Submitted 1 month ago by Maven@piefed.zip to [deleted]
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.
Cool (not cold), with no ice. Filtered.
Eat savory snacks.
Keep the water in an open-top container so you can gulp rather than being limited by a straw.
Maybe eating foods that have high water content like cucumbers, watermelons, etc? Or if you find a non-water beverage more enjoyable than water, drink that—all beverages contain water.
if you really are worryingly dehydrated and find regular water unpalatable, just get some cheap sugar-free drink.
Yeah it’s technically better to drink regular water but who cares, you should enjoy life and if you struggle to drink enough then that is an infinitely bigger problem.
Sugar free sprite is like 97% water by volume or some shit. Its basically just straight water.
Sames true of every sugar free drink, you can basically get all your water from them and be perfectly fine.
My wife also hates drinking water. I then bought a soda stream and her consumption increased 5X. No flavoring. Just water.
I have since bought an external soda bottle to reduce cost.
I hate having to deal with the canisters but the spicy water definitely makes my partner and I both happier (no syrups/sugars) as well. I got my sodastream used for around $25 so the most expensive part was the canisters.
I’d love to one day hook it up to a bigger CO2 tank but I need a place with a bigger kitchen first
You don’t really have to. You can buy large CO2 canisters for paintball guns and get the adapter for it. It fits in the older sodastreams.
Try getting a soda stream to add a bit of fizz to your water. That might make it more enjoyable to drink.
Even better when having some sirup at home (but dont put the sirup into the soda bottles especially before adding soda)
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.
Squeeze-it water enhancer. There’s several hundred different flavors, you can add however much you want at that time, so you can make it stronger or weaker as the mood hits you. Most are typically 0 cal, but IIRC there are some that have no sweetener at all. Search for “water enhancer”, but here are some examples. I’ll also make them go further by adding them to some iced tea, so you can make an Arnold Palmer. Variety is the spice of life.
I heat it up and pretend its a hot drink (it is)
drinking hot water is a thing in China (at least parts of the countryl.
cool! i never knew
what about fizzy water (get a water fizzing device) or hot/warm water or filtered water ?
Carbonated water. Either with or without a hint of something
Your esophagus will not be happy
I have a filtered water bottle that I keep full. I just keep it handy. If I’m thirsty, it’s less hassle to take a drink from my bottle than to go to the kitchen/break room/café and get a different drink. When it’s empty, I’ll let myself grab a different drink IF I fill the bottle up too.
Do you play games? Consider it fuel/health, daily requirements. Just chug two tall glasses first thing when you get up.
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
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 hyper hydration are overstated.
Try drinking tea or flavoured water. Coffee can also hydrate you or juices but don’t drink too much sugary drinks and coffee. Drink when you feel thirsty.
Maybe you need to make the experience better? I saw that you have a water bottle, but I personally find drinking straight from a bottle or canteen less enjoyable. What has helped me was making it more a ‘ritual.’ I have a cute stainless steel canteen, and when I’m at home I also have a nice glass. Pouring water into a glass cup and drinking from there just feels nicer. I use a specialty glass that’s more designed for drinking coffee, and it makes the water feel so much smoother and overall more enjoyable.
Cleaning a little glass cup is also easier than washing a canteen or bottle.
Be careful. Most of the water you consume comes from food. You don’t need 2 L/half gallon above and beyond what you eat per day. This is a myth from a misreading of a military study from the Republic of Gilead.
Downvoters need to get their heads out of their asses.
I also grew up barely drinking anything, definitely never any water. Now I buy carbonated (mineral) water. It tastes better and is refreshing. It helps to buy a few and put them within reach so you’re reminded. Keep one next to your bed. After a while you’ll notice dehydration when you forget to drink. Probably you never noticed before if you were always used to it.
Maybe try ice water? I’m not much of a water person myself, but I love some cold ice water. Aside from that, my top 2 are tea and Gatorade or similar.
Tea is basically water with flavor. Gatorade/Powerade/similar are a great option cause it’ll hydrate you and the electrolytes are good for your gut bacteria.
Do you know if thats a set point or is that something that would be better for me to just google?
Don’t listen to this person.
Interesting someone saying “don’t” listen, when that is exactly what you are looking for, advice that is outside the normal. Yes, there is more than just putting butter in water/coffee/tea. You can read about Bullet Coffee, the value of grass fed butter, and MTC oils. They provide your body the ability to absorb the water, and keep it.
I have also used Creatine powder 4mg/day for 2 months now and have seen my “skin” become more elastic, and noticeably more “moist”, plump, no longer looks “thin”, my watch no longer slips around. I now go to the bathroom 4 - 7 times per day, which is the average.
There are more general guidelines here, good luck! newinterestingfacts.com/ways-to-boost-the-bodys-a…
Flavoured hydration powders are a solid option, as long as you’re avoiding chemical sweeteners.
The trick is to make them at half the recommended strength by putting the recommended amount into double the volume of water, which will also stop you from giving yourself kidney stones by overloading you with minerals
what does “chemical sweeteners” mean?
Things like Acesulfame K, Aspartame, Steviol/Stevia extracts, I called them chemical sweeteners where it would be more accurate to call them artifical sweeteners.
It’s entirely anecdotal, but all of these leave a horrendous taste that overpowers the intended flavours in my opinion.
Sucralose is probably the only one that works as intended (massive sweetness to replace sugars at a fraction of the volume)
Get your doctor to prescribe it and/or treat it like medicine and take your prescribed “dose” on a schedule.
Walter with lemon or lime taste and lots of sizzle
Electrolytes
Would an alarm reminding you to drink help? And then tracking how much you drank?
It helped me a great deal to get a hydration backpack usually intended for sports. I dont even leave the pc a lot but its 3L of water storage that can be consumed while having both hands free (except start&end for like 3 seconds). It needs a bit of getting used to drinking out of a mouth piece but else its the most convinient way of drinking water
Water enhancers. Mio, Gatorade tabs, etc.
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.
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
Sabata11792@ani.social 1 month ago
Get a big insulated metal jug 1 liter or more, keep it in arms reach when sitting around or wherever convenient for where you spend time. Get a second one for work. Make it a goal to empty it at least once, preferably twice a day. Can’t stay hydrated when the water is in a different room. Water next to the bed beacuse that shit hits different at 3am.
Store any liquor, pop, beer, etc in an inconvenient location so the water is always the lazy and low effort option. No mini-fridge at the gaming setup. Your taste will adjust over a few weeks.