‘Eat Healthy’, ‘Exercise Daily’, ’Get Enough Sleep’, and ‘Drink TONS of Water’! Easier said than done, right? Unfortunately, the challenge in accomplishing those tasks means something completely different for everyone. ‘Eat healthy’ could mean eating less processed food or eating more protein. ‘Exercise daily’ could mean taking the stairs or doing a spin class. And ‘getting enough sleep’ could mean 6-7 hours or not waking up more than 6 or 7 times.
Drinking water which seems like the most straight forward of the challenges, is no different. Some people don’t like water and that’s fair. Some people don’t get regular breaks to relieve themselves when nature calls, so refrain from drinking too much and that’s fair. Others like water with a little flavour (ex. herbal tea, lemon), others like it in the form of fresh fruit and vegetables and some like it hot! My friend, Michelle, enlightened me to this concept of everyone being so different. Her doctor asked her to take a drink of water in front of him. He noted that she was a ‘gulper’ rather than a ‘sipper’. He told her that some people only drink a couple of times a day and gulp their water while others sip theirs all day long. Either system works as long as the sippers weren’t just having a couple of sips a day and the gulpers weren’t gulping all day long.
Drinking water is good but it can be accomplished in more ways than anyone can imagine. Are you a gulper or a sipper? Do you use a mug over a bottle? Do you like it with meals, in the morning or late afternoon? Do you prefer to ‘eat’ your water in produce or in ice cubes? Everyone is different; figure out your style of getting enough water and start working on those other challenges the same way.
