Wednesday, August 6, 2008

On the Hunt for Hydration

I know, I know, water is best. But I just can't stand it right now unless it is super cold. My teeny tiny European fridges (yes, I have two) do not have built-in ice makers. This pregnancy may drive me to plug in the American fridge. It is a very basic model and does not have an ice maker, either, but there is room for ice cube trays.

I tried to drink juice, but it is too sweet. I bought Perrier to cut the sweetness and that helped, but I need something I can drink all day. I like to drink Diet Coke and iced tea, but I am cutting those out for artificial sweetener and caffeine. I bought some Diet 7-Up, but it still has the artificial sweetener which I don't want to drink, but I've been desperate. Chocolate soy milk is tasting good to me right now. I've been trying to eat cold fruit as well to get some moisture without the concentrated sweetness. Super cold Gatorade tastes good to me right now, but I hate drinking all that high fructose corn syrup.

My next thing to try is barley water, a cold barley tea that Koreans drink. I have some, but just haven't gotten around to making it.

Think I need to solve the ice problem, though. I guess we need to have a Korean interpret our bill to see how we are doing on electricity and then plug that American fridge in! (The landlord pays our utilities from the utility allowance and at the end of the year, we have to pay the difference if we go over).

Anyone have other suggestions for cold, healthy drinks?

4 comments:

Connie said...

We never drink juice straight. It is way too sweet. Whether the water is cold (from the fridge) or room temp, we usually add a splash of juice to flavor water. At most, 1 part juice to 3 parts water - but that's a lot of juice. We usually have some form of cranberry juice (ocean spray varieties - lots of sugar, another reason to dilute) as other juices can be too sweet. We prefer still water - carbonated is 'spicy' according to Honor. This is what we like, and what our kids were raised on... even now, when we would allow them a bit of soda or tea, they usually choose plain water, juice and water, or milk.

InMySeoul said...

If your looking for drink alternatives you might want to try 17 teas. You can find it at most marts and its easy to find. Its in a green plastic bottle and has a bit 17 on the label. Its very popular in Korea (supposed to be healthy, and you probably know how koreans are with health products). Anyways, its really good and refreshing :).

Also, check out this blog post by Cheri:
http://seoulberry.blogspot.com/2008/07/i-cant-get-enough-of.html
She talks about another one of my favorite drinks..apparently its one of hers too...you might want to check out her blog too...she's a pretty good blogger and writes about a lot of interesting things in Seoul.

InMySeoul said...

Oh I almost forgot..
Have you tried Pocari Sweat?

I could never quite get used to it, but apparently its like non-flavored gatorade.

Mama Seoul said...

Haven't tried Pocari Sweat, yet. 17 teas probably has something in it that I am not supposed to have while pregnant, but I bet I would like it afterwards. That corn drink looks interesting as well. I've never heard of corn drink before.