Im realizing that I’ve actually been chronically dehydrated for a good portion of my adult life and I’m looking to change that. I just don’t enjoy drinking water (as silly as that may sound).
Any advice is appreciated.
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Are you drinking water with meals? I find washing something down, even a single chip, causes you to drink more than you could by itself.
Also, keep it at hand. A refillable bottle is worth investing in. If you like it ice cold, get a vacuum insulated vessel.
I have a water bottle but I can never finish it in a day.
I think the washing down food idea is really good and im definitely going to try that going forward.
Rinse after you eat anything (or drink anything other than water) and you’ll never get cavities.
You go: “Wow, I’m an adult now and sometimes I have to do things I don’t want to do”. And then you drink the water.
The fact of the matter is that almost nobody’s favorite beverage is water, but in a display of forbearance (combined with not being too fond of the whole dehydration thing) we drink it anyway.
Additives and things can help you in the near term, but developing good habits takes time and effort (and is very often the cornerstone of good health).
eventually good habits become self re-inforcing.
I can’t drink mass market soda anymore, it’s disgustingly sweet. some of the smaller boutique sodas have way less sugar and are tasty.
does sparkling help? cucumber, slice of lemon, orangeslice?
I know a lot of people get those huge bottles and it helps them - just having it with them all the time 🤔
Generally not really… sparkling water mostly just makes me wish I was drinking normal water or just normal juice. Its kinda just the worst of both worlds.
I have gotten really into making my own juices recently like oranges and apples and yada yada but even then I dont even think I drink enough. (Plus juice is far more sugary than normal water even if its natural juices)
You could always water those juices down a bit. So a half glass of juice mixed with a half glass of water. Basically homemade (non-sparkling) Spindrift.
And it’s also worth combining the sparkling water with the juice! If the sparkling water is just making you crave it anyways. Basically instant soda. Start with 4:1 ratio or to taste and you’ll be surprised after a month or two just how little juice you have to add to the water to taste it. Getting a sodastream with little sugar free flavor squirts made a huge difference to me being able to ditch a childhood sugar addiction.
does sparkling help?
I’m craving sparkling water now. I forgot how much I liked that stuff. It’s been years
I love that shit, got one of those sparkers at home to make it with. is good shit
Haha, yes yes we’re taking over the world with Kohlensäurehaltigem Mineralwasser!
Start by adding some flavour, like slices of lemon or orange. In time you’ll start to like how hydrated you are. Just don’t put sugar into it.
cucumber is great for this
Big Water Bottle has everyone convinced that we need to be chugging water 24/7.
Unless you live in a really hot place and work outside, or have some other risk factor (like dementia or diarrhea), thirst should be enough to keep you hydrated enough.
If you dont have additional risk factors, and you dont just exist in a constant state of thirst, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Echoing this:
Being dehydrated has real and generally unpleasant symptoms which drinking water alleviates. Dehyrdation is not just when your urine has a color.
If you have to go #1 on a regular basis, you’re probably not dehydrated.
For me, having a large water bottle within arms reach at all times is what helped me start staying hydrated. I used to use gallons of water from the store and refill them until I felt it was time for a new one, but now I have a nice 64oz water bottle. Importantly for me, I don’t like sucking on a straw to drink water. It’s too much work and too slow. I like my water just cooler than room temperature. Having that in arms reach at all times means every time I started feeling hungry, I could drink water because I was actually thirsty and it felt the same to me.
Herbal tea, hot or cold. Add flavour to your water - crush a couple frozen berries in the glass, add mint, add citrus slices. Try different temperatures: iced, room temp, just boiled. Drinking from a glass or cup instead of a bottle can help.
Tap water? If so, try filtered water, get a good, credible filter and filter the water. Depending on where you live there’s a fair amount of materials in the water that make it unpleasant.
Try adding more water to dishes you eat, have soup and put in a couple ice cubes and drink all the broth.
There’s various ways to flavour water to make it more enjoyable. Common ones are listed by Witchfire, but there’s also commercial products that may help. Just try to avoid the ones with caffeine in them.
Really, you have to probably train yourself to enjoy water. Have a piece of chocolate or something with water. Associate it with positive acts. Pavlov yourself.
Tap water? If so, try filtered water, get a good, credible filter and filter the water. Depending on where you live there’s a fair amount of materials in the water that make it unpleasant.
In a pinch, boiling it, and letting it cool back down also helps some, if they can’t afford a filter.
Make it the first thing you drink when you wake up.
This is a great start. You can even fill a glass before bed so it’s waiting on your nightstand when you open your eyes, like sizzling bacon on a bedroom Foreman grill.
(This should be fine as long as you’re not immunocompromised, in which case you may need to stick to temperature-controlled water.)
Just having it right there works best for me.
A different approach to the not liking water, get a good filter. I used breta filters for years but a few years back installed an under sink reverse osmosis filter because the water here is so hard that it just tastes bad whether left hard or softened. I knew water could be better because I grew up with decent water and liked it even back when I preferred pop or juice.
I wonder if anyone who claims to dislike water has only ever had subpar water. Note that I include a bunch of bottled waters in that, as I vastly prefer my RO tap water to any store bought bottled water, though some were on par with breta filtered water, though I’ve always hated the waste involved in buying bottled water (other than those big ones you can refill and stick in a water cooler, which can also be RO water if you have a good water place to get it from).
If you do go for RO, make sure the system you get has an extra stage that adds some minerals back into the water. The RO on its own actually leaves the water too pure to be safe to drink regularly, as it causes osmosis to pull nutrients out of your cells (or something like that). I’d also only suggest it in an area where water is plentiful, as it does use more water than what you get from the filter, though adding a passive pump can improve efficiency.
While the mineral issues are a concern, for most people it’s overcome with a decent diet. I’m not sure that those remineralizers do an awful lot. But I don’t leave my RO water standing eg in kettle!
Berkey water tank with a set of Doulton filters.
Hydro Homey gang.
Just drink water. You’ve ruined yourself over all these years by drinking juice/soda/Brawndo. You keep buying into the lie that “you don’t like water”.
You’ll get used to it and eventually come to want water. It’s literally what your body craves. Humans have existed for 300 millenia; mass produced sugary drinks have only existed for what, 100 years? You’ve evolved to drink water.
I’ve started making my espresso drinks with more water for that reason. Yes, it tastes more ‘watery’ but I get more water so - win?
It’s that essentially just a cup of coffee?
. . . No. But actually yes. (Or vice versa)
Why do you think you’re chronically dehydrated? Is your urine brown? Have you been fainting? Do you have kidney stones? (I don’t actually want to know - please don’t share your personal health information on the internet - but if the answer to any of those questions is yes please see a doctor.) Otherwise if the answer to those questions is “no” you are likely getting more then enough hydration. It’s a myth that we need 8 glasses of water a day or need to be constantly drinking water to be “hydrated.” Just keep your water of choice available and drink when you are thirsty. You don’t need to (and shouldn’t) force yourself to drink beyond that. Our bodies are really good at self regulation and forcing more fluid into our system just equates to extra unnecessary trips to the bathroom. You don’t need to force yourself to “like” water. If it’s the only thing you have on hand to drink you’ll drink it when you get thirsty.
Get the flavor packets, don’t let people shame you for it either! Just get fucking hydrated!
