With sodas, energy drinks, and other sugar-laden beverages so easily accessible nowadays, it can be hard to stay healthy and hydrated in the summer. Beverages like coffee, sparkling water, and sodas actually dehydrate you, leaving your body even more parched than before. Fruit infused water is the perfect solution, for it not only offers healthy, low-calorie, on-the-go hydration, but is absolutely delicious too! One of the easiest methods for making drinking plain water taste better and to convince ourselves to drink more of it is to infuse it with delicious fruits, vegetables, and herbs. Below you can find our tips for staying hydrated and five fruit infused water recipes that we absolutely love that will keep you healthy, hydrated, and happy all summer long!
Directions:
- Slice up your high-quality organic fruit.
- Crush ginger root, rosemary, and lemongrass with a muddler or wooden spoon. Tear or crush leaf-like herbs such as basil, mint, or cilantro to release their oils.
- Place fruit and herbs into a glass filled with ice.
- Add room temperature water.
- Let it marinate for no less than 120 minutes in the fridge.
Lulus Tip: Wash produce and rinse herbs to remove chemicals, pesticides, and other residues. You CAN use frozen fruit, but the flavor won’t be as strong as fresh fruit. Also, the frozen fruit will fall apart in the water.
Lulus Tip: Use herbs gingerly, or you could end up ruining your drink.
Lulus Tip: For best flavor, refrigerate overnight to let the flavors of the fruit infuse into the water longer.
5 Healthy Recipes to Try at Home
- Citrus cilantro: Citrus fruits are packed with vitamin C. Citrus flavonoids are also antioxidants that can neutralize free radicals and may protect against heart disease. Cilantro, on the other hand, contains no cholesterol and even helps reduce it!
- Honeydew, cantaloupe, and cucumber: Mix the sweet melon with fresh cucumber, and you get a refreshing, vitamin-filled water.
- Orange and basil: A tasty combination that mixes the sweetness and vitamins of oranges with the refreshing taste of basil. Oranges are also high in vitamin C and are good sources of folate and thiamin.
- Mango and pineapple: Give a tropical twist to your plain water with mango and pineapple. You can even replace water with coconut water for an island-inspired drink.
- Strawberry, lime, and mint: Soak your strawberries into your water, together with a few slices of lime and some fresh mint. Just one cup of strawberries provides more than 100% of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin C for adults, so feel free to snack on them throughout the day for an extra beauty boost!
See below for ourpointers on how you can drink more infused water and stay healthy and hydrated all summer long!
Make sure your fruit infused water is always prepared. If you have a fruit infuser water bottle or a mason jar you like to use, make sure to refill it as soon as you finish it so that way, you’ll always have tasty water available to drink whenever you open the fridge. If you always have your water prepped, you’ll be motivated to drink more of it. This also means keeping your fruit and herbs sliced up and ready to be added to your water anytime.
Drink water anytime you feel hungry. Drinking infused water will also fill your stomach, so there’s less room for snacking or overeating. If you think you might need a little snack, you should drink 16oz of infused water first. After 15 minutes, if you’re still feeling hangry, get yourself a healthy snack.
Experiment with many, many recipes. There’s a ton of different ways you can infuse your water. The possibilities are pretty much endless. That way, you won’t grow bored of the same old flavors, and it’s a great way to keep you motivated to keep drinking water. So, feel free to try out as many as you would like and don’t forget to share with us in the comments your favorite fruit infused water combinations!
These are just a few of our favorite fruit and herb combos, so go ahead and get creative! Do you have any favorite combinations of fruit infused water that you recommend?
Please note this post was originally published in June 2014 and has been updated to reflect current information.
