Day 7 of Turning Your Kitchen Upside Down: Water, Please!

The underestimated, undervalued, absolutely necessary, original fountain of youth: WATER.

I think it would have been easier to understand the importance of this jewel of a resource if we had lived hundreds of years ago, or through the Dust Bowl, or in a current day third world country.  There's a fabulous organization my family believes in called Food for the Hungry which tells of the horrors that come from not having clean water.  Blood Water Mission and Drop in the Bucket are two more superb groups, among many others, that help to get water to those who need it.  Around the world, water is quite literally a life-saving commodity, yet here in America, with at least five places to get clean water in even the smallest home and shelves piled with it in bottled form at the local store, we complain that we don't like the taste.  Or that we'd rather have something more flavorful.  Or fun.  Or sugary.  And there stands live giving water at our disposal, overlooked.

Why the fuss?

It is common knowledge that an adult needs about eight glasses of water a day.  A more accurate statement I heard from a nutritionist is that you should take your weight, divide it by two, and drink that many ounces per day.  Example: my boys weigh about 40 lbs. so their target water intake is 20 oz. a day whereas mine is...well, much more and we'll leave that alone.

I shouldn't really have to talk you into thinking water is good for you, but if you neeed more convincing details, check out: Ten Reasons to Drink Water.

But what about what Franklin said...?

If you're not sure what I'm referencing, Benjamin Franklin was quoted saying:

In wine there is wisdom, in beer there is freedom, in water there is bacteria.

Now I'm not sure about the other two, but for certain the latter was true - and as you see above is still true - in much of the world.  In America, we are spoiled with the richest blessings ever given to a nation and among them not only clean drinking water at our fingertips, but our options on how clean we'd like it to be and even what we'd like it to taste like. 

With so many water filters on the market and many different budgets to consider, multiple websites have been created to help you out.  A couple I recommend are: Water Filter Comparisons and Water Filter Comparison (yes, they are two different sites:))

Beyond that, if you still just really cannot stand the taste of water, get creative.  Please be very leery of the powdered packets you can dump into your water to add flavor; read their label first and see the last few days of this series to see why.  Instead, try this pretty idea found via my "Food Stuffs" Board on Pinterest  , originally pinned by The Culinary Tribune. 

Tips on getting more water intake throughout the day:

• Make it a habit; carry a water bottle everywhere. 

I recomend a stainless steel bottle.

• Start your day by filling your bottle. 

If you are a coffee drinker and the first thing you do is get out a cup, grab your water bottle at the same time.

• Make it a game. 

The kid in us still responds to "first this, then something fun."  If you'd rather be drinking tea, challenge yourself to drink ten drinks of water before you get the tea.  In fact, this is how I trained my children to drink more water. 

• Have designated drinking times. 

For my boys, we drink juice (which is really about 1-2oz. of juice to 6 oz. of water...flavored water, really, but shhhhh....;)) with meals and water in between.  We also have a water bottle in the car rule - if we get in the car, so does the water bottle.

• Know your target water intake and buy a bottle according to that. 

Let's say you need 60 oz. per day.  If you have a 20oz. bottle, simple math tells you you'll need to knock out three of those water bottles a day.

• Sip, don't chug. 

Think of watering a plant and how too much water creates overflow.  It is more efficient to sip all day than chug in spurts.

So when it comes to nutrition, kindly disregard the commercials portraying cute white mustaches (more on this later in the series...); water is the most important liquid you can put in your body and you need to be doing so the majority of your day.

How do you make drinking water a habit?

This post is a part of a series.  To catch up see:
Day 6 of Turning Your Kitchen Upside Down: The Quick (and cheaper) Guide to Organic