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.
You must log in or # to comment.
Im in your boat being a soda holic but I have found that having water with you always cold and plenty even if you have something else. You will find you drink it and the more you drink it the more you do. Its the habit of keeping it on hand at that point which is the limiting factor.
Step 1) Drink a glass of water.
Step 2) Repeat.
Step 3) Repeat.
Add as many repeat steps as desired.
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.)
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?
Step two, drink cup.
I think you’re supposed to drink the water, not the cup itself
Well that would explain the problem, wouldn’t it.
All these years!
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!
Berkey water tank with a set of Doulton filters.
Hydro Homey gang.
learn to enjoy drinking it.
good habits don’t magically happen, you have to use your willpower.
You can also try seltzer or flavored waters if that helps or filtering it. plenty of tap water can taste bad.
I don’t get the whackadole ‘hacks’ people are going on about here. I drink 2-3L of water per day, and 4-5L if I’m active. I drink it because I’m thirsty and it’s delicious.
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.
For me, it was having a water filter and drinking out of glasses, not cups. I don’t like the way water tastes coming out of plastic or steel as much.
I keep a jar with 64oz in it near me every day and pour that into a glass. It helps.
Try high pH water, normal water is painful to drink, but high pH water is much smoother.
i’m not sure what you mean by this, and it sounds quite worrying
Do you play games? Consider it fuel/health, daily requirements. Just chug two tall glasses first thing when you get up.
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
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.
OP, please don’t listen to this person. Most of this is terrible advice.
To start, it’s still advisable to drink water through the day even if you’re getting some from your food intake. A typical diet will provide around 20% of the recommended daily amount - the rest needs to come from actual fluid intake. Even with a diet with a high proportion of fruits and vegetables, it doesn’t come close to meeting the ideal amount.
Coffee and beer are not the same as the equivalent amount of pure water. Caffeine and ethanol both function as diuretics - that is, they promote urine production which in turn reduces your overall hydration. Ethanol is worse in this category to the extent that alcoholic drinks can actually dehydrate you. Caffeine has a more mild effect and is overall hydrating, but a cup of coffee still isn’t equivalent to a cup of water.
Citrus fruits do help prevent kidney stone formation, but it’s primarily via a different mechanism involving the citrate found in those fruits/juices rather than the acidity itself. Not that this matters too much in practice, but I point this out due to the inclusion of “other acidic beverages” as an alternative.
Chronic mild dehydration (generally) won’t kill you, but it will prevent your body from functioning at its best and can potentially cause issues with electrolyte imbalances, blood pH, and plenty else. You should aim to stay optimally hydrated as much as possible for the benefit of your overall health.
“Drink when you’re thirsty” is the one solid piece of advice here. Your body has evolved cues like this over hundreds of millions in order to get you to take good care of it, and its best to listen to them as much as possible. That said: these cues only works when you’re cognizant of them, and it’s still important to be actively mindful and intermittently remind yourself to follow them, especially when you’re involved in tasks that would otherwise distract you from them.
We don’t know OPs diet. All we know is that OP feels some kind of societal pressure to drink more than they want to. Nobody should do that. We should consume the amount that feels right and it’s as simple as that. Those who consume a high fat diet, or are overweight may have plenty of metabolic water through fat.
Water pushers are just as wrong as I am. Hyponatraemia can be fatal and it can have similar symptoms to heat exhaustion, leading people to chug more water. The only safe advice for water is to drink what feels right.
Respectfully, what on Earth are you talking about? OP has only indicated that they’re trying to be health-conscious by maintaining proper hydration - the weird “societal pressure” angle is being superimposed by you. As I alluded to in my previous comment, it’s easy to ignore mild dehydration and sometimes a conscious effort is needed to maintain optimal intake. “Drink when you’re thirsty” is fine in a vacuum, but to distill (no pun intended) hydration advice down to just that is to ignore how people work in real life.
I don’t know why you’re bringing up hyponatremia. Water toxicity is exceedingly rare and one would need to consume an inordinate amount of water in short time before it becomes “unsafe.” You’re unnecessarily fearmongering and pushing misinformation when you don’t know what you’re talking about.
Also, there’s no “water-pushing” conspiracy at play here. It’s just a reality that most people don’t consume as much water as they ideally should, and as a result people sometimes draw attention to that reality as a means of improving the general health of society.
OP said “I don’t like drinking water” and my response to that is, then don’t. No reason to force a habit. Could even be risky to just follow the advice of somebody on the internet.
Grand Canyon EMS responded to 474 nonfatal and 6 fatal HRI cases, with the majority (84%) being US residents, 29% from Western states. Of the nonfatal cases, 51% were women, the median age was 43 years (range, 11–83 years), and 18% reported a cardiovascular condition. Clinical HRI assessments included dehydration (25%), heat exhaustion (23%), and suspected hyponatremia (19%).
Hyponatremia was found to be almost as common as dehydration at the Grand Canyon. It is not a rare condition. It is very important to bring salty snacks when hiking in the heat. As important as bringing water.
Most people don’t drink enough water maybe, but most people also eat loads of sodium from ultra processed food, many times what the body needs.
Anyway there are many perfectly healthy people who drink very little water. There are also people who drink their own urine. Don’t worry about it.
Herbal tea, hot or cold. Add flavour to your water - crush a couple frozen berries in the glass, add mint, add citrus slices. Try different temperatures: iced, room temp, just boiled. Drinking from a glass or cup instead of a bottle can help.
Put water in a cup, put your lips up to the opening of the cup, slowly tilt the cup toward your mouth and swallow the water that goes inside.
Maybe try some peppermint tea and other herbal infusions?
I’ve moved over to an amazing zingy/spicy lemon ginger lemongrass licorice root loose leaf that’s incredible.
My point is, herbals might be a good way to go. The thing to watch out for is the weak watery stuff - this is tea after all… If you’re a coffee drinker this might all be a bit bland. Also, stay away from the green and lack teas, they’re all still caffeine from tea leaves
