How to Make Your Favorite Cocktails Healthier

When trying to be healthy, the first things most people think of are food and exercise, but there are plenty of other aspects to a healthy lifestyle.

If you want to keep things balanced, you shouldn't cut out everything that might be a bit bad for you. The real trick is taking things you enjoy and finding ways to make them healthier.

A lot of people love cocktails, and you may not want to eliminate them from your life completely. Fortunately, there are plenty of ways to make a healthy cocktail. Doing so will allow you to keep enjoying yourself while improving your health and well-being.

We're going to take a look at why and how you can make some healthy cocktails, including a few recipes and specific ingredients. Let's dive in.

Why Choose Healthy Cocktails?

One of the most common nutrition mistakes people make is drinking their calories. Consuming low-calorie drinks can help you achieve your fitness and weight-loss goals. This is especially important when it comes to alcoholic drinks as they can be very calorie-dense.

On top of lowering your calories, you can even create some nutritious cocktails that may offer various health benefits. Cocktails vary a lot, with some (such as a Mai Tai) having as many as 350 calories. Just a few of these in an evening can make up almost half of your daily recommended caloric intake.

At the other end of the scale, you can get something like a Milano Torino which only has about 80 calories. This shows just how much difference can be made by the ingredients in a cocktail.

Simple Swaps for Healthier Cocktails

There are a lot of ways to substitute ingredients in a cocktail. One of the first to consider is any mixers. For example, if a cocktail contains Coca-Cola, you can swap this out for Diet Coke or Coke Zero. Regular Coke has about 140 calories in a 330ml can, compared to just 1 calorie in a can of Coke Zero.

The taste may be slightly different in the end, but it seems a small price to pay for the dramatic drop in calories. You can do this for virtually any soft drink mixer. This kind of approach can also help you reduce the sugar in cocktails by a sizable amount.

Some other substitutions you can make with cocktail ingredients include:

• Club soda or sparkling water instead of tonic water
• Carrot juice instead of orange juice
• Brut or extra-brut champagne instead of other sparkling wines
• Light rum instead of regular rum
• Frozen fruit instead of ice

As a starting point, here are some popular cocktails that are on the healthier side:

• Gin Tonic
• Spritz
• Negroni
• Bloody Mary
• Gimlet
• Martini Dry
• Vodka Lemon
• Moscow Mule

Top 5 Healthier Cocktail Recipes to Try

If you like making cocktails at home, you might not know where to start with healthy options. Here are some healthier cocktail recipes you can try or take inspiration from:

1. Skinny Margarita

The base of this drink is Tequila, which is healthier than a lot of other spirits. You'll want to get fresh lime juice and fresh orange juice. Make sure it's not highly processed to avoid high amounts of sugar and various low-quality ingredients.

Add in some agave nectar (a natural sweetener) then salt the rim. You can use a slice of fresh lime for the garnish.

2. Low-Carb Mojito

Unflavored spirits have zero carbs, so this can be a great choice. You can make this with either white rum or vodka, and mix it with club soda and diet 7Up. Going unflavored and sugar-free with these mixers is the key.

Put in some fresh lime juice; squeezed rather than store-bought juice. You can then use lime slices and fresh mint leaves for the garnish.

3. Guilt-Free Moscow Mule

A Moscow Mule typically only has three ingredients:

• Vodka
• Ginger beer
• Lime juice

To keep things healthy, make sure you use freshly squeezed lime juice. Instead of ginger beer, you can make a mixture consisting of ginger juice, simple syrup, and sparkling water. This can take a bit more work, but it results in a sugar-free cocktail.

4. Light Bloody Mary

A Bloody Mary has quite a few ingredients:

• Vodka
• Lemon juice
• Tomato juice
• Worcestershire sauce
• Tabasco sauce
• Horseradish
• Salt
• Black pepper

The most important thing to do here is to make sure both the lemon juice and tomato juice are fresh. The Worcestershire sauce is generally considered optional, so you can skip this to make sure there are fewer additives. It's common to have a celery garnish, so feel free to add this in.

5. Calorie-Conscious Sangria

Sangria is a great summer-time drink, and you can make a healthier version with ease. The main component is red wine, and you'll want to add some soda. Opt for Sprite Zero here rather than regular Sprite to keep calories and sugar to a minimum.

Add in plenty of fresh fruit. It's healthy and will add to the delicious taste. Vodka serves well as the spirit, and then you can use some additional fruit slices to garnish the glasses.

The Role of Moderation in Healthier Drinking

While it's possible to make cocktails healthier, you still need to make sure you drink in moderation. There aren't many completely guilt-free beverages in this world aside from water, so even with these healthy cocktails, you'll want to avoid overdoing it.

It can be a good idea to set limits for yourself when enjoying an evening of cocktails. Having some self-restraint can do wonders for your health. This can be especially important at large events or during the holidays when you may be drinking a bit more.

Alternating with water is also a good approach. Having one glass of water between each cocktail will keep you hydrated and make you less likely to drink too much.

How to Choose the Best Ingredients for Your Healthy Cocktails

When it comes to choosing healthy drink ingredients, one of the keys is to always go fresh. Fresh juice and fruit are always much healthier than processed options. Ideally, you should try to stick to organic ingredients, too.

If you're unfamiliar with any ingredients, always check the labels. You'll be able to see the calorie and sugar content as well as any other additives you might want to avoid.

Don't be afraid to explore new ingredients like sparkling water or herbal infusions. You might find new healthy options that you really enjoy.

Understanding the Social Aspect of Drinking Healthily

One of your concerns here may be navigating social situations. When attending parties or gatherings, your choices of healthy cocktails may be more limited.

One of the best things you can do is make sure you understand what ingredients are good and what ones aren't. This will make it easier to make a healthy cocktail when you only have certain options. If you really want to make sure you're prepared, you can take your own ingredients with you so you know you can keep things healthy.

This might seem a bit odd, but everyone wants to be healthier. You can highlight to your friends the importance and impact of healthy cocktails. You may even end up helping them improve their lifestyles.

The Impact of a Healthy Cocktail

Knowing how to make a healthy cocktail can have a huge impact on your health and happiness. Using fresh, high-quality ingredients will allow you to reduce your calorie intake while still enjoying your favorite drinks (in moderation).

At Physician's Plan, we're dedicated to helping people achieve their health and well-being goals. We can devise personalized plans, so whatever you want to achieve, we can provide the advice and guidance you need. Contact one of our North and South Carolina locations or visit us in person to find out more about how we can help.