Low carb infused water is just the thing to keep you hydrated during hot summer spells when you’re on a low carb or keto diet.
While it’s easy to get tempted to indulge in delicious refreshing drinks when the weather is hot followers of a low carb or keto diet must be careful with choosing their drinks.
As you know, sodas, slush, and other sugary drinks are loaded with carbs that could put you out of ketosis. Low carb infused water drinks are delicious and refreshing and can keep you stay hydrated this summer while still staying within ketosis.
Stay Hydrated
Remember that when following a low carb diet like keto, staying hydrated is very important. You’ll be losing quite a lot of fluids when you go low carb. This also means you’ll lose plenty of electrolytes, and this could prevent your body from being able to function properly.
In fact, it is highly recommended that you drink up to 11 cups of water per day if you’re on a low carb diet. Of course, drinking lots of water can also give you plenty of benefits whether you’re on keto or not. It aids in digestion, boosts your metabolism, dilutes and helps to flush out toxins, and many more!
You can read more about the effect of dehydration in my blog post about detox waters for everyday drinking. Although some of these detox water recipes contain fruit with higher carbs there are some that are very suitable for a low carb diet.
Use Filtered Water
Don’t forget to use filtered water! Frank Lipman, MD, Functional Medicine Practitioner, says this about tap water:
It’s traveled through miles of pipeline, picking up contaminants, pesticides and industrial run-off along the way. It’s been disinfected with potential carcinogens like chlorine, ammonia and or chloramines, then “fortified” with fluoride …. drinking, showering and bathing every day with this chemical brew is a lousy idea.
The good news is that you don’t really need to settle with plain water just because you’re on a low carb diet. There are many ways to get creative with low carb infused water recipes. Below are some recipes for your inspiration:
Low Carb Infused Water Ideas
Cucumber Mint Infused Water
This cucumber mint water from Lisa of Low Carb Yum does not have any sugar or sweetener and is absolutely keto-friendly. It’s really delicious and easy to prepare as well. In fact, you simply have to add mint and cucumber slices to a jug of water! Make that filtered water please!
You can add some lemon or lime slices as well to jazz it up even more. Best to let it infuse for at least an hour. You can give it a stir from time to time too so the flavors get into the water. It’s so very refreshing. Put some of the water into you water bottle and and take it with you where ever you go.
Strawberry-Cucumber Water
Strawberries contains only 5.68 grams of net carbs for every 100 grams, making it one of the best fruits to include in your keto diet. This Strawberry-Cucumber Water from The Food Network would be a great inspiration for your low-carb infused water recipe. It takes only 10 min to prepare and you can leave it in your fridge for up to two days!
Both cucumbers and strawberries in particular are a source of a beneficial flavonoid. It is an antioxidant which helps to reduce our risk of cancer, heart disease, asthma, and stroke. That’s why it’s important to eat plenty of fruit and vegetables.
Low Carb Mulberries and Lemon Water
Berries are one of the low carb fruits that are allowed when you are following the ketogenic lifestyle. This one from Antya, who calls herself Queen Keto combines mulberries with lemon. You can use other berries if you can’t get mulberries.
Antya’s story is most interesting. She was diagnosed with Familial Hypercholesterolaemia, a supposed inherited high cholesterol condition. She was put on a statin drug which caused her all sorts of side effects so she eventually stopped them but the keto diet worked a miracle for her. Her HDL (the good) cholesterol increased and it lowered her triglycerides and C-reactive protein, a marker of inflammation. What a brilliant result!
As you can see these low carb infused waters are very easy to make. You can add what low carb fruit and veg to filtered water and simply leave to infuse. Enjoy!
