It’s that time of year when people start (if they haven’t already) not feeling good. You know the drill—bugs, colds, and flu. It’s time to start weatherproofing ourselves.

Here’s a recipe to help you do some personal weatherproofing. It’s my cranberry ginger beer. No, it doesn’t have alcohol (unless you add it). It’s also non-carbonated. Finally, it uses alternative sweeteners, because I’m sensitive to refined sugars.

Ingredients

• 2 tablespoons of peeled and cut fresh ginger root
• 1/2 cup of fresh cranberries
• 1 small lime (juiced)
• 4 cups hot water
• 1/2 cup granulated sweetener (xylitol, sucanat, etc.)
• 1/4 cup liquid sweetener (agave syrup, brown rice syrup, etc.)

Preparation

If you have a good food processor like a Vitamix, you can blend all the ingredients together and viola: you’re ginger beer is ready to go. I like to pour the blend into a glass jar, refrigerate it, and let the flavor marinate even more. You’ll need to strain it to eliminate the ginger and cranberries.

If you don’t have a good food processor, then put all the ingredients, minus the water, into a jar and then add the water. Shake well and refrigerate for at least 24 hours. Strain the brew to eliminate the ginger and cranberries.

Enjoy.

About the Ingredients

Ginger is a robust healing herb. It provides benefits to nearly every one of our systems—respiratory, circulatory, lymphatic, digestive, and more. It reduces inflammation and congestion, while it boosts your immune system.

Cranberries helps fight bacteria and is a potent anti-oxidant; that’s why it’s good for kidney stones, bladder infections, and more.

Lime juice helps normalize your pH; the more acidic you are, the more likely you are to get sick.

Natural sweeteners are still sugar; however, they have other nutrients and are less likely to cause sugar spikes, provided you don’t overdo it.