The Hemp Connection [Search results for Arnold Palmer] 

It's been super hot around the country. It's that time of year when hydration is extra important. But water can get boring, and many of the options are just too full of sugar to be realistic in large quantities. Here is a great beverage option that is lower in sugar but more interesting than plain water--the Arnold Palmer.

The classic Arnold Palmer is a half and half mix of lemonade and iced tea. But with the many fruits in season and all of the great non-caffeinated teas on the market, there's no reason to stop there! I spent the afternoon Google searching and found some great, creative lemonade recipes. I've altered them a bit to cut the sugar even more, and asked Kerstin Wingert, a local tea purveyor and copfounder of Souvia Tea, to pair them with some of their offerings to get you thinking about what potential your own local farmer's market holds. I got Kerstin's suggestions back and immediately wanted to head to my own kitchen! Who would want to drink soda when you've got these incredible alternatives?

A think-ahead suggestion, when juicing your fruit, and making the tea, make a little extra for ice cubes to add to your final beverage!

Note: In the lemonade recipes, I've cut the sugar by half from the original recipe, (except in the cucumber and ginger versions) and doubled the fruit. I encourage you to start at this point and then sweeten to taste, rather than oversweetening. Remember that even those these beverages are lower in sugar than soda and juice, they still contain sugar. They will be best tolerated when enjoyed with a meal, to help you tolerate the sugar.

Here is the general link to Souvia's online store. For your convenience, I've also linked each of the individual teas below in case you'd like to try them.

Watermelon Arnold Palmer (lemonade recipe courtesy of Whole Foods Market)
Lemonade: 10 cups 1-inch cubes seedless watermelon, 1 bottle (10-ounce) 365 Everyday Value®
Organic Lemon Juice, 6 cups water. If you use real sugar, start with 1/4 cup and increase to taste.
Iced tea: Honey-Do, a fruit blend of melon, apples and a touch of hibiscus

Raspberry Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 2 cups rinsed fresh raspberries, mashed with 1/3 cup sugar, 1 cup lemon juice, and 2 cups
water. Add more sugar if desired.
Iced tea: Raspberry Honeybush – a naturally sweet tasting infusion that is caffeine free

Peach Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 4 peaches peeled and cubed, 4 C water, 1/2 C sugar, 3/4 C Fresh Lemon Juice
Iced tea: Black Peach – a blend of black teas with the taste of ripe peaches. Or…Cranberry Peach – a
black tea that combines flavors of sweet peaches with the tartness of cranberries.

Blueberry Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 6 cups blueberries, 1/3 cups sugar, 2 cups freshly squeezed lemon juice, 3 cups cold water
Iced tea: Blueberry Yoghurt – Rooibos from South Africa with blueberries. Freeze-dried yoghurt pieces
add to the smooth flavor.

Pomegranate Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 3 tablespoons sugar, 1/4 cup fresh lemon juice, 1 cup pomegranate juice, 2 1/2 cups water
Iced tea: Pomegrante/Grape – White and green tea blend with pomegranate and grapes – light and
refreshing

Cucumber Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 1 cucumber, peeled and cubed, 1 lemon, 5 c water, sugar to taste
Iced tea: Lemon Souffle– Rooibos with a creamy lemon taste

Strawberry Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 2 pints mashed fresh strawberries, 1 cup fresh lemon juice, 1/2 cup sugar, 2 cups water
Iced tea: Strawberry Fields – A mélange of black and green teas with strawberries and pineapple pieces

Basil Hibiscus Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 1/2 cup rinsed, lightly packed fresh basil leaves, chopped, 3 tablespoons sugar, 4 cups water,
1/2 cup freshly squeezed lemon juice
Iced tea: Lemon Basil Oolong – Formosa Oolong combines the savory taste of basil with sweet citrus note

Mango Mint Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 4 large mangoes, 2 1/2 cup(s) water, juice from 6 medium lemons), 1/4 cup(s) sugar
Iced tea: Moroccan Mint Organic

Lavender Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 1/4 cup dried lavender, 2 cups boiling water, 1/3 cup white sugar, 8 lemons, 5 cups cold water
Iced tea: Quiet Mind – Rooibos with coconut and lavender

Green Apple Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 3 green apples, cored and juiced, juice from 2 lemons, 1 tbsp sugar, 1 cup cold water
Iced tea: Apple/Mango Rooibos

Ginger Arnold Palmer
Lemonade: 1 1/2 cups white sugar, 4 quarts water, 14 slices fresh ginger root, 4 cups fresh lemon juice
In an 8-quart saucepan combine sugar, water and ginger root. Heat to boiling, stirring occasionally.
Remove from heat. Stir in lemon juice. Cool 15 minutes. Remove ginger. Refrigerate lemonade at least 1
hour, or until chilled.
Iced tea: Georgia Peach – Black tea with ginger and peach pieces

My Facebook friends already know most of this story, but my kitchen experimenting turned out so well I wanted to share it.

I got an email from Whole Foods Market with a recipe for watermelon lemonade. I had just bought a watermelon so I decided to try it. However, rather than using lemon juice, I used 3 lemons that I threw in the food processor. I also added no sugar or sweetener. I did have some dried mint which I crumbled in, and I think that enhanced the sweetness of the fruits. Some of you probably have sweeter teeth than I do, so you may need to add something. I'm betting you could use the artificial sweetener of your choice.

After I let the finished product sit for a day (and it was perfectly tasty that way), I decided to take the fun one step further. I brewed a cup of organic decaf green tea, put it in the refrigerator to cool, and made an Arnold Palmer (a mix of tea and lemonade). My ratio was 3 parts tea, with 2 parts lemonade, but mix it up in whatever ratios suit your taste.

I got natural fruits, with natural sweetness, all of the fiber from the lemons and the watermelons, the benefits of the green tea…with none of the added sugar. And it quenched my thirst!

If you have a few minutes and a few simple ingredients, and you're looking for something other than a soft drink to quench your thirst, give this recipe a whirl!

I live primarily in Arizona, which means if I'm going to eat locally, I have to learn how to use watermelon a gazillion different ways. It's been a fun adventure to take on…if you look online you can find recipes for grilled watermelon, chicken stir fry with watermelon, watermelon feta salad…happy experimenting!

One of my annual rituals this time of year is to start brewing sun tea. It's a great way to capitalize on solar energy, and I have hundreds of combinations of ingredients to keep me from getting bored.

Yesterday, I made a decaffeinated tropical flavored tea. Then I pulled an orange off of my tree, quartered it, squeezed the juice into the tea, and threw the juiced quarters into the jar. It was most refreshing, without any sugar at all. It was my very crude version of the popular Arnold Palmer!

If you've never made sun tea, here's a link to some directions.

Once you've discovered a few favorites of your own, I'm hoping you'll wonder why you clung to your diet sodas for as long as you did!

There has been a lot of information circulating around the Internet recently about the dangers of agave nectar. It prompted me to take a little closer look. And I'm glad I did. What I've learned will be part of an ongoing series about the benefits and disadvantages of different types of sugar. It's a complex issue, so to make it more understandable, I thought I'd break it into installments. If you have comments about any of this, please feel free to post. I do moderate comments and won't be putting any up until the series is finished, in case you get ahead of me. I will take your comments into consideration as I proceed with this topic. Thanks for understanding.

According to a 2010 report in the European Journal of Food Safety, a comprehensive review of studies evaluating the effects of various carbohydrates and sugars on metabolism, simple sugars begin to have negative effects on health when they exceed 20% of total calories. That is simple sugars of all kinds--sucrose, fructose, and galactose. Here is how that translates into diets of varying calorie levels, so you can put this information into perspective.

Calorie level Healthful limit for sugar intake, calories Healthful limit for sugar intake, grams
1500 300 75
1600 320 80
1700 340 85
1800 360 90
1900 380 95
2000 400 100
2100 420 105
2200 440 110
2300 460 115

With fructose, the threshold is 7.5% of total calories; more than that, and negative health effects, such as elevated triglycerides, begin to appear. In other words, fructose should be used judiciously, even though it has a lower glycemic index.

Calorie level Healthful limit for fructose intake, calories Healthful limit for fructose intake, grams
1500 112 28
1600 120 30
1700 128 32
1800 136 34
1900 144 36
2000 152 38
2100 160 40
2200 168 42
2300 176 44

A can of soda would contain the following, based on the type of sweetener it contained. It mathematically fits into the above guidelines, but in a way that makes it hard to consume fruits, which also contain fructose, and stay within the calculated limits.
Sugar calories Sugar grams Fructose calories Fructose grams
Cane sugar 150 38 75 19
Beet sugar 150 38 75 19
High fructose corn syrup 140 35 77 19
Agave nectar* 102 25 87 22

*Agave nectar was a little bit harder to figure out. I did manage to find a Denver-based company called Oogave that makes sodas using agave nectar. Their Esteban's Root Beer is what I used for the above analysis.

My first find in a Google search brought me to Full Throttle, an energy drink manufactured by Coca Cola. Unbelievably, the"blue agave" flavor of this product contains no agave nectar at all, is sweetened with high fructose corn syrup, and contains 220 calories in a can! They are definitely hoping the consumer would jump to conclusions about this product.

Are you juicing at home?

Here's how the same volume of a 1/3, 1/3, 1/3 mix of beet, carrot, and spinach juice compares.
Sugar calories Sugar grams Fructose calories Fructose grams
120 24 31 7.8
Calories are not that much different, and total sugar, but the sugar type does. If you were to add fruit, that value would go up.

To give you an idea of what happens when you switch from sugar to agave nectar in the same recipe, I analyzed the same amount of watermelon Arnold Palmer recipe from last week's post. I adjusted the amount of agave nectar based on the fact that agave nectar is 72% sweeter than sugar.

Sugar calories Sugar grams Fructose calories Fructose grams
Made with sugar 20 5 9 2.3
Made with agave 18 4.5 10 2.5
Takeaway messages:
1. Any sweetened beverage,"healthy", or homemade, soda or juice, regardless of how it is sweetened, is a significant source of sugar and fructose. It is a dietary choice that should be made with respect, and sparingly.
2. Soda made in Mexico, even though it doesn't have high fructose corn syrup in it, is still problematic in large quantities.
3. The advantage to agave nectar is that it can help you to cut your total sugar intake, and reduce your glycemic load, but you still need to be aware of the quantity you consume.
European Food Safety Authority. Scientific Opinion on Dietary Reference Values for carbohydrates and dietary fibre. EFAS Journal 2010; 8(3): 1462.

http://www.nutritiondata.com/

http://www.livestrong.com/

What do teas and bees have to do with your hormones? What do they have to do with each other? (Besides combining to make wonderfully tasty refreshments, that is!)

We'll be chatting with Kerstin Wingert, president and co-founder of Souvia Tea, a Phoenix-based, award-winning retail, wholesale and e-commerce resource for premium loose leaf teas and herbals. (Regular blog followers may remember Kerstin, as she helped me pair teas with lemonades for our popular"Arnold Palmer" recipe feature over the summer.
Kerstin will be teaching us the basics of tea: why bottled teas miss the m…ark, why teas sold by large corporate entities differ in quality from those purchased by smaller companies such as Souvia, what you can believe (and discard) when it comes to health claims made about tea, and…how to make tea more user-friendly if you'd like to take advantage of its benefits.

Currently in its 6th year of business, Souvia has become the premier place in the Valley for tea education and offers a variety of “infotainment” sessions around tea and herbals. Wingert has led dozens of informative talks, classes and events for professional, academic and civic groups on the subject and remains a sought after speaker. She also makes regular television appearances on “Sonoran Living” and “Your Life A-Z."

Co-host Michael Keele of Central Slope, will be telling us about his partnership with Humble Seed, which will bring the documentary"Vanishing of the Bees" to Phoenix for a special screening.

All of this episode's guests have great information, and as you'll see, it most certainly has pertinence to your own health and hormone balance.

Tune in live at 9 am Pacific time on Monday, October 25, or at your convenience for the recording, at www.blogtalkradio.com/incystforhormones.