Tip of the day: Drinking more water

But its never as simple as that isn't it?

Today's post, we'll start of with the most basics of good health: drinking more water. Many people don't drink enough water and often go for teas, fruit juices, sodas, etc. There have been some arguments in the past that you should drink 8 glasses a day and drinking other fluids should count towards that. I'm not a scientist or nutritionist so I can't give you a scientific study complete with your usual control groups. But according to NHS choices live well, they do count. 

Drinking 8 glasses of fruit juices or sodas a day may count towards your water intake, but in the long run they'll still be detrimental towards your health. 

From what we learnt in the documentaries, we can create some general rules of thumb about drinking other beverages other than water:

1. Limit your soda, fruit juices and energy drinks

Sodas and fruits juices are high in sugar. Buzzfeed has a video showing how much sugar you consume when you drink some of these drinks. And surprise, some brands of orange juice have more sugar than a can of coca-cola. Like the other two, energy drinks also contain alot of sugar and there has been warnings reported over potential risks. Excess sugar leads to obesity leads to diabetes and other health related concerns.

Also, sodas have certain chemicals in them that are extremely bad for you. MindBodyGreen has a rather scary infographic about how soft drinks impact your health.

I would recommend forfeiting these drinks on a daily basis and perhaps use them as the occasional treat. It's hard to suddenly cut yourself off from drinks you've had on a daily basis so I suggest reducing them at intervals that feel right for you. Some people can go cold turkey, but that doesn't always work. Some suggestions would be cutting them at 25% intervals every few days. For example, if you had four glasses of juice or soda everyday, tomorrow have only three. After a few more days, two. Remember do what's manageable because like many diets, people tend to fall back to old habits. What we're trying to do is not create a diet regime but a healthy habit regime. 

2. Coffee

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Coffee is a controversial one, a bit like the great gluten debate but...might not generate as many comments. Some caffeine is healthy for you, but not too much (which tends to adhere to the general rule of thumb: too much of a good thing).  Huffingtonpost posted 11 reasons you should drink coffee.

However, there is the whole 'too much of a good thing for you'. Even eating too many (organic) fruits is unhealthy in the long run. 

I had a friend in undergrad that if she didn't have a cup of coffee in the morning she'd have a headache. In my opinion that would suggest her system has become quite dependant on it. Take into account your own lifestyle factors and find what's a healthy balance for you. Being healthy isn't about falling under certain extremes in the health spectrum, its about balance.

I don't know how much coffee someone should drink, its up to you and your individual lifestyle. I don't drink coffee so I can't say what works for me. But-

3. Tea

I do love my tea.

And Summer (this blog's other contributor) makes sure she has some of my favourite tea in her kitchen when I come to visit. 

Personally, I still keep to the whole drink enough water a day rule and do include my cups of tea in the equation. What I usually aim for is 75% water, 25% tea. On other days, its 50/50. I'll write another post about the benefits teas (and what organic brands I buy). I recommend the following teas:

-Japanese Green Tea

-Pukka Detox Tea

-Olive Leaf Tea

The way you like your tea is a personal preference. Some people can only drink earl grey, others can only drink fruity teas. Some people put two teaspoons of sugar, others only put one. Again, the main thing to watch out for is sugar levels, even when you add milk to it! Which reminds me....

4. Milk

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...Eating healthy is full of controversies. You see models that look great and say they attribute to their vegan (and active) lifestyle. Others say going completely vegan isn't healthy. And milk, though not entirely everything, is still a significance part of that hemisphere. Again, you need to take into account your lifestyle (diet, exercise, food sensitivity/intolerances, etc).

Just because you don't drink milk, doesn't mean you don't consume it in some form. But I'm getting ahead of myself again. For milk, opt for semi-skimmed at least and try for organic. Tesco and other major stores now have organic milk available. Can't advise on my personal choices because well...I don't like drinking milk.

Final thoughts

Try and drink water most of the day as your main fluid intake. Although some drinks such as fruit juices can count towards it and offer the boost in vitamin c (depending on the brand and how its made), there's still the sugar levels to take note of. 

So for this weekend, why not start your morning with a cup of water? If you really want to take it a step further, try 2-3 days during the following week. And if you want to jump ahead, my next post looks at the benefits of lemon water!

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