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Drink your greens! Here’s how to stay hydrated in autumn

If you’ve noticed your water intake dropping lately, you’re not alone. Here's a few tips to make sure you get the needed nutrients in the colder seasons.

Studies show that humans tend to drink less water as the weather cools, as opposed to Spring and Summer months, when hotter weather puts us at risk of dehydration.

Despite autumn’s lower temperatures, though, it’s essential to continue consuming water, beverages and foods that include vitamins and minerals. Warm drinks, smoothies, juices and hydrating foods are just a few tools that can be used to keep dehydration at bay.

Eat your way to vitamin-rich hydration 

In the colder months, nature has provided us with seasonal fruits and vegetables that are hydrating and rich in nutrients. After all, it isn’t called ‘soup season’ for no reason. An all-year crop, spinach, for example, contains a whopping 91% water, emphasising that nature has been providing us with water-dense ingredients in the winter months for centuries. Other vegetables like cauliflower, bell peppers and pumpkin are hydrating and delicious ingredients for winter dishes.

Whether steamed, roasted or juiced, it is important to eat extra veggies in the colder months to give your body a boost of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants that simple water on its own might not provide.

All-in-one remedies

Fats, proteins and other nutrients help to keep our bodies strong and healthy. Meals and drinks that include as many of these nutrients as possible are all-in-one remedies for the added boost we require. Adding fresh bean sprouts, water-rich lettuce, sprinklings of edible seeds or spinach or avocado as sides to dishes can help give our bodies a real boost.

Drinks with a nutritious twist

“Getting creative with supplementing water intake with nutritious drinks is easy if you know what to look out for,” says Radisson Blu Hotel Waterfront’s head mixologist, Melrick Harrison. “Keep your intake of caffeine-rich drinks to two to three per day and opt for drinks like antioxidant-rich iced rooibos and cocoa and milk, both excellent sources of magnesium, zinc, iron and copper.”

Supplements like collagen can be added to hot or cold beverages. Collagen helps boost the suppleness of our skin and promotes water storage in our cells and as a plus, it won’t alter the taste of your drink.

Here is Melrick’s hydrating, nutrient-rich cocktail recipe named ‘Balance and Change’ to symbolise the changes that take place in autumn.

Melrick’s Balance and Change Cocktail

“All ingredients in the cocktail play a part in hydration. While alcohol in its own right encourages dehydration, aged spirits and sugar, for example, just make dehydration worse. This is why I designed a low ABV cocktail that contains electrolytes to help keep you hydrated,” explains Melrick.

“Furthermore, over 80% of an apple contains water and the fruit is rich with natural electrolytes that can hydrate your body faster than water. Alcohol dehydrates your body of fluids, which are essential for almost every bodily function, which is why I chose a fortified wine (Bianco Vermouth). It’s low in alcohol and filled with a variety of antioxidant-rich herbs and spices. Coriander and fennel seeds encourage digestion and boost the metabolism, and lemon juice contains the primary antioxidant Vitamin C. Maple syrup has many minerals to aid hydration,” he concludes.

Balance and Change hydrating cocktail recipe

Ingredients:

⅓  of an Apple, chopped into pieces

50ml Coriander and fennel-infused vermouth (vermouth or red wine soaked overnight in the fridge with coriander and fennel seeds)

20ml Fresh lemon juice

15ml Orange blossom and maple syrup (7.5 ml of orange blossom water and 7.5 ml maple syrup mixed together)

250 ml Sugar-free tonic water

Method:

Muddle or smash the apple in the booth of the shaker. Add all of the ingredients except the tonic water, shake and strain in a glass and finally top up with soda. Garnish with fresh slices of apple and fresh coriander sprigs.

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