Wednesday, March 15, 2017

Recipe Day 1 Tasty Teas

I promised to tell you all about some of my favorite recipes. Well, one thing I do constantly is drink something. Diet soda is not the way to lose weight. There have been studies done that say the artificial sweetener actually increases sweet cravings and stalls weight loss. There have also been about a million studies that say artificial sweeteners are terrible for your health.

I suppose that is actually a good thing for me. I am trying to be healthier, so I need to cut the crap in my diet. I did learn that sugar alcohols are not as bad, depending on which ones you might choose. I have learned that Xylitol may actually be good for teeth! It is toxic to dogs from my understanding, so if you have pets and decide to use it, PLEASE be very careful. Erythritol is also a great sugar alternative. Stores like Whole Foods and websites like Amazon carry a brand of etythritol called Swerve© among others. I don't use that brand, but as long as it is JUST erythritol, it's all good.

I am sure that many of you are wondering why I don't just use Stevia? It is all natural; it comes from a plant for goodness sakes! Well, my friend, it's in the same family as ragweed, and I get severe headaches from it. Boo hiss. I can only tolerate aspartame as an artificial sweetener, and we have all heard about rats and cancer caused by aspartame. If you have not heard of such studies, please Google it. So, in light of intolerance to Stevia or any artificial sweeteners I use sugar alcohols. If you count net carbs, as I typically do, the sugar alcohols have 0 carbs and aren't hard on the body. So, here are a few things I think you may enjoy!

We all know that water is the best drink for you, but I just don't like it. I also tend to get UTIs from certain bottled water. It's the chemical they use to clean the water. SO, I make tea. Yes, I said it tea. I am a Southern girl. If you know me, then you know that tea is not typically a favorite drink of mine. I do, however, get creative, and I love my new drinks.

Celestial Seasonings® has some wonderful fruit teas. If you are a fan of low carb eating, you know fruit is off limits, BUT these are carb free. Here's what I do as a general rule:

2 bags fruit tea
3 bags tea
1/2 cup sweetener, roughly
1/2 gallon of water

My favorite combinations are:
2 bags True Blueberry    
3 bags Lipton® tea
1/2 cup erythritol
1/2 gallon of water
Chill. 

2 bags Country Peach
3 bags of Lipton® Tea
slightly more than 1/2 cup erythritol (probably 1/2 cup plus 1T)
1/2 gallon of water
Chill

2 bags Black Cherry Berry
3 bags Lipton® Tea
slightly less than 1/2 cup erythritol (probably 1/2 cup less 1T)
1/2 gallon of water
Chill

I steep the bags together for 5-8 minutes. Sometimes the strong flavors like Black Cherry Berry I will steep closer to the 5 minute mark.

I use this size bag for the Lipton:
These are NOT the family size bags.

I usually change fruit flavors every few days.

Now, this is not a shameless plug for Celestial Seasonings® teas. I also went to Teavana® the other day for the very first time. Their teas are FANTABULOUS and more expensive. I was first introduced to a Teavana® tea at Starbucks® the other week. I tried the Peach Tranquility over ice. OMG no sweetener needed!

So far I have tried my combo tea with a Dragonfruit Devotion. I mixed it a little strong I think, so I will be playing with it to see what I like. Instead of the 2 tea bags, I seeped 4 spoons of the Dragonfruit Devotion. MMMMMMMMM, stronger flavor but OH SO GOOD. I get my caffeine from my Lipton® and eventually I will start eliminating the Lipton® / switching to decaf. I am also not partial to Lipton® itself, I just like the smaller size bags and I can find them at the local Walmart®. If you want to try other brands or flavors, please comment below and tell me what happens!!!

I am not paid by any of these companies and hold no loyalty. This is not meant as advertisement to anything other than my preference for drinks.

I also know that what I do with my teas my be blasphemous to some of you tea drinkers, and know that I am both sorry and not. I am a self-proclaimed weirdo and do weird stuff with my food. I used to dip pickles in Diet Dr. Pepper. MMMMM.





No comments:

Post a Comment