AIP maple-lemon electrolyte water - filtered water with lemon juice, maple syrup, and sea salt, a homemade sports-drink alternative

There's a particular kind of day on this protocol where cooking, or even deciding what to eat, is simply asking too much of you right now, and what your body actually needs in that moment is fluid, a little salt, and a little sugar. What helps is almost embarrassingly simple: water, sea salt, a touch of maple, and a squeeze of lemon, stirred together in under a minute.

The sodium comes from the sea salt and the small dose of natural sugar from maple syrup, and the lemon is there mostly for taste rather than for any mineral load of its own. Keep your expectations honest: this is a homemade stand-in for an additive-heavy commercial sports drink, not a clinical rehydration formula, and if a doctor has already given you a specific rehydration plan, use that one instead of this. Think of it as the gentle, everyday version for an ordinary hard day, nothing more claimed than that.

Stir it until the salt disappears, taste it, and adjust until it feels right rather than perfect on paper. Drink it slowly if you can manage slowly today. Meeting yourself with this much care on a hard day is not a small thing.

Ingredients

• 2 cups filtered water
• 2 tablespoons lemon juice (about half a lemon; orange or lime also work)
• 2 tablespoons grade B maple syrup
• 1/4 to 1/2 teaspoon sea salt

Method

Stir everything together in a glass until the salt fully dissolves. Taste and adjust the salt to your liking, then drink.

This is a stir-together drink with no cooking, so it needs no air fryer or Instant Pot variation.

*Adapted from acleanplate.com*