Did you know that humans can survive longer without food than we can without water? Yes, that’s right – humans can survive a few weeks without food, but only around 3 days without water!
It’s no secret that water is an all-important, life-sustaining substance. It's not just vital to our health and wellbeing, it’s vital to our survival.
It’s also no secret that it can sometimes be hard to drink enough. We’ve all heard that we should be drinking the recommended 8 glasses, or 2L of water a day, but geez – that sure is a lot of water!! Especially if you don’t really like water.
Some people find water very boring and bland; others don’t like the “taste,” and some just prefer to drink fruit juice and/ or soft drink. I was definitely all of the above for the majority of my younger years.
The problem with drinking fruit juices and soft drinks isn’t just the excess sugar and empty calories that are consumed along with these beverages, but they can also actually make you even more dehydrated.
When sugary drinks make you dehydrated, of course, your first instinct is to drink more of these sugar-laden beverages, which in turn dehydrate you further, leading you to drink even more, and so on, and so forth. It’s a real catch 22 situation.
So, what do you do when you’re one of those people who love soft drink and fruit juice, but you don’t like water? Once upon a time, I was one of those people.
I never liked water and I just never drank it. If I was ever thirsty, I always reached for anything but; lemonade, cola, creaming soda, orange, or passionfruit flavoured soft drinks, apple juice, blackcurrant juice, or even just plain old milk. Water was the last thing on my mind and the last beverage on my menu.
I’m not even really sure why I actually started drinking water, but I can only assume that I heard or read an article somewhere about how important it was, so I thought I’d make a conscious effort to drink more. Or maybe being 18 I was just too broke to continue buying soft drink at work!
I definitely did not have any plans on drinking 8 glasses of water a day though - back then I couldn’t have even managed one full glass a day! I just found water to be a strange substance to drink – I didn’t like the way it felt sliding down my throat and there was just no flavour to it. I was not a fan. At all.
Still, I made it my mission to somehow learn to tolerate it. How, you ask? I started slow. Very slow. One day I filled myself a glass of water and sat it on my office desk at work. I didn’t chug the whole glass at once, but instead, I made it my mission to take one sip every hour. Not a full glass, not a mouthful, just one little sip.
For a whole week I sat at my desk sipping at one glass of water. Slowly, I found myself drinking more and more each day. In the end, I didn’t even have to try anymore, and the strangest thing happened – I actually started to crave drinking water and I started to really enjoy it.
That’s a strange thing about the human body that I learned while studying my nutrition course – do you know that when you don’t drink enough water, your body basically gives up on sending the signals telling you to drink more?
It’s like when you keep telling a good friend that she really should stop seeing that guy that makes her cry all the time, yet again and again she ignores your good advice and keeps going back to him. Eventually you get sick of telling her, so in the end you just roll your eyes and give up on trying to get through to her.
That’s basically what your body does when you constantly ignore its cues to drink water, but when you start drinking water again, it’s almost as if your body remembers how much it wanted that water in the first place and suddenly you start to crave it and want it more and more.
I now drink no less than 1.5L of water per day (on a bad day!) without even trying! I sip water all day, every day, and it’s now one of the only liquids that I really drink. If I’m ever offered something to drink while I’m out, my first choice is usually water (or cocktails, but this is a health and wellbeing blog, so let's not talk about that! 😋).
I’ve even found that I no longer crave soft drink or fruit juice, and I rarely ever drink it. On the very rare occasions that I do, I can only drink a few small mouthfuls before I’ve had enough – I just find these kinds of drinks too sweet and sickly now, and when I’m thirsty, I actually don’t want anything but water!
Another great trick to drinking more water is to always have a bottle of water with you. If you always have a bottle of water with you, it’s not only a great reminder to drink more, but it’s also a great way to avoid buying juice or soft drink while you’re out.
I’m pretty sure that I’ve read somewhere before that the best way to hydrate your body is to drink full glasses of water at a time, but even now, I don’t think I could ever bring myself to do that.
For me, sipping water throughout the day works better for me. I personally think it makes more sense to listen to your body’s cues as it sends them to you as opposed to forcing things down because you think that you should - but it's up to you to do what you think works best for you.
Water does so many great things for your body such as:
Helping to increase energy levels - so much less work for your body to pump flowing, well-hydrated blood around than trying to push thick, gunky sludge all over the place and also means that the nutrients that get carried around in your bloodstream have an easier time making their way around the body to where they are needed.
Helps lubricate your joints resulting in less pain and stiffness.
Helps flush toxins out of the body, helping to prevent free radical buildup.
Helps lubricate your digestive system making it easier for your body to break down the food that you consume and helps to decrease your risk of constipation.
Hydrates your skin, giving you the appearance of less wrinkles and plumper, younger looking skin.
Helps to prevent headaches – did you know that one of the main causes of headaches is dehydration? In saying that, keep in mind that drinking too much water can have the opposite effect. Excess water consumption can flush too much sodium from your brain, so be careful not to drink too much more than the recommended 8 glasses/ 2L a day.
If you really have tried and still find that you can’t bring yourself to drink plain water, why not try jazzing it up a little and adding some fruit and/ or herbal infusions? There are plenty of options to choose from – if you jump on Google, you should be able to find at least something that suits your taste preferences.
Try adding things such as a squeeze of lemon, lime, or orange juice, sliced citrus fruits, sliced strawberries, kiwi fruit, cucumber etc. or herbs such as mint, basil, or lemon balm – the possibilities and combinations are endless!
You can also help keep your body hydrated by consuming foods and drinks such as herbal teas, watermelon, celery, and clear fluids such as vegetable broth just to name a few. Again, jump on Google and you will be able to find a list of hydrating foods.
What is your relationship with water like? Do you feel that you’re drinking as much water as you should be?
Do you enjoy drinking water, or do you find that you can’t stand the stuff?
Would love to hear your thoughts or any other little tips and tricks you may have to stay well-hydrated!
Happy to have you here and I hope you have a great day/ night!
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Hope to have you back soon. Thanks for reading.
Lisa. 😊 xx
I dont like water but I would love too learn