Trying to figure out how to drink more water? Me too! These two drinks have become my favorite ways to drink more liquid.
Weight Watchers, can you say "zero points"? With these drinks, yes, you can!
that I'm adding it to a special collection of easy summer recipes.
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Brad Gilbert, the well-known tennis player, tennis coach, ESPN tennis announcer and author of Winning Ugly: Mental Warfare in Tennis--Lessons from a Master, says this about hydration for athletes, “By the time you feel thirsty, it’s too late.” It’s true for champion athletes, it’s true for couch potatoes – and all of us in between.
A few years back, many nights I found myself gulping down a glass of wine while cooking supper, even with good wines worth a slow-sipping savor.
What I came to realize is that at six o’clock, my brain is ready for relaxation but my body is thirsting for – literally – a big, long swallow of liquid.
What a revelation! Perhaps I’m not alone? In January, I asked readers to share a “healthy habit” for the new year. (See the comments in Quick 'n' Easy Raw Salad.) So many wrote, “I want to figure out how to drink more water.”
Here’s how I do it.
BITTERS & SODA Especially during the winter, the pour of choice while cooking dinner is now a Bitters & Soda: quick and easy to fix; lots of liquid; hardly any alcohol; and somehow it appeals, at that hour, in a way plain old tap water doesn’t. Many thanks to Karen Tedesco from FamilyStyle Food for introducing me to Bitters & Soda!
BEER & GINGER ALE My new summer drink obsession happened by accident. One warm Friday night, friends were coming for dinner. While cooking, I mixed a splash of beer with ginger ale and ice – and it quenched my thirst so quickly! So when everyone arrived, I offered the same drink to the women. Talk about lightweights (and cheap dates!), three of us drank a single bottle of beer all night long yet never had an empty glass!
Do you have a favorite healthy drink recipe that other Kitchen Parade readers might like? Just send me a quick e-mail via recipes@kitchen-parade.com. How to print a Kitchen Parade recipe. Never miss a recipe! If you like this recipe, sign up for a free e-mail subscription. If you like Kitchen Parade, you're sure to like my food blog about vegetable recipes, too, A Veggie Venture. Follow Kitchen Parade on Facebook! BEER & GINGER ALE
Time to throat: 1 minute
Serves 1
- Splash of beer (about 4 tablespoons or 2 ounces)
- Ice
- Diet ginger ale
Combine in a big glass, drink up!
ALANNA’s TIPS While I never measure, the proportion I drink is 1:3 or 1:4 beer:ginger ale. You want to “taste” the beer but not “drink a beer”. Sealed with a wine cork, an open bottle of beer lasts a couple of weeks in the fridge, drunk just a splash at a time. I’ve become partial to Corona Light but other beers would likely work too. I’ve tried this with everything from Diet 7-Up to Diet Coke (whatever’s hanging around after family parties), but diet ginger ale really does the trick. I “like” this drink with other sodas but “love it!” with ginger ale. This is now my standard low-alcohol “party drink” too. Even people who don’t drink beer (or like beer) like this concoction.
BITTERS & SODA
Time to throat: 1 minute
Serves 1
- Splash of bitters (about 1 teaspoon)
- Ice
- Club soda
Combine in a big glass, drink up!
WHAT ARE BITTERS? Bitters are an old-time concoction, first marketed as a medicinal tonic. There are dozens of different flavors but all are “bitter” – a good thing! – but the only one I find easily is Angostura Bitters. Bitters have a high alcohol content (45% compared to 10-16% for wine) and come in small bottles the size and shape of Tabasco. Look for bitters in the liquor department, a tiny bottle is expensive but you consume it, literally, a teaspoon at a time.
What's Your Trick for Drinking More Water?
Share your favorite tip in the comments! The simpler the better! The more creative, the better! The wackier, the ... ... well, if it works, go for it!
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~ more Drinks & Smoothies recipes ~
from A Veggie Venture, my food blog
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Or, English lemonade, which is like 7 Up, is added to either a lager or a bitter beer, kind of like what you mentioned above. Those drinks are called a shandy, or in the case of using a bitter beer, a bitter shandy.
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Thank you for taking a moment to write! I read each and every comment, for each and every recipe. If you have a specific question, it's nearly always answered quick-quick. But I also love hearing your reactions, your curiosity, even your concerns! When you've made a recipe, I especially love to know how it turned out, what variations you made, what you'll do differently the next time. ~ Alanna