Sugar, sweeteners, diabetes and an amazing mojito with Urban Cordial

This week’s podcast is sponsored and edited by our friend Natasha Steele from Urban Cordial. Unhappy with the sickly, sweet non-alcoholic drink offerings on the market, Natasha created Urban Cordial. This helped her, and ultimately others, to tackle both their alcohol and sugar consumption and. Because we don’t just do one thing at a time, right? In this podcast, Natasha talks to dietician and all-around sugar expert, Laura Tilt about overhauling our drinks. Natasha also shares how to use Urban Cordial to create the most amazing alcohol-free mojito.

Who is Urban Cordial?

At Club Soda, we believe that being part of a community is the superfood of behaviour change. That’s why we’re thrilled to team up with Natasha from Urban Cordial. This fantastic range of low sugar cordials came about after Natasha became fed up with watching her colleagues getting smashed while she sipped on something syrupy sweet, full of sugar, and pretending to taste like fruit.

It was just disgusting. So I was looking at cordials and the cordial market and they were all so sweet that I just wanted to create something a bit different.

Natasha Steele, Urban Cordial

For Natasha, the sugary syrup and fake flavours were enough to encourage her to create her own cordials to enjoy at home. It wasn’t long until the success of her low sugar, foraged, healthy cordial recipes were being sold at her local farmers market, and demand exploded. Working with British Farms to ensure oddly-shaped but perfectly good fruit destined for landfill is used, Natasha has created an ethical, low sugar treat for those wanting a delicious drink when you’re not drinking. Urban Cordial helps make space for a greater range of alcohol-free drinks behind the bar or in the fridge.

Sweet talking with Natasha and Laura Tilt

Laura Tilt is a Registered Dietitian and Health Writer. She is fascinated by how food makes us feel, think, and live, and she is passionate about helping us understand the relationship between what goes on our plates and in our glasses and what happens in our bodies. She was the perfect person for Natasha to talk to about their shared interest in sugar, sweeteners, and their potentially harmful effect on our health. Follow Laura on Instagram here.

Sugar, just like alcohol can increase dopamine. And that’s why it’s really rewarding to consume because it kind of gives us that sort of feel good lift. So, when we have given up alcohol, we’re missing this dichotomy, if you like, and if we’re not drinking, then our brain is going to be seeking out other ways to get that dopamine and ways to make it feel good, which could be sugar.

Laura Tilt

This podcast between Natasha and Laura Tilt focuses on .why we crave sugar when changing our drinking. It looks at sugar in alcoholic and non-alcoholic drinks, and whether sugar-free diets are really all that helpful. Then there’s the big question: sweeteners – good or bad? The experts discuss what to do if you are diabetic, and how to read the food and drink labels so that you know how much sugar you are getting.

Natasha’s Sublime Strawberry and Sage Mojito

Take 2-3 fresh strawberries and add to a cocktail shaker (or, failing that, use a large, empty jar).

Squeeze in the quarters of 1 lime, then drop as much of the flesh into the shaker as possible.

Muddle together (gently mash) the strawberries and the lime – a perfect pairing!

Add 30 ml of Strawberry & Sage Cordial. The sage replaces mint well in this distinctive and unusual mojito alternative.

Add some crushed ice, add the lid to the shaker or jar, and shake really well to mix the ingredients and get some colour going!

Pour into a glass, add some more ice cubes and top the mixture up with soda or fizzy water.

This post is sponsored Urban Cordial. Find them on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram. And for more cocktail recipe ideas, head to their recipes page here and get 10% off their fantastic range of low sugar cordials for your mocktails with code CLUBSODA.