Im realizing that I’ve actually been chronically dehydrated for a good portion of my adult life and I’m looking to change that. I just don’t enjoy drinking water (as silly as that may sound).
Any advice is appreciated.
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Don’t. Drinking water with meals dilutes your stomach acid. Just eat less processed food and less salt and you’ll barely need to drink any water. Cooked vegetables and fruit are both mostly water.
Only time you need to drink water is when exercising outdoors for extended periods, and even then it’s about 3-4 liters per day (including food).
Also despite a lot of bogus advice out there, coffee is water, beer is 94% water. I have gone months with only coffee and beer and it’s not a problem.
Finally that brings us to kidney stones. Avoid high oxalate foods, and if you are worried about stones drink lemon water or other acidic beverages, as it dissolves stones better than plain water.
Chronic mild dehydration is not a disease and it does not need treatment. I am not a doctor, and this is not medical advice.
Drink when you’re thirsty. Water or any other liquid other than soda pop. You’ll probably be fine.
Step one, fill cup with water.
Step two, drink cup.
Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you’ve drank enough water.
Can i get an IKEA instructional leaflet of this?
Try high pH water, normal water is painful to drink, but high pH water is much smoother.
100% get a water bottle and carry it with you. Reduces the effort needed to take a sip. Additionally, try to drink less sweet drinks too. I never liked fizzy drinks anyways.
Eat more fruit. The water in it will help you hydrate
My water intake is pretty high, but it does vary seasonally - in summer, I’ll go through 5L easily. I think that most people could stand to increase their water intake, and reports of hyperhydration are overstated - it’s mostly a paediatric problem.
- Learn to just drink a whole cup at once. Then do that on a schedule. Every hour through the working day gets you to the 2L per day generic recommendation. Then add a couple glasses at and after dinner.
- I don’t want to recommend bottled water because it’s environmentally reprehensible, but find a way to make water taste neutral. Part of that, though, is just getting used to it.
- building on that taste thing - it’s probably better for the long term to get used to it than to always add flavor.
- Find out if you like it better warm or cold. A lot of people insist on cold water, but I don’t like cold water. It takes too long to drink without a brain freeze effect, unless I want something specifically to cool me down, which is infrequent.
A different approach to the not liking water, get a good filter. I used breta filters for years but a few years back installed an under sink reverse osmosis filter because the water here is so hard that it just tastes bad whether left hard or softened. I knew water could be better because I grew up with decent water and liked it even back when I preferred pop or juice.
I wonder if anyone who claims to dislike water has only ever had subpar water. Note that I include a bunch of bottled waters in that, as I vastly prefer my RO tap water to any store bought bottled water, though some were on par with breta filtered water, though I’ve always hated the waste involved in buying bottled water (other than those big ones you can refill and stick in a water cooler, which can also be RO water if you have a good water place to get it from).
If you do go for RO, make sure the system you get has an extra stage that adds some minerals back into the water. The RO on its own actually leaves the water too pure to be safe to drink regularly, as it causes osmosis to pull nutrients out of your cells (or something like that). I’d also only suggest it in an area where water is plentiful, as it does use more water than what you get from the filter, though adding a passive pump can improve efficiency.
While the mineral issues are a concern, for most people it’s overcome with a decent diet. I’m not sure that those remineralizers do an awful lot. But I don’t leave my RO water standing eg in kettle!
force yourself, after a while you get to the point where you can taste the difference between different brands of water or from which tap it came from
The advice about keeping water nearby is good. I do that. Although I still sometimes forget anyway lol.
Besides that: Is flavor the problem or do you just not like having to drink period?
If it’s flavor: Add a tiny bit of a drink you do like. I add maybe like 5-10% apple juice to my water at meals. Just enough to get some of the flavor without adding too much sugar.
If it’s the 2nd: There are others sources of water. Most fruits work and they also come with fiber, which is also important for hydration.
Also, unlikely to apply here, but worth mentioning: When I was having problems being dehydrated, I talked to my doctor about it and we figured out that one issue was that I was mostly drinking filtered water, which will lack a lot of the electrolytes you normally get in water. I fixed this by getting a powder to add to my water. (Filtering bc of town water supply issues.)
Are you drinking water with meals? I find washing something down, even a single chip, causes you to drink more than you could by itself.
Also, keep it at hand. A refillable bottle is worth investing in. If you like it ice cold, get a vacuum insulated vessel.
I have a water bottle but I can never finish it in a day.
I think the washing down food idea is really good and im definitely going to try that going forward.
Rinse after you eat anything (or drink anything other than water) and you’ll never get cavities.
You go: “Wow, I’m an adult now and sometimes I have to do things I don’t want to do”. And then you drink the water.
The fact of the matter is that almost nobody’s favorite beverage is water, but in a display of forbearance (combined with not being too fond of the whole dehydration thing) we drink it anyway.
Additives and things can help you in the near term, but developing good habits takes time and effort (and is very often the cornerstone of good health).
eventually good habits become self re-inforcing.
I can’t drink mass market soda anymore, it’s disgustingly sweet. some of the smaller boutique sodas have way less sugar and are tasty.
Big Water Bottle has everyone convinced that we need to be chugging water 24/7.
Unless you live in a really hot place and work outside, or have some other risk factor (like dementia or diarrhea), thirst should be enough to keep you hydrated enough.
If you dont have additional risk factors, and you dont just exist in a constant state of thirst, I wouldn’t worry about it.
Echoing this:
Being dehydrated has real and generally unpleasant symptoms which drinking water alleviates. Dehyrdation is not just when your urine has a color.
If you have to go #1 on a regular basis, you’re probably not dehydrated.
does sparkling help? cucumber, slice of lemon, orangeslice?
I know a lot of people get those huge bottles and it helps them - just having it with them all the time 🤔
does sparkling help?
I’m craving sparkling water now. I forgot how much I liked that stuff. It’s been years
I love that shit, got one of those sparkers at home to make it with. is good shit
Haha, yes yes we’re taking over the world with Kohlensäurehaltigem Mineralwasser!
Generally not really… sparkling water mostly just makes me wish I was drinking normal water or just normal juice. Its kinda just the worst of both worlds.
I have gotten really into making my own juices recently like oranges and apples and yada yada but even then I dont even think I drink enough. (Plus juice is far more sugary than normal water even if its natural juices)
You could always water those juices down a bit. So a half glass of juice mixed with a half glass of water. Basically homemade (non-sparkling) Spindrift.
Just drink it.
Part of the problem is that I dont enjoy drinking water so its difficult to convince myself to go out of my way to do a thing I dont like doing every day. I know the answer is to drink water but like… how would one go about doing that in a way that doesnt suck?
OP, are you sure you are actually dehydrated? Are you getting kidney stones?
Most people don’t need to actively concentrate on drinking liquids. Your body will tell you when you’re thirsty. It’s a weird internet fad where people try to drink like a gallon of water a day. It’s not necessary. Your body tells you when it’s hungry and it tells you when you need to drink liquids. You’re not going to die from failure of the body signaling you to eat or drink.
Now, if you’ve had kidney stones, your doctor may tell you that you need to be drinking more water.
Beyond that, excessive water drinking is just the latest fad right now. It’s not necessary.
how would one go about doing that in a way that doesnt suck?
That’s the thing, you don’t. You just do it until you’re used to it.
I lost 50lb by cutting out all sugar from my beverages, and after a few months I couldn’t even finish a can of soda because it was so disgustingly sweet.
Sugar is a highly addictive substance, so quitting it isn’t going to be easy without a health scare to motivate you.
Don’t have anything else to drink at home.
I truly don’t understand this. Water is so refreshing and clean tasting. Did you grow up drinking lots of soda or sugary drinks?
Yeah, I did. I wasn’t raised the most healthy admittedly but I’m trying to work towards it.
In my experience tho water doesnt taste refreshing though because water doesnt taste like anything.
I see. So, if it doesn’t taste like anything, then it doesn’t taste bad, right? It just doesn’t “taste” to you. Your taste buds are probably desensitized to things that aren’t loaded in EXTREME FLAVOR!!! (sorry, was trying to evoke Brawndo vibes).
You’ve gotta just drink it. But if you’re still slurping down tepid caramelized sugar water drinks, your mileage may vary.
Good luck.
Start by adding some flavour, like slices of lemon or orange. In time you’ll start to like how hydrated you are. Just don’t put sugar into it.
cucumber is great for this
