If you’ve been interested in health and fitness for a while then one piece of advice that you’re likely to have heard over and over again is to ‘drink at least 8 glasses of water per day’. While this is sound advice, there’s a lot more to staying healthy while you hydrate than just drinking water. In this article I’m going to be taking a deeper look at healthy hydration and listing five of the best tips for staying healthy as you rehydrate.
Tip 1 – Consume The Equivalent Of 8 Glasses Of Water Per Day
As mentioned above, many health and fitness publications recommend drinking eight glasses of water per day. However, what most of these publications fail to state is that you can consume this water in any form. So if you’re finding drinking eight glasses of water per day difficult, try getting some of your water from other sources such as black tea, coffee, green tea, water rich fruits or water rich vegetables. Not only does this add variety and stop you getting bored when trying to hit your water target but it also allows you to fill up on plenty of other health boosting nutrients in the process.
Tip 2 – Mix Up Your Water Intake With Coffee & Tea
Black tea, coffee and green tea are all excellent ways to top up your water levels and stay hydrated. In addition to this, all of these drinks contain a number of health boosting nutrients. Black tea and green tea contain high levels of flavan-3-ols which fight allergies, boost your blood heath, protect against chronic disease, strengthen your immune system and much more. Coffee on the other hand is rich in hydroxycinnamic acids which reduce inflammation within the body, strengthen your bones and your heart, relieve chronic pain and much more. Therefore, by drinking coffee and tea you’ll not only prevent dehydration but you’ll also be able to enjoy all these health benefits.
Tip 3 – Avoid All Types Of Soda
Although it contains water, soda is something you need to avoid if you want to hydrate in a healthy way. Regular soda is loaded with sugar and by drinking it continuously, you’ll gain unwanted body fat. Diet soda doesn’t contain the calories or regular soda but it’s packed full of harmful chemicals which have numerous negative implications when it comes to your health. So if you’re currently drinking lots of soda, make some changes today and replace it with coffee, tea or water.
Tip 4 – Enjoy Water Rich Fruits & Vegetables
Water rich fruits and vegetables are another excellent way to fill up on water while also benefiting from numerous health boosting vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients. Most fruits and vegetables contain a good amount of water but if you’re looking for the best options in terms of hydration, go for broccoli (89% water), grapefruit (90% water), lettuce (96% water) and watermelon (91% water).
Tip 5 – Get A Drink Alarm App
One of the biggest reasons people find consuming the equivalent of eight glasses of water per day difficult is that they simply forget. They’re not used to drinking this volume of water and then once the day gets going, they get wrapped up in their usual routine and don’t follow through with their plans to stay hydrated. The good news is that there is a relatively simple solution to this problem – drink alarm apps.
Drinks alarm apps are simple smartphone applications that log your daily water intake and remind you to drink water throughout the day. They’re incredibly easy to use and once set up, all you have to do is confirm that you’ve drank water with each reminder and the app will take care of the rest. So if you find that your poor memory is often the reason you don’t get enough water, grab a drink alarm app today.
Summary
By following the tips above, you’ll not only provide your body with all the water it needs but you’ll also fill up on a range of health boosting nutrients and avoid excess liquid calories. In addition to this, you’ll be getting your water from plenty of different sources, so you’ll never get bored.