Reignite Your Love of Water

Some of us love water, but some think it’s just plain boring. Regardless of your feelings towards drinking water, we all need to stay hydrated. Drinking glass after glass of plain water can get monotonous and ignite cravings that aren’t great for our health or our waistlines. Sometimes it is tempting to ditch your clean diet for a few days and splurge on sugary, high calorie drinks. This tends to lead to feeling bloated, guilty and regretful. Instead of subjecting yourself to cheating on your health, you can use some tricks to dress up your water. It will taste as refreshing and delicious as that sugary substitute you had your eye on.

Ingrid Ingebretsen

Infuse Your Water

One of the easiest things you can do to make water taste great is to infuse it with a variety of fruits, herbs and teas. Organic produce is a smart choice to avoid saturating your water with pesticides and chemicals. Also, be sure to wash fruits and herbs thoroughly before immersing it in your drink so dirt doesn’t settle into your water container.

For softer fruits like citrus and strawberries, you can slice or chunk pieces as desired. For harder fruits like apples, you will need to slice the fruit into very thin slices to help it release its flavor. The best way to prepare herbs is to crush them to ensure the leaves infuse your water with the most flavor possible. One important thing to remember is that while some produce may infuse the water almost instantly, other produce may need to soak for a few hours or overnight. To ensure you get the best tasting water, allow time for the fruit and herbs to infuse for at least a couple of hours before serving.

Some Delicious Recipes

Here are some refreshing drink recipes:
Cucumber + lime + mint
Lemon + thyme
Lime + ginger root + basil
Ginger root + Mango + Cayenne Pepper (helps to boost metabolism)
Blackberry + mint
Pineapple + Mint
Grapefruit + Lemon+ Green Tea
Lemon + Lime + Grapefruit + Cucumber (a natural detox!)
Green Tea + Mint + Pomegranate

For drinks on the sweeter side:
Watermelon + honeydew + mint
Orange + cinnamon + cloves
Lemon + raspberry + rosemary
Blueberry + orange
Blackberry + basil

Indulge Your Taste Buds While Staying Hydrated

Once your water has had a makeover, you might be surprised at how easy and delicious it is to drink! You won’t even miss the sugary drinks that made you crash, and added empty calories to your diet. If your tap water tastes slightly chlorinated, you may be interested in investing in a whole-house water system to ensure your water tastes clean and fresh before infusing it.

By infusing your water with healthy produce and herbs, you will curb your craving for sugary, high calorie drinks while staying fully hydrated. The list of negative side effects to your metabolism due to dehydration is endless, so drink up and drink water often.