Revitalizing Keto Summer Drink

Hot weather calls for refreshing and replenishing drinks. On a keto diet, it might be challenging to find truly healthy beverages, so you often have to whip them up yourself. Here is a wonderful and revitalizing keto drink recipe that you can make at any time when you feel wilted and are in need of an ultimate pick-me-up.

How to make this Revitalizing Keto Summer Drink

Making this drink is super easy: just put all ingredients into a blender and blend until smooth. That’s it!

That said, I want to give you a few recommendations: as this recipe uses cucumber, I recommend using English cucumber with peels. The nutrients are mainly in the peels, so using the whole cucumber is a good idea. In any case, the peels will blend in so smoothly that you don’t feel them at all. (You can read more about the benefits of cucumber in the next chapter.)

You also need lemon for this recipe. You can use bottled organic lemon juice to make things really easy. However, I prefer to take half of a small organic lemon, peel and chop it and blend with the rest of the ingredients. The fruit (and naturally the cucumber as well) has fiber which slows down the digestion of carbs, resulting in more stable blood sugar levels. Well, this drink is really low in carbs, so in any case, your blood sugar shouldn’t budge an inch after gulping down a serving of this refreshment.

Just one note still: since I prepared this drink while I was traveling, I didn’t have my blender but an immersion blender with me (as you can see from the photos below). That worked surprisingly well, although I have to admit a regular blender would do a quicker job.

So, let’s take a look at how to prepare this tasty and refreshing keto drink.

Pour 2 cups (470 ml) ice-cold water to a blender jar.

Take about 4 oz (115 g) English cucumber and chop it into pieces.

Add the pieces to the blender jar.

Next, you’ll need some lemon. You can use about 1 tablespoon organic lemon juice (either freshly squeezed or from a bottle) or half of a small organic lemon like I have here.

If you use the fruit: peel the lemon and chop it into pieces. Be sure to remove the seeds as they might lend a bitter flavor. Add the lemon pieces to the blender.

Take about 15 mint leaves (use strong mint!) and add them to the blender jar.

I prefer my drink slightly sweet to round the flavors, so I add about 1—2 tablespoons powdered erythritol. You can naturally use any other clean keto-friendly sweetener like monk fruit, stevia, or allulose.

Here we go; all ingredients in the blender jar.

Then, just blend…

…until smooth.

Ready!

Transfer to glasses with ice cubes.

Enjoy!

That was so good!

 

How I came up with this easy keto drink recipe

As I have been on the move for the last couple of weeks, I needed a recipe that I could also create while traveling. Moreover, the weather has been pamperingly warm, so drinking a lot has been a must.

Thinking of all this, I thought a drink recipe would be just perfect for this week’s blog post.

I have made some delicious keto drinks and mocktails using our Ketokamu electrolyte powder (available in Finland and some European countries). They are truly replenishing! Also, I’ve posted several cold drink recipes over the years on this blog. Be sure to check them out!

For this week’s blog recipe, I decided to modify one of my existing keto mocktail recipes and just omit the electrolyte powder.

Recently, I’ve found cucumber to be the ultimate ingredient in replenishing keto drinks (in addition to our electrolyte powder). Cucumber has many health benefits, for example:

• Cucumber is high in nutrients and soluble fiber but low in carbs and calories.
• There are plenty of antioxidants in cucumber that help you fight against oxidative stress, reduce inflammation, and even decrease the risk of developing cancer.
• In some (animal and in vitro) studies, cucumbers were shown to reduce and control blood sugar levels, especially in diabetics. Actually, in one study, cucumber peel reversed most of the diabetes-associated changes and helped decrease blood sugar levels. That is another reason to include cucumber peel in your drink!
• The most interesting feature for this recipe comes from the rehydration capabilities of cucumber. Because cucumbers are about 96% water and they contain many important minerals, cucumbers are particularly effective at keeping you hydrated.
• The high water content also helps in weight loss: according to some studies, eating foods with high water and low calorie contents (like cucumber!) was related to a notable decrease in weight.
• And who of us wouldn’t enjoy effortless toilet visits? Cucumbers might help you with that since eating them may help support regular bowel movements mainly because cucumbers are high in water, fiber (especially pectin), and minerals and thus promote hydration and help increase bowel movement frequency. Pectin also feeds the beneficial bacteria in your gut.

 

Those are only a few reasons why I thought cucumber is the perfect ingredient for my Revitalizing Keto Summer Drink.

To add some tang, I opted for lemon. Lime would have been another fabulous citrus fruit, but for my palate, cucumber and lemon is a celestial match. As I didn’t have a citrus juicer or any other dedicated tool with me while traveling, I thought I’ll add half of a peeled and chopped lemon to my drink. It just sounded like a good amount.

I’ve used copious amounts of mint lately — and it’s my preferential herb for refreshing drinks. So, the Revitalizing Keto Summer Drink was naturally crying for fresh mint.

In addition, I needed water for the obvious base ingredient and sweetener to tame the tang and to round the flavors. I chose powdered erythritol because its taste is palatably neutral.

I did the first experiment while traveling based on my already existing electrolyte drink recipes. There was a small — yet well equipped — kitchen in the hotel room where I was accommodated.

The first experiment turned out good, and after a tiny fine-tuning (adding more mint and sweetener), it turned out perfect.

Here’s the recipe for you to enjoy:

 

Nutrition information	In total	Per serving if 2 servings in total
Protein	1.1 g	0.6 g
Fat	0.3 g	0.2 g
Net carbs	2.4 g	1.2 g
kcal	24 kcal	12 kcal

 

Tips for variations

There are so many ways to vary this drink. Here are some suggestions:

• Swap the lemon for lime — or even orange. Even if you use orange, the carb count is 2.2 grams net carbs per serving, which is still pretty low.
• Instead of mint, use another (mild-flavored!) herb like basil or parsley.
• To get even more nutrients to your drink — and to make a ‘drinkable salad,’ add alfalfa sprouts, kale, or lettuce leaves before blending.
• To make this drink a light meal, reduce the amount of water by half and add 1/2 cup (120 ml) thick Greek yogurt.
• If dairy is not your thing, you can add avocado instead of Greek yogurt for a more satisfying drink — or actually a smoothie.
• If you use sweetener, you can play once again with different flavors. To maximize mint taste, use Peppermint Cookie Stevia. Alternatively, if citrus flavors are what you favor, use orange or lemon-flavored stevia. These water drops also lend an enchanting taste.

General prattling

This week was both relaxing and productive, thanks to several fascinating activities. I have been canoeing, fishing (with a rod), and making enjoyable spa visits.

There is also a big festival coming where we are the main partner with Ketokamu. It’s a four-day festival, and I will throw two to three program numbers each day. I will have lectures, fat bomb workshops, and Ellu (electrolyte drink) mocktail workshops.

Currently, I’m visiting Helsinki, the capital of Finland. I used to study and live here years ago, and this is always a nice place to visit. But, I’m happy that I don’t have to live here permanently anymore. Even though it’s a relatively small town on the world’s scale, there are still too many people around for me. I love peace and silence.