All of us know water is an essential ingredient in our healthy lifestyle, but after a while drinking plain water gets boring. Eventually, you will start drinking less and not end up getting your daily eight 8-ounce glasses. So how do you make plain water more appealing and exciting?
Add Citrus Slices or Cucumber to Your Water
There are several things that are good for you by themselves that also make water better tasting. For example, try adding a slice of citrus fruit, such as lemon, lime or orange to a glass of water or several slices of one fruit to a pitcher of water. To add even more zest to your water, and kick up the visual appeal, crush a sprig or two of fresh rosemary and add it to the pitcher along with the citrus fruit.
For something a little different, try adding slices of cucumber to your pitcher. Not only does it add flavor to your water, but the green rind around the slice creates interesting visual appeal.
Green Tea
So far we have talked about how to make plain water more enjoyable to drink, but brewing it into green tea has certain medical benefits too. Due to the polyphenols in green tea, studies have shown it can help:
- relieve rheumatoid arthritis
- reduce high cholesterol
- prevent infection
- boost an impaired immune system
Hot or cold, green tea is good for you.
Mint Tea
Another tea many people enjoy is mint tea. Just boil some water and add fresh mint leaves. Mint has health benefits too numerous to list. Two of the more popular ones include soothing a stomach upset by stress and weight loss.
Mint tea contains theanine, a natural compound shown to have a calming effect. Green tea helps you lose weight too due to its diuretic effect. Drinking it helps get rid of extra fluid your body does not need and with it extra weight. Because mint tea has a small amount of caffeine, it can increase your endurance and help you work out longer in the gym, thus burning even more calories.
Try Some Fizzy Water
For some “fizzy” water, try drinking Seltzer water or Club Soda. Both come in natural and calorie-free fruit flavors, so you are not adding any additional calories to your healthy diet – just taste. Or you can make your own fizzy water with one of the new consumer soda machines. Add the bubbles, but not the favor mix. Sure, there’s a little controversy on the subject of drinking carbonated water but even more so on not drinking enough water. Try using the “fizzy water” as more of a treat rather than to drink it all of the time.
The old school of thought concentrated on drinking at least 64 ounces of just plain water per day and optimally one ounce for every two pounds of body weight. Now nutritionists mostly agree that some of your daily water requirement can come from other sources, such as coffee, tea, and certain fruits and vegetables. It all adds up and makes life more interesting!
