June 24, 2017
If you know me, you know I’m kind of a beach bum. Maybe it’s my Pisces nature, but I have always, always been drawn to water. I recall a particular day back when I lived on the East Coast. I can’t quite remember what had me stressed out at the time, but I DO remember my resolution. I got in my car and I drove to the beach at 6am. I put my bare feet in the sand, found a big piece of driftwood to sit on and I watched the waves crash as the sun came up. I could feel the stress melting away, my tight muscles relaxing.
There’s just something incredibly healing about water.
Water doesn’t just heal us mentally or emotionally, it’s also an essential component to our livelihood, and it’s as important as the air we breathe.
As an advocate of health and nutrition, you might never guess that getting enough water each day would be something I struggle with, but I do! I’ve tried tracking it in all sorts of different ways – In a food journal, using a digital tracker, and even with a little notepad on the fridge. Why didn’t these methods work? Because for every glass of water I drank, I would FORGET to write it down! It became more of a nuisance than anything – Just one more thing to remember to do.
And so I would never do it.
Get Enough Water with this One Simple Tip
I started thinking – I need to be able to see with a quick glance how much water I’ve gotten through so far today, without pens or papers or annoying trackers.
SO here’s how I did it:
I have TWO 1L bottles of water, which I top up with filtered water as I am making dinner in the evening. I leave them on the counter overnight (I find I actually drink MORE water if it’s at room temp!). When I wake up in the morning, the first thing I see is my 2L of water! I grab a glass and fill it up using my bottles. It’s a constant visual of how much is left over!
No tracking required!
A few more tips for you:
- Drink BETWEEN meals. If you drink all of your water during meals, it can dilute your digestive juices and you may not absorb quite as much of the nutrients from your meal!
- Don’t like water? Try mixing it up! I love a nice glass of hot lemon or lime water first thing in the morning, or some water with sliced cucumber, oranges or mint. Get creative and aim to try a new (naturally) flavoured water each week! My personal favourite? Cucumber and mint leaves. DIVINE!
- Cravings got you down? Did you know that most of the time when we crave salty snacks, our body is actually craving water? Therefore if you can regulate your water levels, it may very well help to curb those cravings!
- Diuretics: Ever heard of ’em? A diuretic is something that causes water and salts to be eliminated from your system. For example: Coffee is a diuretic. It can actually remove MORE water than you are drinking in the coffee! That means that each cup of coffee could potentially remove 1.5 cups of water from your body!
- Now listen – I know you’re probably pretty attached to your morning cup o’ joe, and I won’t tell you to give it up, but it’s certainly a great idea to be mindful of this when figuring out just how much water you should be aiming for each day! Simply try adding an extra cup or two per coffee to ensure you’re getting enough.
- Ditch the tap water: Now before you tell me the story of how you have super amazing fresh well water, hear me out: Unless your water has been tested, don’t assume it’s safe. Get yourself a carbon water filter to remove impurities and give you the best chance of quality in your cup!
- So there you have it! Grab two 1L bottles of water, start emptying ’em each morning, and watch ’em disappear before bedtime. Just like that, the daily water goal we so often forget about becomes a piece of cake.
I’d love to hear from you! Do you struggle with getting enough water each day? What simple tricks have you tried to stay on track with your water goals?
