sharpy auditorium: Homemade Electrolyte Drink

I?ve mentioned that food hasn?t been my friend this pregnancy, but at 20 weeks, we?re starting to get friendly again. My palate and appetite still aren?t what they usually are, and probably won?t be until the baby is born.* You know what else hasn?t been my friend? Water.

*Sigh. The sacrifices we make.

I know, I know ? we need water to live, especially in the hot Texas summer, and especially when one is struggling to 1) keep an outdoors-loving (and supervision-needing) kiddo happy and entertained, 2) continue running through the sweltering heat, one very slow step at a time, and 3) gestate a human being. So, yeah, I need to hydrate. I know.

But someone forgot to tell that to my body. When morning sickness was at its roughest, drinking water made me nauseous. Of course, I choked down enough to stay healthy, using various tricks like chilling it (I generally prefer my water room temperature), flavoring it (cucumber slices did the trick there for awhile) and even downing sparkling mineral water, sometimes with a squeeze of lime, as a ?treat.? I know it sounds silly, but nursing a bottle of Topo Chico while everyone else is nursing a beer out in the heat is a lot better than sitting there glumly with a plastic cup of tap water.

But now, in the late July heat, I?m stepping up my game, since I really don?t want dehydration to come creeping in. A friend suggested I try coconut water (blech) or a homemade electrolyte drink, so I did some Googling and found a bunch of recipes. Naturally, I combined recipes this way and that adapted to my own tastes liberally. I didn?t want anything too sweet, since I don?t love drinking my calories (when there is not alcohol involved, that is), and too-sweet drinks seem to increase my thirst, rather than satiate.

Citrus is an important component in an electrolyte drink, since it is high in potassium,* and salt is a must (electrolytes are basically salt). You can use a fancy salt, like Himalayan sea salt, but table salt is okay too. You just need sodium chloride. Unrefined salt contains more trace minerals, so that?s what I used. This version uses honey as a sweetener, which I prefer over refined sugar.

* Oranges especially ? that?s why you so often see stacks and stacks of them, along with bananas, on the food tables after a race.

Homemade Electrolyte Drink

I let the hubby try my concoction, and he thought it needed more lemon, but he is a sour fiend ? so, play around with it and adjust it to your tastes. I think I may experiment with a lemon-lime version next. Drink up!

Homemade Electrolyte Drink