Spring Refresh: Creative Cocktails and Mocktails to Try This Season

Spring is a busy season for celebrations. The return of warm weather brings many opportunities to gather with loved ones for holidays or simply to enjoy the longer days. It’s also prime time for many fresh foods that are bursting with flavor and color. Whether you’re hosting a party or just want to chill out, you can elevate your get-togethers with spring cocktails and mocktails featuring seasonal ingredients for added enjoyment.

Here’s what you need to know to begin making seasonal drinks that are as refreshing as a balmy breeze on a sunny day.

Benefits of Seasonal Drinks

Spring is a bountiful season for good food at local farmers markets, farm stands and even the produce section of supermarkets. Many fruits, vegetables and herbs are at their peak in spring. We’re talking about favorites such as strawberries, lemons and basil. The freshest food always is the most flavorful and nutritious.

Buying food in season from local farmers (or growing your own spring produce!) has many benefits. It helps protect farmland and adjoining open spaces near you from development, reduces your impact on the environment and supports the economy in your community. Best of all, you get to eat fruits and vegetables that are naturally sweet and juicy, with an authentic taste of spring rains and sunshine.

Seasonal ingredients also can be an inspiration for you to create beverages that will make your party or hang-out truly memorable. Whether you’re hosting a Mother’s Day brunch or your book club, mix up a pitcher of spring cocktails and mocktails to make the event even more festive.

Following a Nutrisystem weight loss plan? Learn more about alcohol on your plan.

Spring Cocktails

With fresh ingredients, the drink possibilities are endless. You can use the items to enhance the flavor and presentation of your familiar cocktails. We’ve also got a few suggestions to help you discover new favorites.

Strawberry and Rhubarb Collins

Strawberries and rhubarb are a popular pairing for spring pies and other baked goods. The sweet and tart combination also gives a seasonal twist to the classic Tom Collins.

Start by making rhubarb syrup with ​2 quarts water, 8 cups sugar and 4 cups roughly chopped rhubarb ​in a saucepan. Simmer on low and stir until​ the ​sugar dissolves. Cook for 5 minutes more, then turn off the​ heat and let the liquid cool. Strain out the pieces of rhubarb and store the syrup in a tightly lidded container for up to one​ month.

Blend three-quarters ounce of the rhubarb syrup with the juice from one-half ounce of strawberries and three-quarters ounce of lemon juice. Stir in Aperol, an Italian liqueur that’s made with rhubarb and other botanicals, and your choice of gin (more botanical flavor) or vodka (neutral). Add a splash of club soda for fizz and a rhubarb stalk as a garnish.

Kentucky Buck

Bourbon, the main ingredient in mint juleps, is paired with sweet and spicy companions in this spring cocktail. Muddled strawberries provide the fruity notes, zesty ginger syrup brings a little sweet heat, and lemon juice gives a hint of acidity. Use one more strawberry for the garnish.

Country Thyme

In this drink, the savory herb thyme complements the sweet flavors of blueberries, which are muddled in a shaker along with lemon juice. You rub the thyme sprigs a little with your fingers to release their fragrant oils, then place them in the bottom of the glasses. Pour in a shot of vodka, agave nectar for more sweetness, and the fruit and lemon juice. Set another sprig of thyme on the rim of the glass for a boost of extra flavor.

Green Margarita

Pea puree provides the color to this imaginative spring cocktail from the pros at Liquor.com. It’s made by putting sugar snap peas, dry vermouth, a pinch of sugar and salt, and some water in a blender. Whip it until smooth, then put the pea blend in a cocktail shaker along with a shot of tequila, dry vermouth, an orange liqueur like Cointreau, and some fresh lime juice. The drink will have a vegetal taste from the peas complemented by the sweet and tart flavors of the other ingredients.

Craving a margarita with a spicy kick? Try our Virgin Jalapeno Lemon Margarita recipe!

Spring Mocktails

Alcohol is high in calories, so you may want to limit your consumption if you’re trying to stay on track with your weight loss plan. But that doesn’t mean you have to miss out on the drinks made with seasonal ingredients. Try one of these healthy spring mocktails when you want to enjoy a satisfying beverage.

Skinny White Sangria

Sangria is a kind of punch made with wine and fresh fruit. We make our Skinny White Sangria recipe with seasonal favorites like strawberries and peaches. We substitute white grape juice for the wine to save calories without giving up flavor.

Blackberry Mint Julep Mocktail

Mint Juleps are the traditional cocktail of the Kentucky Derby, the horse race held every spring. Whip up a tasty twist on this classic with our 3-Ingredient Blackberry Mint Julep Mocktail recipe.

The sweet and tart flavors of blackberries provide the punch of flavor. They are muddled with mint for a cool taste. Pour in ginger kombucha (a type of fizzy, fermented tea) or use sugar-free ginger ale with the fruit and herbs.

Sparkling Rosemary Lavender Lemonade

Fresh-squeezed lemonade mixed with sparkling water makes a bubbly, sweet base for this mocktail. It’s flavored with a syrup made by simmering 1 cup water and 1 cup sugar until the sugar is fully dissolved. After turning off the heat, add sprigs of fresh lavender and rosemary. Let it steep as the water cools, for about one hour.

Pour the flavored liquid into a pitcher and mix with a cup of lemon juice, more water and ice. Add a sprig of rosemary and a slice of lemon for garnish.

Cucumber Gimlet Mocktail

The classic gimlet is a simple drink made with gin and sweetened lime juice. Add cucumbers and you get the vegetable’s refreshing flavor along with the tart taste of lime.

To make this alcohol-free version, muddle a few fresh cucumber chunks in a cocktail shaker. Mix in lime juice and a teaspoon of honey or agave syrup, top with ice and shake until the liquid is chilled. Strain into a cocktail glass with ice and pour in a splash of club soda for fizz.

With a vegetable peeler shave off a thick ribbon or cucumber. Fold it like an accordion and thread it on a cocktail skewer or toothpick for the garnish.

Tips for Crafting Delicious Spring Cocktails and Mocktails

Choosing Fresh Ingredients for Spring Cocktails

Enjoying a drink can be a part of your healthy eating routine, especially when you make spring cocktails and mocktails with fresh, seasonal ingredients. When you’re making spring cocktails and mocktails with fresh ingredients, be sure to choose produce that’s free of damage that could impact the flavor. Any taste that’s off in the ingredients will be magnified in the drink.

How to Muddle Fruit

Muddling is the process of gently bruising fresh ingredients to release their flavor. A special tool called a “muddler” makes it quick and easy, but if you don’t have one, you can also use the back of a spoon to press on the ingredients.

Light pressure is all that’s needed to crush them. They don’t need to be pulverized. With ingredients like fruit or herbs, muddle them in the glass or cocktail shaker before the liquid is added.

Garnishes for Spring Cocktails and Mocktails

Garnishes may be decorative, but they are more than just extras for the drink. When serving spring cocktails and mocktails, the garnishes highlight the fresh ingredients for your guests and enhance the taste of the drink by activating the nose’s aroma sensors.

Garnishes may be as simple as a twist of lemon peel or a sprig of mint. You can also cut a slice into a wedge of pineapple or watermelon to balance it on the edge of the glass. For a savory flavor, thread pickled vegetables onto a toothpick.

Prep and Serving Suggestions

If you’re making just a couple of drinks, preparing them in the glass you will serve them in is simplest. For a party, mix up batches of your beverages in pitchers and set out the garnishes on a tray so everyone can help themselves. Plan for each person to have two drinks.

Always set out snacks for guests to nibble on when you’re serving alcohol. Learn how to make a healthy charcuterie board with our simple guide.

Looking for more delicious, seasonal recipes? Try these easy and healthy spring dessert ideas!

The post Spring Refresh: Creative Cocktails and Mocktails to Try This Season appeared first on The Leaf.

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5 Spring Weight Loss Tips Guaranteed to Work

Spring has sprung and if you’ve always suspected that weight loss is easier in warmer weather, you might be on to something. In a study of nearly 600 adults, published in the European Journal of Clinical Nutrition, daily calorie consumption was higher by almost 90 calories per day during the fall compared to the spring. These findings echo those from a 1991 University of Georgia study, which found that participants ate about 200 more calories per day in autumn.

According to the Institute of Medicine, researchers hypothesize that because bodily functions like digestion generate heat, the body must work extra hard in warm weather to cool down from these activities. In order to reduce the body’s workload, biological responses that suppress appetite are triggered in higher temps, causing us to consume fewer calories.

This is a nice little bonus if you’re considering kicking off your weight loss journey this season. Follow these five spring weight loss tips to ensure you maximize your weight loss results.

11 Hydrating Foods for Warm Weather Activities

Read More

Here are five weight loss tips to get you ready for spring and summer weather:

Read on for all the details on spring weight loss:

1. Fill up on fresh, seasonal produce.

Diet study after diet study confirms it: Increased fruit and vegetable intake is associated with increased weight loss and fat loss success, according to the Journal of the American Dietetic Association. That’s because most of these foods are high in fiber yet low in calories and fat. This helps keep you feeling full despite their small caloric load. Plus, they’re perfect weight loss foods packed with nutrients your body needs to stay healthy and active.

While we love our fruits and veggies all year round, prepping can be a bit time consuming during the winter months. Much of the cold weather produce tastes best cooked and requires peeling, tossing, spicing and roasting. The great thing about spring produce is that much of it can be eaten as is, making it easier to find quick and delicious diet foods and snacks that are low in calories and chock-full of nutrition for weight loss.

Hit the local farmers market to snag some fresh produce for a big, colorful salad or stir fry, or chop up and portion out for individual snack servings. Slice up some cucumbers, carrots, celery and bell peppers to enjoy with hummus. Chop some apples and bananas to dip in a tablespoon of your favorite nut butter. We also love dunking fresh strawberries in yogurt.

And do yourself a favor: Leave your fresh finds out on the counter or front and center in your fridge. According to the peer-reviewed journal, Health Education & Behavior, the presence of fruit in plain sight was linked to lower Body Mass Index (BMI) in study participants.

While what’s in season will depend upon your location and climate, here’s a general list of spring produce, according to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA):

Fruit:

• Apples
• Avocados
• Bananas
• Kiwifruit
• Lemons
• Limes
• Pineapples
• Strawberries

Vegetables:

• Asparagus
• Broccoli
• Cabbage
• Carrots
• Celery
• Kale
• Lettuce
• Mushrooms
• Onions
• Radishes
• Spinach

2. Take advantage of the spring temps.

Winter, with its frigid temps and long, dark days, doesn’t exactly lend itself to outdoor activities. When summer hits and the temps start to soar, getting outside can be a bit problematic as well.

Spring days contain beautiful sunshine and refreshing, light winds, making it the perfect time to get outside. Take advantage of the warmth and go for a long stroll at the local park or around your neighborhood. Get going on that garden or chase those cute kids (or grandkids!) around in a game of tag. Enjoy some fun, outdoor home workouts and keep yourself outside and moving in the beautiful weather. You’ll burn calories and soak up some of that much-needed vitamin D that’s been so hard to get all winter.

9 Warm Weather Activities That Torch Calories

Read More

3. Step up your spring cleaning.

There’s a reason you’re exhausted after you clean the house. All that movement means you’re expending lots of energy and burning calories. That’s right, according to the Calorie Control Council, a 150-pound person can burn more than 130 calories doing the following cleaning tasks for an hour:

• Laundry/folding clothes
• Sweeping
• Vacuuming
• Washing the car

Looking to boost your burn? Tackle one of the to-dos below this spring. The same sized person can burn more than 270 calories doing an hour of any of them:

• Mopping/scrubbing floors
• Mowing the lawn
• Washing the windows

If you really want to set yourself up for weight loss success, make sure to give your fridge and pantry a deep clean, too. According to the peer-reviewed journal, Health Education & Behavior, leaving candy, cereal and soft drinks visible on kitchen counters is linked to weight gain. Study subjects were found to weigh as much as 30 pounds more than those who kept those foods out of their sight line. If that’s not motivation to chase away those dust bunnies and purge that pantry, we don’t know what is!

4. Give your wardrobe a refresh.

We all have them: Those extra baggy clothes we keep way in the back corner of our closet “just in case we need them some day.” However, holding on to clothes that are two sizes too big is telling yourself that there is a chance you will regain the weight you’re working so hard to lose. Why set yourself up for weight loss failure?

Take a few hours to do a full closet cleanout, removing any clothes you haven’t worn in the past year. Consider bagging them up and donating them—many organizations will send a driver to your house to pick up any gently used clothing you’d like to donate.

Once you’ve finished streamlining your closet, consider treating yourself to a new top or spring dress that makes you feel great no matter where you’re at in your weight loss journey. Springtime blooms in retail stores almost as much as it does in gardens. There’s nothing like a new piece of clothing in a bright spring color to motivate you to keep working toward your weight loss diet goal.

How to Spring Clean Your Way to Weight Loss

Read More

5. Hydrate, hydrate, hydrate.

Research suggests that drinking water before a meal may result in fewer calories consumed at that meal, says Medical News Today. This is great news considering that the warmer it gets outside, the more fluids we lose through our sweat. Perspiration typically leads to thirst and dehydration. Use this thirst to your weight loss advantage this spring. Load up on water a few minutes before you start eating and make sure to drink up throughout the day. If you need a flavor boost, try adding mint, a squeeze of lemon or even fresh cucumbers or berries to your water. On Nutrisystem, we recommend drinking at least 64 ounces of water each day.

Homemade smoothies are a delicious and healthy way to up your fluid intake. We like blending Nutrisystem Protein Shake mix with water or low-fat milk, frozen fruit and fresh greens for a deliciously creamy smoothie that quenches thirst while delivering lots of nutritional value.

Need some recipe inspiration to get you started? Check out the Smoothies & Drink section right here on The Leaf Weight Loss Blog for tons of healthy smoothie recipes our customers love.

Looking to try one of Nutrisystem’s proven weight loss programs? Check out our meal plans today! >

The post 5 Spring Weight Loss Tips Guaranteed to Work appeared first on The Leaf.

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How do you adapt your clothes to weight loss? When do you buy new ones?

Over three months I (30F) lost 30 lbs, went from a 31” waist/46” hip to a 29“ waist/42” hip. My clothes now don’t fit but my pants are especially bad. I already had a difficult-to-fit hourglass shape so buying clothes was already hard before weight loss. I’m scared to buy new clothes in case I gain back, and I also don’t have much budget. How do you deal with this?

I started seeing an excellent dietician a few months ago for my eating , and I was delighted to also start losing weight, which I’ve never been able to do. I kind of can’t afford the dietician (or the new grocery bills) but it’s made such a huge difference in my health markers that I’m trying to rearrange my budget to keep it. I can’t really afford new clothes right now but all my work clothes are a size 14/16 and I’m now a 10/12. What do you do to get more wear out of stuff like office clothes?

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208 lbs>122 back up to 132lbs … slowly slipping

Hello everyone,

So started really focusing on weight loss in January 2024. By November 2024 I had lost 85 ish pounds and was proud to hit 122 lbs. unfortunately I’m finding the weight creeping back up. A 10 lb gain doesnt seem like that much but in a span of around 4 months it really is. At this rate I could gain back about half the weight I’ve lost in a year ! I need help on refocusing. I’ve done this before but it seems like cutting back is a lot harder this time. Anyone been in this boat have any advice?

Thank you !

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I burned off 196350 calories - no one clapped. I did it anyway.

I wanted to share my story on here, because I’ve looked at social media influencers posting weight loss for clout, or sometimes worse; to feed their own ego. I’ll try to keep this short and to the point. In 2023, I was 110 kg. No muscle. No clue. Couldn’t even see my wrist bones, my veins, or better yet, my jawline. I was the fat kid who made people laugh so they had something other to focus on.

My clothes didn’t fit properly. I refused mirrors. I’d avoid photos like they could expose something I wasn’t ready to face. Every day felt like I was hiding behind something, until I got tired of hiding.

Time warp to 2025. I’m now 86 kg. Stronger, leaner, smarter. 49 gym sessions in. Don’t even ask how many calories that is, because frankly, I have no clue. But the title doesn’t lie, I actually burned off the equivalent of roughly 655 donuts, calculated at 300 kcal a pop. I counted. Roughly 200,000 calories.

I didn’t hire a coach. Didn’t ask an influencer. I opened ChatGPT and asked for guidende. ChatGPT helped me build my own plan, customised based on how I felt during my sessions. Although hard at times, I stuck to it. Even on days I wanted to quit. Even when the scale didn’t move. Even when nobody noticed. I kept going—because the version of me I was chasing didn’t have time to beg for validation.

I think people that are just starting their fitness/fat loss journey need to hear this. I don’t train to look good. I train to have a better chance of surgical success. I train to feel like I belong in my own body. I train to not be the guy people feel sorry for. I train to be impossible to ignore; even in silence.

You’ll never understand just how powerful it is to go from being fat in high school, being blamed, feeling out of the norm, to totally transform your body; and be truly proud of yourself. Unless you’ve been through it already. And trust me; its far better than pulling girls (don’t let this be your primary goal).

I’m not done. I’ll never be done. But if someone out there needs a sign to start?

Start now, so one day, you’re the one they don’t recognize.

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Body Recomp

I officially lost 60 pounds today and entered one-derland! I'm so proud of all of my hard work and dedication to myself.

I've been going to the gym, walking, running and playing pickleball and it's been firming my body up. Of course I have the extra skin that comes from weight loss and it's been difficult.

I know skin removal surgery is in my future and I'm not mad about it but I do have a question.

When did you see the most progress of weight loss on the lower part of your stomach? Were you a specific weight? Started doing specific exercises?

I've lost a bunch of visceral fat so it's much slimmer up top then the bottom part of my stomach and I'm happy about any of the fat I've lost, just getting unhappy about how it's looking.

I know you can't spot reduce and it will change in due time, I'm just curious of everyone else's experiences with it.

Also, did you notice more rapid changes per pound of body weight once you got into the 100's? I've seen it said a few times so I'm starting to get excited on seeing even more changes as I lose more.

Thanks!

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what’s it like to be thin?

especially after never having been thin before?

i’m looking to hear from people who’ve lost a significant amount of weight, particularly those who, like me, have never experienced being thin at any point in their lives—not even at their lowest weight.

what were some of the small, subtle changes you noticed after your weight loss? i’m not talking about the obvious stuff like clothing size or compliments from others, but more personal, everyday things—things that might seem minor to someone who’s always been thin but stood out to you.

were there physical changes that surprised you? things you could suddenly do that you couldn’t before? how did it feel, emotionally or mentally, to move through the world in a different body?

i’d love to hear the little things—those moments that made you stop and think, “oh wow, this is new.”

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