Lemonade is a lemon-flavored drink sweetened with sugar among other sweeteners. With hot weather and sunny days ahead, it’s time to come up with all sorts of lemonades, iced teas, and fruity beverages to take to the beach or enjoy poolside. While the market remains perennially flooded with drinks that promise to cool you down, nothing comes even close to the small-round, very cheap lemon juice which not only refreshes you but also provides amazing health benefits!
This time Team DFT brings you a variety of coolers/lemonades/iced teas to cool you down. My contribution is CUCUMBER & MINT LEMONADE!
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Cucumber is a popular vegetable that is available in the late spring and early summer season. Cucumbers are widely consumed in summer season to beat the heat, keep the body cool and stay hydrated. To know about more benefits of cucumber read the foot notes.
With a unique aroma, refreshing flavour, cooling sensation and a host of medicinal qualities – from settling the stomach to lifting the spirit and soothing the skin – mint is among the most versatile plants in the herbal kingdom.
For more health benefits checkout foot notes.
While making Lemonade for diabetic people, make sure you add not more that 2 tbsp. of raw honey. If you don’t have raw honey try to sweeten up with sugar substitutes like Dates or molasses.
CUCUMBER AND MINT LEMONADE
THINGS WE NEED
2 full size cucumbers, ends trimmed, but peel still on, coarsely chopped
1/2 cup lime juice from fresh limes
1&1/4 cup packed mint leaves (about a large handful)
2 tbsp. of Raw honey or 1/2 cup sugar (If you are not diabetic)
Black salt( Kaala Namak)- 1 tsp ( optional)
Approximately 1 1/4 cup of water
METHOD
Put ingredients in blender, add enough water to fill 3/4 of blender. Hold the lid on the blender and purée until smooth. Place a fine mesh sieve over a bowl and pour the purée through it, pressing against the sieve with a rubber spatula or the back of a spoon to extract as much liquid out as possible.
Pour over a glass filled with ice cubes and serve with springs of mint and a slice of lime and get cooled!
FOOTNOTES
Cucumber
NATURAL DIABETES CURE
DRINK HALF or ONE FULL CUP OF GREEN CUCUMBER JUICE OR EAT ONE RAW CUCUMBER A DAY! AND SUGAR LEVEL WILL DROP TO NORMAL TO CURE DIABETES. FOR HIGH BLOOD PRESSURE, DRINK ONE CUP OF GREEN CUCUMBER JUICE AFTER MEAL TWICE A DAY. Read more here http://naturaldiabetescure.50webs.com/
Mint
The gut motility in diabetics is sometimes slow, a condition called gastroparesis. As a result, food stays in the stomach longer, suffers fermentation and causes bacterial overgrowth. Fermented foods and intestinal bacteria are responsible for excessive gas, manifested as bloating, flatulence and abdominal cramps.
MINT helps relax the digestive tract’s muscles and relieve the excessive gas, says University of Maryland Medical Center.
Lemon
Small. Round. Cheap. Healthy. Garnisher…. are just some of the adjectives that are applied to the Lemon. But still many remain unawares of the health benefits that this little citrus fruit can grant! This innocuous looking fruit comes packed to the brims with Vitamin C, an important vitamin needed by the body to function normally. But other than Vitamin C it also contains other vitamins in high amounts such as Riboflavin, Vitamin B, Calcium, Magnesium, Phosphorous and many proteins and carbohydrates.
For information please refer to these links
http://www.m.webmd.com/default.htm
http://www.livestrong.com
http://www.diabetes.org
http://www.idf.org/membership/sea/india/diabetic-association-of-india
Disclaimer
I am not a nutritionist or dietician. My knowledge and information is based on my research and reading from different resources. Please consult your doctor or dietician before making any changes to your diet.
Other recipes this week are
Shailja
https://shailjatomar.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/indian-java-plum-mocktail-kala-khatta/
Parvathy
/https://crackleandtemper.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/orange-iced-tea-flavoured-with-basil-diabetic-friendly-thursdays
Prachi
http://divinespicebox.com/2015/06/22/aloe-vera-peach-punch/
Vidhya
href=”http://www.vidhyashomecooking.com/2015/06/24/nonalcoholic-green-tea-spritzer-with-fruits-dft/”>http://www.vidhyashomecooking.com/2015/06/24/nonalcoholic-green-tea-spritzer-with-fruits-dft/
Sonal
https://simplyvegetarian777.wordpress.com/2015/06/24/jal-jeera-mint-cooler-diabetes-friendly-thursdays/
Chahat
http://gorgeandserve.com/2015/06/24/grape-pineapple-mint-fizz/
Anupama
http://easybitesonline.com/green-tea-infused-watermelon-orange-cooler/
Suchitra
http://sus-healthy-living.blogspot.com/2015/06/strawberry-watermelon-kiwi-cooler.html?m=1
Apsara
http://eatingwelldiary.com/2015/06/24/strawberry-mint-lemonade-for-diabetes-free-thursdays/
Great combo naa cucumber and mint. slurpppp
What a gorgeous color Swati! I am trying this soon. I have never tried a drink with blended cucumber.
never thought of combining cucumber in a drink.. this is a must try now ! Thanks for this recipe Swati <3
the natural cure suggestion is very interesting indeed. love the coooling refreshing drink. love the way you write 🙂
Both mint and cucumber are cooling and refreshing! A perfect summer drink. Lovely pics
vibrant green colour is totally refreshing…perfect