ratio of sparkling water to juice.

Get creative with ice: Iced tea – herbal or black, with or without added fruit for extra flavor, is a nice thirst-quencher. For inspiration, head over to this website, and check out the recipes for Green Tea Detox Waters. The apple cinnamon flavor, in particular, seems to be a favorite with my clients.

Bring on the probiotics, with kombucha, cut 1:1 with sparkling water. Many brands of kombucha are a little on the sweet side, with quite a bit of added sugar, so check the label before you drink it by the gallon. Water kefir can be a low-cal alternative. Wanna make your own? Here’s how!

Coconut water cut with – you guess it – ice cold water. This is especially nice for post-exercise rehydration. Add a small pinch of pink Himalayan salt, and you’ve got a nice cocktail of minerals, vitamins and electrolytes – the perfect sports drink, really.

Homemade vegetable juices. Emphasis on vegetables, not fruits. Add a little lemon or ginger if you like. Make sure the veggies are as pesticide-free as you can afford (check out the Dirty Dozen if you haven’t yet). No time or equipment for juicing? Find a local, organic juice bar. Just don’t get a coughing fit when they tell you how much it’s going to be for that 8 oz. bottle with a hint of spirulina…

Now, if you do find yourself hosting a garden party this season, you may be in need of something a little fancier. Here’s some inspiration. Beware, there’s a little bit of sweetener in some of these – but that’s nothing, compared to most mixed drinks.

Sparkling Rosemary Limeade (Recipe and image by Faith Durand; contains sugar)

Effervescent Energy Drink (Recipe and Image by Fiona Harrington)

Organic Energy Drinks Using Vinegar (Recipe by Jean Nick, Image by Akay Arda)

Moscow Mule (Recipe and Image by TheMerryThought)

Still haven’t found a winner? Just EAT your water, then! Load up on watermelon, cucumber, and other fruit and veggies with a high water content (pretty much all of them). Add salads, salsa and soups to your meals. Start you day with a little plain yogurt if you tolerate it well (that stuff is 88% water). Or apple sauce. Or chia pudding. Or a smoothie. Or … a glass of water?