When it comes to calculating how much water we should be drinking daily, there’s no clear answer.
Indeed, we’ve all heard the eight glasses a day mandate, but according to reports your water intake really depends on lots of various factors, including your overall health, how active you are, and the climate in which you live.
Health experts reveal that while drinking eight glasses of water each day is not a bad thing, it could be too much or not enough for some people.
The Institute of Medicine reports that adult men need about 13 cups per day of fluid, while adult women need about nine cups of fluid (you get about an additional 2½ cups of fluid from food). Other guidelines exist, but there’s still no true agreement. There is no formal suggestion for how much water people should drink every day, perhaps because everyone needs different amounts of water.
Dr Sivuyile Madikana from Herbalife Nutrition NAB says that instead of agonising over the amount of water you take in every day, trick yourself into consuming foods and drinks that are packed with water – but disguised as something else. Below are Madikana’s ways to trick yourself into consuming more water.
Eat foods that are high in water
Did you know that cucumber is essentially water disguised as a vegetable? Not only delicious and versatile, but cucumber also contains 95% water. Use it in salads, salsas, or on a slice of toast with cream cheese for a tasty meal.
Other foods with a high water content are watermelon, berries, mangoes, apples, lettuce, tomatoes, and peaches. By incorporating more of these foods into your diet, you’ll be able to hit your daily water target in no time.
Can’t stomach water? Try home-made iced tea
Instead of reaching for that fizzy drink, you know you shouldn’t have, consider making your own delicious, iced tea at home. Not only will you be able to control how much water you add to your tea, but also the sugar content.
There are so many flavoured teas out there that you won’t ever run out of options or – let’s face it – get tired of the taste. Start your day by filling a jug of tea, infused however you like, and placing it in the fridge to cool. As you get thirsty throughout the day, pop a few blocks of ice into a glass, and sip on the refreshingly healthy beverage.
But if you just can’t part with it, dilute it
Some of us can’t just quit our cold turkey habits, so try this! If you love having a glass of fruit juice with your breakfast, dilute it with water. While you’ll still get your fix of the delicious fruity goodness, it will add some much-appreciated water to your system.
The same can be applied to other types of drinks, including alcoholic beverages, which are known to dehydrate the body. Practice the 80/20 rule and see if you can scale it down as time goes on.
Don’t forget to hydrate the outside too!
While we typically associate hydrating mists with cooling down on a warm day, it’s become quite common to spritz your face any time of the day for an instant pick-me-up. As you may already know, the skin is the body’s largest organ – one that needs to be hydrated on the outside too.
These mists hydrate the skin from the outside, cool you down (which in turn leads to better body temperature control), and leave the skin feeling soothed. So instead of leaving your skin to dry out, especially during the colder months, spritz away.