When I first came to college, I drank a lot of iced tea. It was my favorite thing to drink and I absolutely loved it. However, after a semester of basically living off of iced tea, I decided it was time to make a change.
I ended up swapping out every other drink (sadly, yes, even the iced tea) with water. This was a huge struggle for me in the beginning because I didn’t really enjoy drinking water at the time, but I’d heard about all of the health benefits you receive from doing so. So I decided to give it a try.
One of the first things I noticed was that drinking water made me realize how much I needed to drink. Drinking was always kind of an after thought in my head unless it was with meals. Once I started drinking water, if I went a long time without it I would become extremely thirsty! So if anything this certainly helped me change my hydration habits for the better.
I also noticed I was way less bloated when I drank more water. According to research, tea can sometimes lead to bloating if it is made with artificial sweeteners (which the tea I was drinking was. So while this may not happen for everyone, I can certainly say it happened for me.
My skin also cleared up quite a bit! I still got some acne, but it was way less compared to what I was used to! The water hydrates your skin and is a natural way to cleanse your body of dirt and oils. Again results may vary, but it can’t hurt to try, right?
While I may not be as strict with myself now about only drinking water, I still follow this rule for the most part. Other than having the occassional glass of milk or tea, I only drink water.
Now I will say this might have been slightly easier for me due to the fact that I have never really liked pop, so that eliminates a lot of drink choices for me anyway (especially when I’m out to eat. But I would encourage everyone to try drinking more water. Maybe you dont even cut yourself off from other drinks completely right away, just do it little by little. I’m willing to bet that eventually you won’t even miss other drinks (that much).
Have fun, Stay young
HCXO
photo credit: hehaden http://www.flickr.com/photos/30972961@N04/7180858858″>Quenching her thirst via http://photopin.com”>photopin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/2.0/”>(license)
photo credit: I Travel, I See, I Shoot http://www.flickr.com/photos/49154320@N05/19575816082″>Drinking Fountain & Garden via http://photopin.com”>photopin https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc-nd/2.0/”>(license)