Thursday Thirteen #3 - Ways to Improve Your Water Intake

Thought I’d would join in the Thursday Thirteen fun this week.

I’m always looking for ways to improve and boost my water intake. Here’s a few water solutions I’ve found to be helpful to me - please share yours!

1. The U.S. National Research Council recommends 1 mL of water for every calorie you eat. So according to this guideline, a person who eats 2,000 calories should be drinking 2,000 mL.
2. People who don’t make the time to drink fluids during the day sometimes try to make up for it in the evening, but this may result in waking up during the night to urinate and unrefreshing sleep. Avoid drinking at least two hours before bedtime
3. Use a water filter. Filtered water just tastes better - making it more appetizing.
4. Don’t like to drink plain water? No problem. Many foods, such as juice, soups, fruits, vegetables, and milk are 80 to 90 percent water. While it’s healthier to get in the habit of drinking a lot of plain water (and model this wet taste for your children), if you absolutely must have some sweet-tasting water, try: water-logged fruits, such as, you guessed it, watermelon, juice popsicles, fruit-rich smoothies, and plain water flavored with juice
5. Shun caffeine-containing coffee, teas, and colas, along with alcoholic beverages, as these have a diuretic effect, causing your body to eliminate more water.
6. Find fluid companions. Get in the habit of taking along a bottle of water when you ride your bike, drive in the car, and especially when you go on outings with active, thirsty toddlers. When water is close at hand in your purse, diaper bag, or front seat, you’re likely to drink more of it. Keep a glass of water or water bottle on the nightstand next to your bed and imbibe as soon as you get up.
7. Try water a bit before breakfast. Beginning your day with several glasses of water rehydrates you after the night and helps your body begin the day in better biochemical balance.
8. Love that lemon-ade. If your tapwater takes on a chlorine taste, adding a squirt of lemon juice to each glass of water can make it more palatable.
9. Forget fizzy water. Carbonated water does nothing more for your body than make you belch. In fact, the gas from carbonation makes you feel fuller sooner, so you drink less. If you enjoy the fizz, add a little seltzer to plain water.
10. Try water for weight loss. Can you drink more and weigh less? Yes, thanks to a biological quirk that is friendly to fat reducers. Your body is a natural water heater. When you drink water, which is nearly always a lower temperature than your body, the body expends energy (and therefore calories) to bring the water up to its own temperature. So you’re not only drinking a non-caloric beverage, you’re burning calories! That’s a darn good drinking deal. Your body can burn around 100 calories a day using energy to heat a gallon of cool water that you drink. That translates into nearly a pound of fat loss in a month. Beware of any weight loss programs that advise drinking less water. Water contributes to health by helping the kidneys flush toxins out of the body. When the kidneys are working optimally, other organs of the body, especially the liver, are more in balance.
11. Freeze yummy fruit into icecubes by popping a strawberry or some raspberries in each of the cube trays before filling it with water. Use those fruit cubes in your glass of water to give yourself a tasty treat when you’ve finished with your water.
12. Buy one bottle of bottled water - then keep reusing the bottle. Keep a bottle of water near you at all times
13. Give your bottle of water a kick with Crystal Light’s On-The-Go packs.