Literal Water

We are supposed to drink 8-10 glasses of water per day. I admire people who can do that effortlessly.

I used to keep a little poster up in my office cubicle for a visual reminder.  It was not actually a poster but a copied printout from a colleague. She was a serious runner and adamant about eating healthy, etc. At the top of the page was a drawing of 8 glasses and below it listed the benefits for water intake.

1. Lose weight: Drinking water helps you lose weight because it flushes down the by-products of fat breakdown. Drinking water reduces hunger, it’s an effective appetite suppressant so you’ll eat less. Plus, water has zero calories.
2. Natural Remedy for Headache: Helps to relieve headache and back pains due to dehydration. Although many reasons contribute to headache, dehydration is the common one.
3. Look Younger with Healthier Skin: You’ll look younger when your skin is properly hydrated. Water helps to replenish skin tissues, moisturizes skin and increases skin elasticity.
4. Better Productivity at Work: Your brain is mostly made up of water, thus drinking water helps you think better, be more alert and more concentrated.
5. Better Exercise: Drinking water regulates your body temperature. That means you’ll feel more energetic when doing exercises. Water also helps to fuel your muscle.
6. Helps in Digestion and Constipation: Drinking water raises your metabolism because it helps in digestion. Fiber and water goes hand in hand so that you can have your daily bowel movement.
7. Less Cramps and Sprains: Proper hydration helps keep your joints and muscles lubricated, so you’ll less likely get cramps and sprains.
8. Less Likely to Get Sick and Feel Healthy: Drinking plenty of water helps fight against flu and other ailments like kidney stones and heart attack. Water adds with lemon is used for ailments like respiratory disease, intestinal problems, rheumatism and arthritis etc. In another words one of the benefits of drinking water is that it can improve your immune system.
9. Relieves Fatigue: Water is used by the body to help flush out toxins and waste products from the body. If your body lacks water, your heart, for instance, needs to work harder to pump out the oxygenated blood to all cells, so are the rest of the vital organs, your organs will be exhausted and so will you.
10. Good Mood: Your body feels very good and that’s why you feel happy.
11. Reduce the Risk of Cancer: Related to the digestive system, some studies show that drinking a healthy amount of water may reduce the risks of bladder cancer and colon cancer. Water dilutes the concentration of cancer-causing agents in the urine and shortens the time in which they are in contact with bladder lining.

Can you see the importance of water to your body after understanding the above benefits of drinking water?

 

I’ve also read that this is the formula for your own personal water intake.

Take your weight in pounds, divide it by two and drink that many ounces per day. So if someone weighs 160 pounds, divide that by two, get 80. So that person should drink 80 ounces of water per day. That is ten eight ounce glasses of water throughout the day, or eight ten ounce glasses of water.

Ok this is great. The information was right there in front of me. I knew of the benefits but yet I could not consume all of this water throughout the workday. I like water when I am really thirsty but other than that, I am not that motivated about it. Coffee, juice and other beverages do not count. I am talking h2O. I did however get into the habit of diluting cranberry or grape juice at home. I would pour about one part cranberry juice and three parts water. When I dined out I would ask for a glass of water with lemon, in addition to my other beverage. So I TRIED!

While online I happened to come across links for water recipes. This really caught my attention. “Water Recipe” made the idea of preparing a glass of water EXCITING. I will share a couple of recipes here:

Cucumber-Orange Water Recipe

6 cups cold water

6 thin slices English cucumber (I used regular cucumber)

5 thin slices orange

Combine all ingredients in a large pitcher. Cover and chill in the refrigerator for at least 30 minutes. Serve.

Sassy Water Recipe

2 liters water (about 8 1/2 cups)

1 teaspoon freshly grated ginger

1 medium cucumber (peeled and thinly sliced)

1 medium lemon thinly sliced

12 small spearmint leaves

Combine ingredients and let it stand in fridge overnight.

I really like the Cucumber-Orange water. I haven’t tried the Sassy water yet. I have all ingredients with the exception of spearmint leaves so I will try that next. What water recipes do you use?