Spice Up Your Water

by: AndreaDow
Total views: 506
Word Count: 532

Monday, June 11th

Do you loathe trying to drink 8 glasses of water daily? Does the idea of putting a drink umbrella in your water glass sound beyond boring? Well, here is some ideas on how to use low calorie sweeteners and fruit to make a low-cal summer drink.

Simply add fresh squeezed lemon and a sweetener to water for an easy lemonade. Splenda now has company on the low calorie sweetener section at the grocery store. Not long ago, people were rejoicing when this new "no calorie" sweetener hit the market. The quotes around no calories are a reminder that Splenda does has 4 calories per serving. Well how can they list no calories on the nutrition label? Only foods with 5 or more calories per serving are required to list calories on their nutrition label. One of the sweeteners to try with a summer lemonade is called Organic Zero and can be found at Whole Foods stores. It is made from evaporated sugar cane juice that is fermented and made into a sugar alcohol called erythritol. It will work well in beverages, baked goods, over cereal, or in sauces and has little aftertaste. The sweetener also has no artifiicial ingredients and is non-toxic. The other sweetener, Zsweet, can be found at both Whole Foods and Wild Oats. The Zsweet website claims the name stands for "zero calories, zero glycemic impact, zero aftertaste, and zero worries". You can use this sweetener for cooking, baking and hot/cold beverages. Be careful though, too much Zsweet could adversely affect your bowels. Yuck!

Easy Lemonade: 6-8 servings
*squeeze all lemons into the water, add sugar, stir and enjoy!

1	pint water
6	lemons (or to your liking)
1 1/2	cups sugar

Our friends at Health magazine found a great lemonade from the Atlanta Four Seasons hotel. This refreshing drink can be kept in the refrigertor for up to 5 days and uses only fruit and water!

Four Seasons' Citrus Water
*Makes 16 cups

16 cups water (1 gallon)
2 large lemons, sliced
1 large orange, sliced
1. Combine water with fruit slices in a large pitcher and chill for 1-2 hours.
2. Strain out fruit after 2 hours. Pour water into a large glass and serve.

Cheers!

Rating: Not yet rated