So my friends over at Metabolic Effect posted this on their facebook feed yesterday: Diet Trick: Make Fat Burning Iced Tea - 1 gallon water, 2 cups freshly squeezed lemons, 2 cups "Lean Sweet" (ME's xylitol powder) in 1 cup hot water, 2 heaping tbsps of Pure Carnitine. They recommend you drink 2 cups daily.
For those of us who get a tinsy bit bored with plain old water, this sort of "safe" beverage is hard to come by. However, recently I've discovered some recipes that are 100% clean and I try to enjoy them regularly as little treats.
Kim turned me on to Bragg's "Ginger Spice" beverage which is basically ginger root, apple cider vinegar and splenda/xylitol. Admittedly it is an acquired taste ;) However, it got me excited about ginger and apple cider vinegar. ACV is super cheap - some places you can get a bottle of White House ACV for like 89 cents. I bought mine a month or so ago and I still haven't used it all. It's ultra multi-purpose. I use it to clean my dishes, do my laundry (I've even gotten compliments on how good my clothing smells), and add some flavor to my water. If you aren't used to sugars (or avoid them) a couple of capfuls of ACV into a 24-30oz bottle of water will taste sweet in a funny way. The best part of ACV? It is 0 sugar, 0 carb, 0 fat, and 0 protein. Also, I've read several times on the Metabolic Effect Blog that vinegar may have fat burning properties... so it certainly won't hurt you!
Another favorite beverage of mine is ginger root-lemon tea made fresh. My mom used to make a version of this for us when we were sick as kids and always add in some honey. I skip the honey and the beverage is just as refreshing. In the summer, brew a whole pot, add some fresh mint leaves while it's still hot and let it cool for a refreshing iced tea.
For all you Southerners out there who love their sweet tea and just don't know how to quit it (I know Jamey is one of them!), I assure you there are other options! Sweet tea is basically just a variation of a black tea, steeped to a certain bitterness and then sweetened with sugar or syrup while the tea is still seeping. This addition allows for further saturation of the sweetener and gives the tea that southern signature. If you've ever had "sun tea," you'll recognize the above mint variation as a trick of the trade in the South. My hometown brethren, there is a way to enjoy this staple beverage without putting your body into a pre-diabetic state.
First, try and start by picking out a nice fresh organic black tea. Try to avoid those large packages of Lipton that have been sitting on the shelf all winter and seem to have no expiration date. The fresher the tea, the easier it will be to get great flavor out of it... and sugaring it up won't seem as necessary. I always recommend finding a nice loose tea that you can then have bagged, but I understand that sometimes it is very difficult to find locations where they sell this (also it can be sort of messy). For every 2 bags of black tea you steep, add in a light green tea. With a light green tea you will harness the tea's fat burning ability, but not interfere with that signature sweet tea flavor. If you are making "sun tea," the steeping stage is where you want to add your fresh mint. My mom just happens to have Apple Mint, Peppermint, and Spearmint growing like weeds in the backyard and when we were kids it was always exciting to grab a stem to brew some tea with.
After your tea has reached a desired pungency, remove the tea bags (and the mint) and while still hot add some stevia. There are many different brands of stevia available to the public now, including the ever popular Truvia, NuStevia, PureVia, and Stevia in the Raw. Personally I prefer Stevia in the Raw to all other brands because it is basically 99% pure Stevia. Truvia & PureVia add erythritol (and some other filler ingredients) and NuStevia has Maltodextrin. Neither of these things are necessarily bad, but cause me GI distress and bloating.
If you really can't get behind the Stevia kick then at least do NOT use pure sugar. Try something like Agave nectar or a local honey. While these sweeteners will cause an insulin spike (and thus not aid in fat loss), they are far better for your health in general than a refined sugar is. Local honey is beneficial for those who suffer season allergies, as local bees pollenate local foliage and thus small doses of the pollen exist in the honey. Consuming local honey can aid allergy sufferers in building up immunities. My favorite type of honey is "in-the-comb" as the comb is a tasty treat in and of itself. I wish I could find some pure honeycomb around here, because it would make a great chewing gum replacement!
Do you have any tasty, but clean beverages you like to indulge in? If so, please let me know! Right now I have a chocolate tea on the way - I am excited to try it, and will let you know how it goes ;)
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