Aimee Lou Wood Drank This Every Day on The White Lotus

If only we could all call a White Lotus resort our office. The third season of The White Lotus was actually filmed at four different hotels in Thailand, but the luxury wasn’t just on camera for Aimee Lou Wood, who played Chelsea on the show. When it came to what she sipped while on set at the Four Seasons Koh Samui, she kept it totally vacation-appropriate.

“I got addicted to coconuts,” she recently told the hosts of the Today show. “There was one point where I was drinking a concerning amount of coconut a day.”

Wood says that her castmates definitely noticed, and they may have been a bit concerned. “Surely that much isn’t actually healthy anymore,” she recalls them saying. (But she wasn’t the only one who loved snacking and sipping around Thailand—actor Walton Goggins also says he spent several paychecks on Thai-spiced cashews.) She’s probably exaggerating when she says she signed her bill at the end of her stay and found that she’d imbibed “thousands of coconuts,” but if she did, was it good for her?

Of course, drinking some of those coconuts was definitely offering Wood some great health benefits. Some call coconut water “nature’s sports drink” for its combination of minerals that may help to not only hydrate you but also replenish electrolytes. 

And you don’t have to drink your coconut water straight from the source to benefit. Though fresh coconut water is absolutely tasty, the packaged version you find on store shelves has many of the same benefits, including being packed with potassium and calcium. Coconut water is also about 95% water, making it a solid choice for hydration with a twist.

Besides the hydration aspect, coconut water may also be good for bone health and lowering blood pressure, since it offers some calcium and potassium in each serving. One study in the Journal of Urology even suggests that coconut water could help prevent kidney stones. It’s also a natural diuretic, if you’re in the market for one. 

But that doesn’t mean that you should go on a coconut bender like Wood did. Depending on your pre-existing conditions, it may not be a great idea to drink coconut water. If you take blood pressure or antidiabetic medications, coconut water could cause your blood pressure or sugar levels to become dangerously low. The potassium in coconut water can also inhibit kidney function if you already have chronic kidney disease. But if these aren’t concerns for you and you’re not planning a surgery or recovering from one, it’s OK to crack into some coconut water. 

It would be very The White Lotus-inspired to get your hydration in the form of our Coconut Margarita, which pairs coconut water with tequila, triple sec and sweetened cream of coconut. Not feeling boozy? Make your smoothie an electrolytic superstar by adding coconut water. Our Creamsicle Breakfast Smoothie may have you feeling like you’re on a gorgeous vacation with its combination of coconut, mango and orange flavors. Our Tropical Gut-Healthy Smoothie features both prebiotic golden kiwi and probiotic coconut-milk yogurt to aid your microbiome.

You can also eat your coconut water. Our Vietnamese-Style Coconutty Brussels Sprouts is a Southeast Asian fusion dish that makes a classic Western side even more compelling with fish sauce, coconut water and oil. Just don’t confuse coconut water with coconut milk in your recipe—they are not interchangeable!

So, even if you can’t call the White Lotus your workplace, you can still learn from Wood’s obsession and enjoy some coconut water as if you were in the lap of luxury—bonus points if you sip on yours while enjoying the warm weather outside.