DIY Electrolyte Energy Drinks!

I'm not really a health-conscious person. I should be, but I'm not. Honestly, I'm too lazy. They say high fructose corn syrup is bad for you, but I consume it anyway because I don't read labels. Sugar is getting thrown out the door for Stevia and Splenda. And what the heck is agave? Is that just a fancy word for honey? Needless to say, nutrition is not my forte so when I saw you could make your own energy drinks from these two posts, one from MommyPotamus and one from EverydayRoots, I figured, "Eh... why not?" I'm no stranger to Gatorade or Powerade, so I thought I would try three drinks to see if they can measure up.

Spoiler alert: I only liked one. 

These are the three different drinks I tried:

The Orange and Lemon Zest

* 3-4 cups of water
* 3/4 cup of freshly squeezed orange juice (about 2 oranges)
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
* 1/4 teaspoon of sea salt
* 2 Tablespoons of honey or maple syrup (feel free to add more)












Lemon-Lime Coconut Fizz
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lime juice (about 3 limes)
* 1/4 cup of freshly squeezed lemon juice (about 2 lemons)
* 1 1/2 cups of fresh water
* 2 Tablespoons of honey
* 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt
* (optional) 2 cups of coconut water









Strawberry Coconut Foam

 * Original recipe calls for 3 cups of coconut water but I only used 1/4 cup
* 1 cup of strawberries
* 1 cup of water
* 1 cup of ice
* 2 Tablespoons of honey
* 1/8 teaspoon of sea salt






My least favorite was the one I thought I'd like the most - the orange and lemon zest drink. While oranges are a good source of electrolytes, I didn't use the blender, which resulted in all the honey sticking to the bottom. Big mistake. It tastes good at first but starts to sour in the aftertaste. My husband, on the other hand, said it wasn't half bad. So use a blender, add some ice, and play around with the ingredients and measurements. If you come up with a better recipe with oranges, I'm all ears!

The one I thought was ok was the lemon-lime coconut fizz. Coconut water contains 13x more potassium than Gatorade, so this is a great alternative to the sports drink. However, if you don't like the taste of coconut water, you can always water it down and it'll be more of a limeade/lemonade.

My favorite? The strawberry coconut foam! Strawberries are a good source of Vitamin C and potassium and adding the honey and ice made it a delicious smoothie for a summer afternoon. This is the only one I'd make again but of course with any food or drink, it's all up to personal tastes. In the end, they're all good for you so you can't go wrong!

TOTAL COSTS: Depends on the drink
$.99/lb. for oranges
$2.00 for four lemons
$.99 for sea salt
$4.69 for honey
$1 for two limes
$1.99 for coconut water
$ 2.50 for strawberries

TOTAL AMOUNT OF TIME: 15 minutes/drink
Most of my time was spent squeezing juices out by hand so if you have an appliance to speed up the process, definitely use it!

EASY-PEASY SCALE (1 super easy - 5 very difficult): 1 out of 5
They're not difficult to make so you can't use that as an excuse not to give these a try. They don't take too long either, so there goes that excuse as well. And if you have picky taste buds, just pick the ingredients you like the most and mix those together! You really can't do wrong (well, maybe lime and strawberry... hmmm...)