The only water I have ever liked is the kind you cook with or the kind you swim in. I don't know if it's because I grew up with well water and it had the typical sulfur/rotten egg smell, so maybe that has become a life-long deterrent. At any rate, water and I are not BFFs. Who am I kidding? We're not even fake-smiles-and-head-nods-when-we-see-each-other-friends!
You can imagine my dilemma when I realized that water needs to be my go-to-beverage as I work to lose this 300 lbs. I've cut out soda (do it, your teeth and body will thank you later) and other sugary drinks. I still drink a half cup of coffee during the work week and I drink unsweetened tea at home (complete sacrilege for a Southern Girl like me). But it's not enough. I need more, and unfortunately water is the answer.
Hydration is such a crucial part of fitness and getting healthy. And the more supersized you are (like me), the more water you need. To check how much water you need, use a handy hydration calculator - you just might be surprised at all the water you should be drinking!
I hate water almost as much as I hate exercise. But I have been able to find alternative solutions to exercise that I enjoy, which made me realize that maybe I could do the same with water. So, I set out to find new ways to make water tasty in a healthy and fun way. I asked friends and scoured Pinterest, which introduced me to fruit and herb infused water. There are a lot of "fat buster" recipes out there, but what caught my eye was the idea of using food to flavor my water. No sugar, no fat - just natural flavors making the wet stuff taste better because frankly that's how water has always tasted to me - wet.
I decided on something simple my first time out of the gate, and I bought some organic spearmint and lemons from my local food Co-Op. I sliced the lemons and de-sprigged the spearmint leaves. I added them to a pitcher of distilled water and then refrigerated my concoction.
It turns out, water isn't so bad after all. It just needed a little dressin' up.