My garden is overflowing with mint. As I have written in these pages before, the mint I had hoped to contain in a large pot in my Santa Barbara herb garden escaped its confines a good while ago and has since attempted a take over. I keep it beat back to a degree, but all summer long I still have bales of mint that need a use.
Thus I was delighted when Mike forwarded me a link to the White on Rice blog with a luscious sounding recipe for fresh strawberry mojitos.
The recipe calls for lots of fresh mint, a few fresh berries, rum (of course) and 1.5 ounces of simple syrup, which is where for the devoted low-carber, everything goes off the rails.
Simple syrup is made of 1 part water and 1 part table sugar and thus every ounce of simple syrup contains a half-ounce–that’s a full tablespoon, which is 15 grams–of pure sugar. So, do the math: 1.5 ounces at 15 grams per ounce means that each of these tasty adult beverages comes with a hefty 22.5 carb grams price tag. And that’s not counting the carbs in the 3 ripe strawberries, which might contribute 2 or 3 additional grams, depending on their size. Might as well call it 25 grams of carb per drink!
Think about that the next time you’re on vacation throwing back fruity frozen bar drinks one after the other.
So, for those of you who love to indulge in a mojito on a sweltering summer day, but don’t want the 25 gram carb hickey, just replace that simple syrup with an an ounce and a half of Torani Sugar-Free Strawberry Syrup and you’ll be almost guilt-free!
Enjoy!
This looks wonderful. I use the Torani syrups alot.
By the way, the reason I like to PP approach is that it seems so normal.
I was anorexic years ago (spent a month in a hospital gaining weight).
I recovered fully, but have an older sister who was anorexic before I was, and is still too thin.
I think your book provides one of the best overviews of eating disorders I’ve read, by the way. One of my problems, though, is that, as I go through menopause ((I’m 54)is that I do have to count calories, to a degree, and I find it sort of takes me back to that mindset. I don’t fear a relapse, because there were so many variables then that are different now, but I still hate the counting calorie mindset.
COMMENT from MD EADES: Yes, sadly things do change peri- and post-menopause and it becomes all the more difficult to keep weight where it should be for good health (which, like in the Goldilocks tale, is neither too much nor too little, but just right) and it often means getting a good evaluation and balance of reproductive hormone status, as well as controlling the metabolic hormones that PP can keep corralled. Anybody who thinks a calorie is a calorie is a calorie never lived through menopause!
Hello Dr. Eades,
Love your low carb drink recipes. The husband and I have really enjoyed the mint julep recipe you did a couple of years ago.
FYI – Another substitute for the simple syrup in mojito recipes is Sprite Zero. We use it in our plain and strawberry mojitoes.
Thanks!
I asked my docs to look closely at my T-4 and T-3 as well as TSH and the consensus was that thyroid was OK. Neither of my naturopaths felt I needed bioidentical hormones, as I am not moody.
Are there any other questions I should be asking?
Thanks!
Comment from MD Eades: Moodiness, while certainly one factor, is but one tiny sliver of what might prompt a person to need hormones. Without checking the levels in either blood or saliva no one can possibly know, in my opinion, whether a person needs or doesn’t need hormone replacement. Other factors might be the level of r-T3 (reverse T3) and the level of cortisol.
My new ND has prescribed progesterone cream. We’ll see if this helps.
Appreciate all your input.
I think alcohol definitely has to be the one thing that people drink about without considering the calories involved. It the liquid calories that can add up very quickly without you even realizing what you have done. I like tha you have suggested a way in which with a simple substitute you can enjoy a mojito without all of the consequences. Low Carb Recipes like this are are easily altered are a great resource to have. I work with Better Recipes and enjoy finding recipes like this that offer healthy substitutes.