Drink Your Water
Not Drinking Enough Water?
Sometimes it feels like hard work to take in enough water to keep your body hydrated, especially if you are on a diet and trying to stay off soda and other sweet drinks. Even diet drinks are not suitable for those on a diet, because the sweeteners they contain can also cause an insulin spike, just like sugar, making you feel hungry.
Water is just too … Plain!
We all know water is best. And if you are very thirsty, it is no problem to drink cool, sweet water straight down. But other times, it may seem too boring a drink, even if you KNOW you need it to avoid constipation and to bulk out the fiber so it doesn’t clog up your intestines. Milk can be constipating for some people, who may find it best to stick to water. So here are some possible suggestions for drinking down that water in ways that are anything but boring:
Flavored Water
As with anything you put in your body, check what it says on the label first. If you are tempted to buy flavored water, look to see if it contains any artificial sweeteners, if so, avoid it: those sweeteners can produce an insulin spike, just like sugar that will make you feel hungry. Make your own flavored low calorie water:
- Get those little herbal tea bags and pour boiling water on, wait 5 minutes and drink;
- Make chilled herbal tea by adding less boiling water, waiting the 5 minutes, then adding ice cubes for a cool drink;
- Add the teabag to cold water and leave in the fridge overnight;
- Add some frozen fruit from your freezer to plain cold water and leave to sit in the fridge or carry it with you in a flask to work. Raspberries work well and you can eat them afterwards for extra fiber;
- Squeeze half a lemon and put the peel into a large mug or jug and pour on a pint of boiling water. Leave to cool, then add the juice from the squeezer;
- Add a couple of slices of fresh ginger root when pouring in the boiling water to the lemon drink in number 4;
- Add a stock cube to boiling water and allow to cool for a savory hot drink (not for those on low salt);
- Use low sodium bouillon cubes in hot water for a savory drink;
- black tea or black coffee.
Juices
If you are not on a diet and don’t need the fiber, then try drinking juices or smoothies. There are many tasty flavors available or you can easily make your own using a juicing machine. The problem with juices when on a diet is (a) the amount of sugar they contain, especially if you make them with fruit and (b) juicing can remove the fiber in some cases, so you either need to add the removed fiber back into your drink or add extra to your drink. Adding fiber to a juice is a good way of taking extra fiber. You can make green smoothies using vegetables if you want a healthy, low carb drink.
Motivate Yourself To Drink Water
- Make up your daily water allowance in bottles and stack them on the counter. Seeing the number of empty bottles mount is motivating.
- If you have one large container, put a sticky flag on the side each time you drink from it, to show how the level is dropping.
- Award yourself a dollar every day you drink your full water allowance. Put it in a jar to watch the coins mount up.
- Drink little and often. Don’t force yourself to chug down large gulps infrequently.