How do I teach myself to start drinking water?

Water is not about the taste (but some water tastes better than others) but about the refreshing feeling you get when drinking it, even if it’s at room temperature, as the inside of your body is warmer. I sip it any time, but sometimes I drink half a dozen sips at once, to get the feeling of the water refreshingly cooling the inside of my mouth, going down my esophagus and splashing gloriously in my stomach!

Drinking water is also about quenching your thirst as being well hydrated is a better feeling than being thirsty, having chapped lips and dry itchy skin.

Attack the problem on several fronts...exercise, diet and soda addiction (an addiction to sweet taste, plus that sparkling effect in your throat, the joyful burping and maybe the caffeine, if it’s not caffeine-free).

Exercise-wise, you should do low intensity aerobics. I’m not a big fan of water either but I enjoy it the most when I’m exercising as being hot and sweaty amplifies the refreshing intensity and the thirst quencher effect, especially when the mouth gets dry because of the intense breathing. I have to sip about a cup (¼ of a liter) every 15/20 minutes.

Diet-wise, you should hydrate yourself using food, while waiting to get used to sipping water (when your taste buds readjust). Both by eating high water content food and avoiding diuretics.

High water content food is like soups and juicy fruits. Eating half a grapefruit would be like drinking a glass of water (grapefruits contain 90% of water) plus you get all the extra nutrients (calcium, protein, potassium, fibers) so it’s even better. Beware of juicy fruits/veggies that are really diuretics (cranberry juice, watermelons and melons, tomatoes...).

Avoid diuretics if you have a problem staying hydrated by having to drink more water. Diuretics are drinks like alcohol, tea, cranberry juice, and food like cucumbers, watermelons, fresh tomatoes, asparagus, artichokes, beets, carrots, lettuce, raw onions, oats, melon, celery, parsley and any veggie from the cabbage family...cabbage, Brussels sprouts, broccoli, Chinese broccoli (kay-lan), Chine cabbage (bok choy), cress, cauliflower, turnips, kale, collard greens, mustard , canola (rapeseed), radish, horseradish, rutabaga, and hybrids like broccoflower (broccoli/cauliflower...green cauliflower and also Romanesco broccoli) or broccolini (broccoli/kay-lan) among others...

I eat diuretics with salty food as to not have to fight dehydration by having to drink too much water and also be bothered by having to pee a lot. You’re not peeing more because you drink but because of the effect of the diuretics and drinking more water just helps you not dehydrate.

This is why some recipes have ingredients that complete one another. Cabbage is a diuretic so you have to eat it with something very salty in order to not dehydrate, like the “corned beef and cabbage” recipe I’ll cook for St. Patrick’s Day (Thursday)...or sauerkraut/sausage combination, cauliflower/ham casserole, adding ham/bacon to your lettuce, tomato, onion sandwich, crunchy celery in your tuna salad, salty vinaigrette with artichokes or asparagus. If you eat a fresh tomato like an apple, biting into it (a tasty organic one), it will taste much better with some salt, same with radishes, as your body knows that those are powerful diuretics.

If you eat/drink sodium separately from your diuretics (as you don’t add salt to your tea!), try to do it before and not after. I cannot drink tea without having something containing sodium beforehand (anything salty or things like V8, cheese, canned veggies like carrots, peas or green beans, tomato juice...).

Soda addiction-wise, I got over one too, but it was relatively easy as I did not drink diet coke but the “real sugar” one so I had to drink it but not as much as you, having to worry about the calorie content. People drinking diet drinks think it has zero calories and it cannot hurt them (wrong) so they drink more of it and further damage their taste buds and the connection between them and their brain. When the body tastes something sweet, hoping for sugar/energy but not getting it, it’s really confusing.

I still enjoy a Coca-Cola once in a while but I don’t have to drink it every day anymore or very often, I find it too sweet for my taste because my taste buds readjusted. First I quit caffeine (that was the hardest...I missed my morning coffee for a while). I was still enjoying sweet food and bubbly drinks (carbonated water and O-Douls). Then I stopped the bubbly liquids and finally, I only ate natural sugar (fruits and veggies, mostly).

For any cravings, it takes 3 weeks for your taste buds to readjust. Avoid anything that you’re addicted to so that makes the food quite bland for a few weeks, but little by little, you’ll rediscover the taste of food, and water won’t be boring and flat anymore but refreshing.

I can completely relate. I used to be lucky if I drank 8 ounces of water the whole day. But when I started my weight loss plan I knew that water would help and I had to drink it.

What worked best for me was to at first substitute some of my diet soda for flavored or vitamin water without any added sugar. I also found it easier for me to fill a plastic water bottle with water from the fridge and just drink it down a cup at a time. When I wake up I drink 2 cups. After I ride my bike, 2 more cups. And after my shower 2 more cups. So before breakfast I have usually had 6 cups. I spread the next 6 to 8 cups out over the day. And I have lost 50 pounds in the past year.

Surprisingly, I thought I could never drink water with a meal - only diet soda, but lately I have been opting for the water or at least matching my soda with a glass of water.

Just put your mind to it and you can do it.

I started drinking more water by putting tea leaves in a bottle of water and carrying it around with me. Since it doesn't taste like water, it'll be more pleasing to drink and you'll have an easier time turning down soda. Just know that that much soda that you're drinking is really really bad for your system, and will probably cause you health problems down the road. Try and keep that in mind - is another soda really worth thousands of dollars in medical bills?

Don't try doing this cold turkey. Just focus on getting through one or two bottles of water a day, and only drink when you're thirsty - not when you want to taste the soda. Eventually, try and substitude more soda for water.

u need to run for starters. i know thats weird but ull c. when u run, ull feel all mucked up inside like uve got syrup in ur veins or something thats all the coke thats in ur system. the more u do it, the more ull notice that feeling go away. along w that, when u run, ur body isnt gonna want carbonated soda its gonna want water. thats how u start. after a while, ull notice u want to drink more water between runs to get that unhealthy feeling out. dont do it right beforehand cuz itll cause cramps but b4 long, ull be feeling sooooooooooo sluggish if u drink the soda rather than cold water or something of the sort

never have any soda or sugary drinks at home. only stock up on water. when you go out, always bring water with you, and nothing else. think about your health in the long run :).

Turn on the faucet. Put a glass underneath. Fill up the glass. Put the water in your mouth. Swallow.