The temptation to reach for cola and other drinks is never greater than in summer. But there are many healthy refreshing drinks that you can easily make yourself.
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1. What exactly are soft drinks?
Refreshments are an invention of the food industry. These include beverages such as soft drinks , juices , fruit juice spritzers , lemonades , sodas , and iced teas .
Although Coke, Fanta, and the like are primarily considered soft drinks in Germany, the English term actually refers to the entire food category of soft drinks. Originally , it was used only as a counterpart to alcoholic , or "hard," drinks .
From a nutritional perspective, most soft drinks essentially serve no special purpose . They're usually loaded with sugar , caffeine , and artificial flavor enhancers . While this makes them delicious and fresh, especially when chilled, they're not necessarily healthy.
2. Make your own summer refreshing drinks without sugar - Here's how
While there's nothing wrong with the occasional soda, this liquid sugar bomb shouldn't become a habit, even during the hot summer months. After all, you can make your own refreshing drinks.
Depending on which flavors and water and fruit content you like best, you can choose between homemade iced teas without sugar , infused water , fruity lemonades and sparkling spritzers.
For iced teas and homemade juices made from fresh ingredients, organic fruits are particularly suitable, which are then cooked together and later strained.
For infused water, however, you simply cut them up and add them to the water. However, you should always let your drink steep so the fruits can release their flavor and nutrients into the water.
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3. 5 low-calorie soft drinks
Berry iced tea
Berries are among the healthiest fruits! Many are rich in vitamins and natural antioxidants .
You need:
- 1 to 2 l organic wild berry tea of your choice (leaves or tea bags)
- a handful of blueberries
- a handful of currants
- a handful of raspberries
Lemon juice adds a fresh kick and a few lemon balm leaves are perfect for decoration.
Elderberry-apple drink
Elderflower syrup is also easy to make at home—you can even collect the flowers yourself!
You need:
- 25 elderflowers
- 25 g citric acid
- ½ organic lemon and
- ½ organic orange and
- 1 organic apple, chopped for garnish
The flowers must be boiled with lemon and orange juice and then strained. If desired, you can also add a healthy sweetener such as honey, stevia, or xylitol.
Rhubarb juice spritzer
A spritzer that's underrated in every way! Probably because many people don't like the bitter-sour taste of unprocessed rhubarb. Rhubarb is very rich in vitamins C and K , as well as valuable minerals like potassium and calcium .
You need:
- 1 kg red rhubarb (green rhubarb is also fine for sour rhubarb lovers)
- 1.5 l water
- Juice from one whole lemon
Everything has to be boiled again. After cooling, the solid pieces are strained out, and the juice can be served with sparkling mineral water and a slice of lemon.
Vitamin Water
Vitamin water, also called infused water, is one of the simplest soft drinks to make . You can customize it completely freely. A version with a high vitamin C content is ideal as a basic recipe, as it's one of the most important vitamins.
You need:
- 1 liter of water
- ½ lemon, sliced
- some cucumber slices
- Mint leaves
- thumb-sized piece of ginger, peeled and sliced
Then let the water steep for about 20 to 30 minutes . Tip : Adding some juniper berries makes your vitamin water taste even better, and you'll even get some B vitamins.
Sporty drink with fruit
If you do a lot of sport, you can benefit twice from homemade soft drinks: You not only get fluids, but also lots of vitamins and an extra portion of electrolytes .
You need:
- a sachet of our recovery drink RECHARGE
- Lemon ½ l water
- a handful of blueberries
- some orange slices
- a handful of mint leaves.
4. Conclusion
Refreshing drinks like lemonades, iced teas, and the like are delicious and especially popular in the summer. However, since many of these products contain unnecessary sugar and artificial flavor enhancers, they are not among the healthiest foods.
If you make your own soft drinks, you not only have full control over the ingredients, but you can also get really creative and use the drinks specifically to boost your nutrient intake.
Although juices and teas in particular are somewhat more complex to produce, they score points with low sugar and significantly lower nutrient loss than processed and diluted industrial products.
