NYE: Gut Healing Cocktail

Tonight is the night! The final night of 2016. Many would argue its been a rough year, and when you look at all the crap thats gone down worldwide, its really pretty hard to counter that. However, on a personal level, I've had a fantastic year. I finished my schooling to become a Certified Holistic Nutritionist. I travelled for a month with my sister through the gorgeousness that is New Zealand. Oh yea, and I got engaged to my best friends and man of my dreams so that's not too shabby either. I'm going into the New Year with a smile on my face, thankful for everything that 2016 brought me and hopeful that the coming year will bring all new adventures, love, and joy. 

Whatever you experienced in 2016, good or bad, I hope that you can still enter the New Year in the same way. Find a smile for the small things that this year as brought you, whether they be little moments of joy or even struggles that you learned from, find a way to be thankful and look forward to the coming year for the mystery, hope and excitement that it brings. You can be whatever you want to be in 2017.

Tonight is a night to celebrate whatever you want to celebrate. Cheers to those little moments you had or what is to come. Cheers to all you have or all you are striving for. Cheers to who you have been and who you are going to be. 

Whatever is in your glass this New Years Eve, I hope you are making many cheers. 

This is what is going to be in my glass(es) this New Years. I'm going for balance. I'll be real with you, I'm going to drink. I will have some champagne to toast the New Year in. I will have some red wine, cause that's my go-to. I will also be enjoying this gut healing cocktail! I put this together at a party I hosted earlier in the year for my and some nutritionist ladies. We wanted to stay away from anything super sugary, and some chose to steer clear of alcohol as well. I wanted to incorporate something with some extra nutritional benefits, because why not? So I threw together this cocktail of water kefir, a splash of orange juice, steeped some frozen blackberries in, toss in your liquor of choice (or not! - I'm a gin girl myself.) and boom! A taste explosion! 

It is a flavourful, gut healing cocktail. The water kefir (super easy to brew at home- post on that in 2017) is full of powerful probiotics that balance the gut bacteria creating a healthy gut microbiome. Honestly, the alcohol will work to counteract that a bit, but at least you are balancing it out a bit with this one! It's all about a realistic balance! CHEERS!

Ingredients (For 1L Pitcher)

4 cup Water Kefir

1 cup Orange Juice (ideally organic, cold-pressed, no hpp'd - I get mine from The Village Juicery)

1 cup Frozen Black Berries

4 oz Liquor of your choice (optional)

Directions

1) Mix all ingredients

2) Let blackberries steep for a minimum 30 mins

3) Pour into cute glasses

4) CHEERS! 

Happy New Year! ;)