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Ingredients:

• Fruit: strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, pineapple, mango, lemon, lime, grapefruit, orange, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, pear, apple, grapes, plum, peach
• Vegetables: cucumber, carrot, celery
• Herbs and spices: ginger, cinnamon, sage, rosemary, basil, cilantro

Directions:

1. Select your container. You can use any glass or BPA-free plastic container you like. Choose mason jars, pitchers or water bottles depending on how/where you want to drink your water. Doing everything in a water bottle can be great on the go, or you can make a whole pitcher of infused water that you store in your fridge to sip from throughout the day.
2. Pick your produce. Choose any flavor combination that you think sounds good and add it to your container.
3. Muddle your selected ingredients. Once you’ve placed everything in your container smash it a little bit with a wooden spoon or muddler. This helps to release some of the flavors and essential oils from your produce, which will add more flavor to your water.
4. Add water. You can use either regular tap or filtered water or try plain sparkling water.

Here are some sample combinations to try:

• Grapefruit, cucumber and rosemary
• Raspberry, lime
• Pineapple, mint
• Lemon, ginger (this can be helpful for nausea)
• Cucumber, watermelon, mint
• Blueberry, basil, lemon
• Pineapple, mango
• Strawberry, cantaloupe
• Cucumber, mint

Source:

Allison Mars is a senior in the dietetics program at Boston University and a volunteer at Dana-Farber. She is looking forward to a career as a clinical RD and loves cooking and sharing healthy food with everyone.

Nutrition Tip

Staying hydrated is important during and after treatment. Drinking water can help you feel better, boost energy levels, manage bowel issues like constipation and keep you from feeling run down. But it can be difficult to squeeze in your fluid requirements for the day.

Watch a video demonstration of this recipe

If you are experiencing taste changes during treatment or trying to transition from drinking sugar-sweetened beverages to something healthier, infused water could be the perfect solution. Infusing water with flavors from fruits, vegetables, and herbs can add some of your favorite flavors without adding sugar, unwanted additives, or preservatives.