Day 6 - Sip, Sip, Sigh

Tea does our fancy aid.  Repress those vapours which the head invade.  And keeps that palace of the soul serene.  - Edmund Waller (poet)

We all have a favourite comfort food but what about a comfort drink.  What restores you?   When you check in your store cupboard of nostalgia, do you have a memory of a comforting drink to make you well?  

​As children, having woken groggy and stuffed up with a cold, Mum would tuck us back into bed - and oh,  the pleasure of this if it occurred on a school day.  Pretty soon you'd hear the familiar sound in the kitchen below of egg being whipped and mum would appear to the bedroom, with a steaming hot, creamy eggy drink  she called eggflip. This blissfully sweet and comforting drink would arrive every morning until we were well enough to return to school and sometimes a day or so afterwards just to be sure we had fully convalesced. 

Only writing this now has reminded me of the wholesome drink and brought me back all those years ago. On checking, I see that there's a whole variety of eggflip recipes online and these may including berries, fruit and other goodies.  Our childhood comfort cure was in the days before  healthy, immune boosting smoothies but perhaps Mum’s eggflip was a forerunner.

Today's theme for consideration is hydration and drinks.  If you are like me and resting your  entire body by enjoying a NoVino November, , have you thought about what you might enjoy instead.  Tonight is Friday night and I'm considering a mocktail as a sun-downer.  

You can play around with flavours and create some sparkling drinks using grenadine, sparkling grape juice, orange juice, tonic water, apple juice, ginger, lemon/lime juice, crushed frozen fruits, strawberries, bananas, blueberries etc.

A delicious cocktail I enjoyed at a function last year turned out to be alcohol free and maybe it was the fizz but I was decidedly 'content' and surprised by how satisfying it was.  I believe it was made by pouring equal parts orange juice and 7up, then a layer of crushed ice with a drop of grenadine poured in on top for dramatic colour and flavour.  The grenadine slowly flows down through the ice and has a delightfully pleasing appearance  - and effect!

Studies show that staying hydrated is enormously beneficial to all aspects of our health and wellbeing and dehydration causes us to feel groggy and slow so that we may confuse a need to hydrate with a need for a quick energy fix.  A glass of water can often settle the craving for chocolate or sweet treat.

A resting daily hydration routine.

• Start your day with a cleansing and detoxifying glass of warm water (120mls) adding the juice of half a lemon.  
• Mid morning try a refreshing herbal tea.  Get to know herbal or green teas this month by experimenting with flavours. See image below for some of my favourites.  The bedtime one is truly sleep inducing.
• Drink 8 large glasses of water daily or try to get one small glass in every hour. If you’ve trouble remembering to hydrate why not pre set a series of alarms on your phone to remind you throughout the day until you get into the habit.
• Check out recipes for green juices and super energy boosting smoothies to deliver extra radiance, vitality and especially a healthy immune system.
• At night before or even in bed, have a cup of soothing camomile tea.  Your eyes will sparkle a little brighter in the morning!

Here’s an alternative comforting bedtime drink which is designed to help you sleep. 

Golden Dreams Bedtime Drink.

This is a simplified sleep elixir, wonderful to have about an hour before bedtime.  Almond milk contains lots of tryptophan which helps with the production of melatonin, an important sleep hormone to ensure a deep, beautiful night's rest.

• 1 and a half cups of unsweetened almond milk
• 1/8 teasp of turmeric
• 1/8 teasp of cinnamon
• 1/8 teasp of ginger powder
• 2 teasps maple syrup
• a pinch of black pepper

Heat the almond milk over a medium heat to just under boil.  Stir in turmeric, cinnamon, pepper, ginger and maple syrup.  Enjoy and sleep well.

So do you have a go-to comfort drink or a nostalgic cure for 'cold' days that you think other might enjoy?  Let me know and I'll include it in a future email.

Have a super day and I'll be back tomorrow with Day 7 of your magical rest.

Trina x

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