The other day (which – let’s be honest – actually means a few weeks or months ago) I finished up an outdoor workout. When I returned home, I drank about half of a sports drink to replenish myself. It was quite tasty and refreshing, exactly what I’d been hoping for.
As I sat there, I found myself thinking back to some of the out-of-the-box recipes I’d tried to make over the years: raw apple pie, raw brownies, raw lasagna, lemon cauliflower pudding, and so on and so forth. And it hit me: Why not try to make my own sports drink, one with minimal added sugar and no extra gunk? Was that even a thing? Immediately I did an online search for “homemade sports drink” and got a few solid options.
But then life happened, and my inspiration to make a sports drink was placed on a back burner for a while. It would cross my mind every now and then, but that was about it.
A few days ago (literally meaning “a few days ago” this time, haha), I had a long conversation with a friend, during which we talked a lot about changes we’re making to improve our health. She and I are both pretty active, so I brought up the MYO sports drink idea. Just talking about it renewed my interest, and she was intrigued as well.
So I revisited that idea and researched recipes again. There were a few options that called for fruit juice (as in, premade); while they specified that it should be 100% fruit juice, I wanted something a bit more natural. I finally stumbled across a simple recipe on a site called The Honour System that was almost exactly what I was looking for: citrus fruits, minimal sugar, salt, and water. Bingo.
One short visit to the store later and I was all set to make two flavors of the sports drink: lemon-lime and orange.
Ingredients:
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lime juice (this worked out to two limes for me, although I know it varies) for the lemon-lime flavor OR 1/2 cup freshly squeezed orange juice (one orange for me) for the orange flavor
The remainder of the ingredients are the same for each flavor:
-1/4 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice (about one lemon for me)
-2 cups fresh water
-1/8 tablespoon sea salt
-2 tablespoons organic cane sugar
The Process:
-Combine all ingredients in a resealable jar/beverage container and shake together.
-Can be stored in the fridge for up to a week.
-That’s it!
Rolling the lemon around
Look! It’s a lime!
In goes the orange juice…
Just a little bit of sugar…
Salt into the orange drink…
And some salt into the lemon-lime
The recipe says it’ll take 15 minutes to make, but it took me longer than that because I am an absolute SLOTH in the kitchen.
But the wait was worth it.
Shake it up!
After giving it a good shake, I tried the lemon-lime first. When I unscrewed the lid and took a sniff, the smell was so acidic that I honestly felt like I was going to be drinking straight-up lemon juice. But no – it was absolutely delicious. Tart, yes, but very, very good. I was absolutely wowed.
YUM.
I then tried the orange, and that one blew me away as well! SO GOOD. I’d left a few small chunks of pulp in this one on purpose, and that was a good call in my opinion. Also would have been totally fine without, but if you like pulp/texture, keep that in mind.
DELICIOUS. (Ignore the bottle…)
Now, for a few takeaways:
-Make sure you have appropriate (resealable) jars/containers to hold these drinks, assuming you’re not consuming them right away. I didn’t have enough appropriate containers, so I initially mixed the orange one in a large-ish cup. Only afterward did I remember I had an empty (large) plastic water bottle, so I transferred the orange drink over after I had mixed it all together. The mastermind behind The Honour System site ended up purchasing mason jars for these sports drinks, and that’s not a bad idea for anyone who’s going to be making them regularly.
-Also might be worth buying an inexpensive citrus squeezer/juicer to expedite the process, says the kitchen sloth (yours truly).
-I’m interested in trying this with coconut water replacing some or all of the regular water. I’m not a fan of coconut water, so I don’t know how this will go, but I know that coconut water is chock full of electrolytes and other good stuff. If you try it that way, give me a shout and let me know how it went!
The verdict overall? 10/10 would make again. Also, I can’t wait to do a few difficult workouts so I can replenish myself with these drinks afterward.
Success.