Refreshing Beverages Anyone?

With summer being in full swing, who doesn’t feel the need to drink more water or other refreshing beverages during the day? Of course, clean, pure water is the best Primal beverage you can pick. But suppose you want a bit more variety. There are many acceptable options you can choose from that are not full of sugar, stimulants, thickening agents, or other artificial or detrimental ingredients.

Beverages Okay to Consume

• Preferably filtered water; you can add cucumber slices, mint, or lemon wedges to it – so refreshing on a hot summer day! Avoid any waters that have flavoring, coloring, or sweetening. Steer clear of Vitamin water and other “enhanced” waters.

• Sparkling water such as Perrier, San Pelegrino, or La Croix, with a squeeze of lime or lemon if you’d like. 

• Homemade green juices, shakes, and smoothies (without any high-sugar fruits). As mentioned in a previous post, smoothies can be very simple by blending together just 2 or 3 ingredients of your choice. For example, you can have some coconut milk with frozen berries. Another idea is blending ice, cucumber, avocado, and tomato. There are tons of possibilities here! 

• Tea, brewed at home. In general, black tea has the most caffeine, followed by green tea and then white. Herbal teas are yet another option. Avoid sweetened or flavored iced teas. As Mark Sisson specifies, “Homemade drinks are truly Primal.”

• Coffee, in reasonable amounts. Steer clear of sugary or artificially sweetened coffee drinks.

On a Final Note

For a homemade sports drink, keep in mind that what really matters are the electrolytes sodium, chloride, and potassium. You will find sodium and chloride in basic table salt. You can get potassium from various foods like yogurt, broccoli, avocados, bananas, and spinach. Also, knowing that an average-sized lemon offers a nice amount of potassium, you can squeeze some lemon and add a teaspoon of table salt to your water for a simple “Primal” sports drink. Alternatively, there are brands like LMNT that can provide the needed electrolytes.

What is your favorite summer beverage?

Until next time!

References

Hyman, Mark. Food : What the Heck Should I Eat?. Little Brown & Co, Feb. 2018, pp. 251–52.

Sisson, Mark. “Soda Alternatives – Healthy Drinks.10 Ways to Quench a Primal Thirst.” Mark’s Daily Apple, 30 Sept. 2009,  Updated on March 27, 2014. http://www.marksdailyapple.com/soda-alternatives/. Accessed 4 July 2022.

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