Drink your Greens! Here’s how to stay hydrated in autumn
Despite autumn’s lower temperatures, it’s essential to continue consuming water, beverages and foods that include vitamins and minerals.
21/03/2023
If you’ve noticed your water intake dropping lately, you’re not alone. 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 at all.
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 hydrated,”
says Melrick, explaining the ideas behind the
ingredients of the recipe.
“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.