How to add water to your daily routine

Appraising Your Success
The end of the week is a good time to review the past week of your SWEET Life and count up your accomplishments. Your goal is 5-6 times per week for each aspect of the SWEET Life: Sleep, Water, Eating, Exercise, and Tranquility. If you didn’t achieve some of your goals for the week, then next week, focus on those areas more and think about how to fulfill them more consistently.
How do you feel at the end of this week? Are you better rested? Do you feel relaxed? Are you more energetic? Do you feel generally healthier? Continue with the SWEET Life and you’ll experience all of these feelings!

Topic of the week -- How to add water to your daily routine
If you are not used to drinking a lot of fluids throughout your day, adding 8-10 cups of water a day could seem overwhelming, as could the trips to the bathroom caused by such an increase in fluid intake. However, your body has an incredible power to adapt to the circumstances given to it, for better or for worse. Within a couples weeks of adding water to your daily routine, you won’t have to use the restroom as often. In addition, you might find that you weigh a pound or two less because your body will stop holding on to extra water, once it’s convinced that it will continue receiving ample water.

There are many different ways to make sure you drink your 8-10 cups of water. You can drink it warm, cold or on ice; the temperature doesn’t matter. Personally, I like to fill a 2 quart pitcher in the morning, knowing I need to finish it by the end of the day. I drink it out of a tall glass, which I refill from the pitcher as soon as it’s empty. People on the go might prefer to drink water by the standard 16 oz. bottle, knowing they need to finish 4-5 of them throughout the day. The bottle is small enough to fit in a purse, computer bag, etc., and the amount in a 16-oz. bottle isn’t overwhelming. On the other hand, if you don’t want to use so many bottles, you can carry around a 2-liter bottle, which you only need to finish once. Another way to drink your water, without having to carry it around all the time, is to drink a tall glass (16-oz.) with each meal, plus a cup (8-oz.) with your multi-vitamin, and at least one other cup sometime between meals. Furthermore, be sure to drink water before, during and/or after exercising. Your body needs one cup per 15-min. of cardio exercise.

Remember, too, that all fluids count, not only water. This includes the fluids in foods (i.e., soup, fruit, tomatoes, etc.) and, of course, all beverages. However, limit caffeine and alcohol intake to one cup per day because research shows that a cup a day is beneficial to your health but that more than that is harmful to your health. In the end, water is best because it contains no calories, sugar, caffeine, alcohol or other unhealthy ingredients.

In the end, be sure to drink your water, especially during these winter months when heaters can really sap your hydration.

Have a SWEET week!

Suzanne