Are You Drinking Enough Water?

Nobody needs to tell you that getting enough water is essential to your health. Or that it's vital to flushing out toxins and helping all your organs (including your skin!) work properly.  We've heard it over and over and we all know it's true.  Whenever I feel "off" the first things I've learned to ask myself are these questions:

1.  How much water have I been drinking lately?

2.  How healthy have I been eating?

3.  How much exercise have I done?

4.  How much rest have I been getting?

5.  How are my stress levels?

I seem to start with water because that's the easiest thing to fix!  Well, theoretically right?  We have easy access to clean drinking water all day long so what's holding us back from downing more of it??  In my case (and I suspect I'm not in the minority here) it's the R word.

 

Remembering.  

I can't hold myself up as an example of a perfect water drinker, but I am going to share a few things I sometimes do to make it easier on myself to remember.  It will still take effort, but like meal planning, it's always helpful to do the thinking before dinnertime (or bedtime- in the case of realizing you didn't drink enough water that day!)

One idea is putting all the water you want to drink for the day in the fridge.  That way you can visually see how much is left to drink and you don't have to look for a clean container and then fill it up each time.  I find myself drinking out of mason jars because I always have plenty around and I love that I can put lids on them.  I just drink right out of the jar and when it's empty I rinse it out and let it dry for the next day.  Fill them all up again at night or first thing in the morning and put them back in your spot in the fridge.  You'll have to train your family not to touch.  They can get their own water.  These ones are off limits ;)  I like to drink 12 cups a day (3 quarts) especially during the summer.  But if I only get through 2 of these (8 cups) I still feel good about that and count it as a success.

Another thing that I use when I'm REALLY having a tough time remembering is a water drinking app.  I have this one and really like it.  You can set how many reminders you want and at what times of the day... you can even take a picture of the different containers you drink out of and click on the one you want to log.  It's easy.  But you have to have your phone with you to get the reminders.  Logging each drink can be a bit of a pain (although it's only one click) but if you want to accurately keep track of how much you're drinking there's no better way!

So what do you do to make sure you get enough water?  Any other tips and tricks to share?