Low-Carb Homemade Electrolyte Drink (doubles as Adrenal Cocktail!)
It's HOT. We've been doing some home improvement the past couple of weeks, working in the yard, building trellises, planting hydrangeas, clematis and wisteria.
When we planted ourselves here two years ago, it was raw land. There was so much to be done just to make it livable that we are just now getting around to pretty-ing it up. By the end of summer, it should look really nice -- pictures then!
Even avoiding the mid-afternoon heat, it's easy to get dehydrated. We are so, so, SO thirsty when we come inside and water just doesn't satisfy sometimes. You want something... more.
Plus you lose minerals and electrolytes in your sweat. Definitely wanting to replace those.
Since anything resembling Gatorade is totally out for this family, I searched for an electrolyte drink recipe. Ah, mommypotamus to the rescue with her homemade electrolyte sports drink recipes! Yum!!!
They all looked good but the Coconut Lime sounded like just the ticket. I tweaked the concoction just a bit and, oh wow, perfect. Also, I doubled the recipe -- we drink this SO FAST. In fact, the first day, my son and I drank a half gallon each! Guess we needed some electrolyte replacement, eh?
Coconut-Lemon Homemade Electrolyte Drink
INGREDIENTS (resources below)
3 Cups coconut water
4 Cups water
1 Cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
1/4 to 1/2 tsp Real Salt
Stevia* to taste (a little goes a long way)
INSTRUCTIONS
Pour 2 C water into a half-gallon Ball jar.
Strain lemon juice into the jar to keep pulp and seeds out
Add other ingredients, stir
Taste and add more water if needed
Add ice and enjoy!
Electrolyte Drink NOTES
Lemons Before cutting, be sure to press and roll the lemons on the cutting board to loosen the pulp to release the juice (bartender's trick)
Juice Can substitute lime, orange or grapefruit juice.
Fresh vs. Bottled Juice We tried the bottled organic lemon juice from Costco and it just didn't do it. Fresh is so much better.
Sweet or Tart? The longer we drink this, the tarter we like it for quenching thirst!
Coconut Water Can adjust coconut water/water ratio up or down depending on taste. At first, we had 5 C water to 2 C coconut water. As we got used to the taste of the coconut, we are coming to equal amounts of each.
Adjust In fact, you can tone down any part of the recipe - just reduce/leave out what you don't like. For instance, I love salty drinks like this, like beet kvass... but you might not. So go ahead and reduce the salt to maybe half, maybe work up to the full "dose" as you get used to the taste. Salt is especially needed when you've been sweating. It replenishes what you lose, plus it helps hold the water in your cells to rehydrate.
INGREDIENT FAQS & RESOURCES
Juicer Update: I just bought this juicer. Because it got so much more juice out of the lemons, I used 1/3 less organic lemons! Totally worth $14.
CARBS 4.7 Carbs per 8 oz glass (18 carbs in 3 C coco water + 20 in 1 C lemon juice = 38 / 8 = 4.7)
Coconut water - nutritiondata. We buy Zico brand by the case at Costco or you can buy on Amazon (it's all pasteurized -- would love to find an unpasteurized brand!)
Lemon juice - nutritiondata
Real Salt - mineral analysis pdf. We buy in 25 lb bags from Azure Standard or in smaller amounts on Amazon. Substitute any unprocessed salt: pink, Himalayan, gray, whatever floats your boat. (Processed salts, like Morton's, has been chemically relieved of its minerals. Yuck!)
Coconut-Lemon Homemade Adrenal Cocktail
An "Adrenal Cocktail" is a high potassium/vit C/sugar/salt drink that helps those of us with adrenal dysfunction make it through the night, as explained by Rejuvinstitute. I first saw the Adrenal Cocktail on Got mag, then on Stop the Thyroid Madness. It's the same recipe everywhere:
1/2 C OJ (for 124 mg vitamin C, 21 g sugar, 250 mg potassium) - nutritiondata
1/4 tsp cream of tartar (for an additional 124 mg potassium) - nutritiondata
1/4 tsp real salt (for minerals)
The only thing missing from our Coconut-Lemon drink to make it a good Adrenal Cocktail is a little potassium. In our homemade electrolyte drink, you get 262 mg potassium: 225 from the coconut water and 37 from the lemon juice. To get our drink up to adrenal potassium par, add 1/4 tsp cream of tartar to a glass before bed and you are on track to help heal your adrenals and sleep through the night!
The sun is going down, time to plant my last two hydrangeas before calling it a day! If you have a favorite homemade electrolyte drink recipe (or additions to mine and mommy's), please share in the comments. I love reading the comments on a blog post -- you all provide some of the best value on the web. Thanks!
*If you are not low-carbing it, go ahead and use 2 Tbsp of honey in place of the Stevia. Just be sure to add the honey FIRST to the water and blend with stick blender until honey is well-blended before adding other ingredients. Otherwise the honey clumps on the bottom.