Not a fan of water? Become one!

By Breanna Callahan, Marketing Coordinator

I have never been a fan of drinking water. I struggle to even come close to drinking the amount daily that you are supposed to. So, I decided to do a little exploration to help convert myself and maybe even you into a water-drinker.

Benefits

We’ve all been told, “You should drink water. It’s good for you.” I guess that’s not enough of a statement to get me going, so I decided to look at more specific reasons as to why we should drink water.

It is cheap! Water, especially out of the tap is a lot cheaper than buying coffee, soda, or juice. So, you can enjoy water and save up for a special treat for yourself instead!

This point is debated, but some research points out that drinking water helps your skin stay hydrated. I do notice when I drink more water, my skin is less scaly and dry and more hydrated.

Drinking water helps you to maintain a healthy weight, or you might even lose weight. If you replace unhealthy drinks with sugar and calories in them with water, you will be consuming less calories, and therefore might lose weight. Another thing to keep in mind is that often times, when you feel hungry, you’re actually thirsty. So, if it’s the middle of the afternoon and you’re thinking about a snack, maybe reach for a glass of water first.

Water helps to get rid of toxins in your body, which can cause pain and inflammation. Water also helps to lubricate your joints, which can help reduce joint pain.

When you get dehydrated, because you aren’t drinking enough water, you get tired. Drinking water regularly will help keep your energy up.

Strategies

So now that we know why we should drink more water, how can we do that?

• Set a goal for how much water you should drink daily. Many go by the “half of your body weight in ounces” rule. For example, if you weigh 150 pounces, you should drink 75 ounces of water per day. Once you know how much you should drink you can figure out a plan on how to tackle that. Maybe, you have a water bottle (see more on that below) and drink one bottle in the morning and one in the afternoon to reach your goal. If you break it down into smaller goals, it seems more manageable.
• Get a fun water bottle that you want to drink out of! Maybe you like to drink really cold water, so buy one that keeps water cold several hours. Or maybe one that has a compartment for infusing your water with fruit or herbs. You want it to be a water bottle that you won’t mind carrying around all day. If it is with you, you are more likely to drink from it. It’s not doing any good stuck out of sight, out of mind in the refrigerator!
• Besides getting a water bottle you enjoy, get a straw. This might sound funny, but some people find they drink more water when they are using a straw.
• Speaking of infusing your water, if you don’t want plain water, experiment with different add-ins. A few of my favorite are lemon, or cucumber and mint. I get it, plain water is…plain. But you can find something that tastes good and you enjoy drinking that is just as healthy as plain water! Here are a few other ideas I found on the internet:
  • Strawberries and mint
  • Cantaloupe or watermelon
  • Citrus fruit- orange, lemon, lime
  • Tomato and basil
• Keep track of how much water you are drinking, and if you meet your goal, reward yourself! You can keep track by tallying on a sheet of paper, or you can use an app. There are a few apps on your phone that will help track your water intake including Plant Nanny. I thought this app was fun because it’s free and rather than just tracking your water, you track it to help your plant grow! How fun is that?
• Get others involved. Get a friend or coworker involved in a “water drinking challenge.” You can use it as a competition or just motivate each other. If you have others involved, they will keep you accountable (and you can do the same for them).
• I don’t know about you, but in the winter time, the last thing I want when I come in from the cold, snowy, outdoors is a freezing glass of water. So heat it up. I like to drink hot water with lemon in it. It warms me up and I love the lemon flavor.
• Get moving. When you workout or just take a quick walk, you are more likely to notice you are thirsty or crave a nice cold drink of water.

So, here we go. We have the reasons to drink water and a few strategies. It is something we can do to be healthier that doesn’t cost extra money or time. Really, there isn’t any disadvantage to doing it. We just have to set our minds to it. So cheers! Here’s to us drinking more water to help us be healthier, feel better, and have more energy!