Guilt-free summer drinks

NEW DELHI: Staying hydrated is the most important factor to deal with the blistering heat. Enjoying your favourite beverages to beat the heat and proper hydration to the body sounds like a great idea. But these beverage delights come loaded with sugar and calories. Sugary beverage intake is significantly associated with a number of health issues.

Even WHO guidelines recommend adults and children should reduce their daily intake of free sugar to less than 10 percent of their total energy intake. A further reduction to below 5 percent or roughly 25 grams (6 teaspoons) per day would provide additional health benefits.

"Believe it or not but you can now enjoy your favourite thirst quenching summer coolers and beverages without compromising on the taste or on your health. It is time to replace sugar with a natural, zero calorie and great tasting sweetener such as Stevia to make your favourite beverages healthy, hydrating and refreshing. It can be part of a healthy lifestyle when it comes to looking for ways to reduce sugar and calories for your family," says Navneet Singh, VP Asia Pacific and Head of South Asia region at PureCircle.

Try these great tasting and refreshing summer beverages:

Ginger Mint Lemonade

Ingredient: Water 1cup (2000ml), lemon -1 tablespoon, mint -15-20 leaves, ginger- 1 teaspoon, sugar free green 2 scoops.

Recipe: Take a cup of water in a pan and add 1 tsp fresh ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes at low heat then keep aside and steep for another 30 minutes. After 30 min strain the ginger extract in a bowl. Lightly Crush mint leaves in another bowl with help of rolling pin or in pestle mortar. Add lemon juice, ginger extract, sugar free green & remaining water (cold). Mix all ingredients, remove mint leaves. Pour the mixture into glasses and garnish with a slice of lemon.

Mango Lassi

Ingredient: Mango pulp/mango slice-1cup (100g), curd-1/2 cup (50g), water-1cup (100g), cardamom powder-1 teaspoon (0.5g), sugar free green- 3 scoops.

Recipe: Pour mango pulp in a blender and add curd, cardamom powder, water & sugar free green. Blend it for 2 min or until it form a smooth blend. Pour blend in a glass, garnish with few mango cube shape pieces.

Mango Ginger Lemonade

Ingredient: Mango puree -1/2 cup(50ml), water -2cup (250ml), ginger shredded -1 teaspoon, sugar free green- 3 scoops, lemon juice -2 Table spoon.

Recipe: Take half cup of water in a pan and add 1 tsp fresh ginger. Simmer for 10 minutes at low heat then keep aside and steep for another 30 minutes. After 30 min strain the ginger extract in a bowl. Add lemon juice to it, then add mango puree, 3 scoop sugar free green & remaining water (cold). Mix all ingredients with hand or blend for 10-20 sec. Pour the mixture into glasses and garnish with mango slice. (IANS)