How many times have you heard "Make sure to drink 8 glasses of water every day!" or "Drink water if you feel hungry, it will fill you up!" or "Drink lots of water during the day to flush out your system!"? I'm sure you've heard many more thirst-quenching tid-bits of advice when it comes to drinking water and dieting. So many that you can drown in them! But plain old water out of the tap or office water cooler can be down right boring, right? Right. I mean what kind of satisfaction are your senses getting from drinking this clear tasteless liquid? Absolutely none!
That is unless you dress it up with some mouth-watering flavors and cool containers!!!
I started to flavor my boring water about 5 years ago after visiting the Canyon Ranch Spa at the Venetian in Las Vegas. They had this amazing water that was flavored with what I believed to be cucumber, mint and maybe some rosemary. It was soooo good. I was hooked. There was something luxurious about drinking this wonderfully flavored water while wearing a white, fluffy spa robe and getting your nails done. It felt so healthy. And from the moment I returned home from Vegas, I have always flavored my water with fruits, vegetables or herbs.
Some people make pitchers of flavored water and keep it in the fridge. But these European refrigerators tend to be a little small to hold a big pitcher, so I usually place my ingredients directly in the water bottle and refill it throughout the day. I also like to put the fruit, veggies or herbs in the water bottle first, then add the ice and water. Placing the ice on top of the ingredients bruises them a little bit, releasing the flavors!
Some of my favorite combinations include (based on a 24 ounce water bottle):
Cucumber & Mint: Two slices (cut in half) of cucumber and a 3-4" spring of fresh mint.
Citrus Water: One slice each orange, lemon, lime, cut in half.
Orange & Ginger: One large slice of orange, quarted and 2 or 3 slices of fresh ginger.
Strawberry & Mint: 3-4 strawberries (halved) and several mint leaves.
There are several books on the subject as well. I found these two (and ordered them) on Amazon:
Cool Waters by Brian Preston-Cambell
(This one is out of stock, but I ordered it anyways so it will ship as soon as it's back in!)
I can't wait for them to arrive!
Special water needs a special container to show it off! While there are plenty of totally awesome water bottles out there, I want to take this opportunity to share two of my faves!
I love these tumblers! They keep my water super cold and the tumbler doesn't sweat! The 24 ounce tumbler fit nicely in the cup holder in my car. I like the lids that are available for them, too. I take this tumbler to my hot yoga class with me and the water stays ice cold during the 90-minute class! These tumblers are made in the USA!!!
This water bottle has quickly become my FAVE!!! I received this as a Christmas gift from my son Dustin and his girlfriend, Beccal Why is it so awesome? Take a look:
The bottom of the bottle unscrews (into two pieces), allowing you to place small pieces of cut fruit, veggies or herbs on both sides of the "blades." Don't worry, they are not sharp. Then you replace the second piece on top (note that there is a metal filter on that second part). When you screw the stainless steel tube back on to the bottom piece, it grinds the fruit, releasing the juices. You then fill the bottle with water, give it a few shakes to filter it through the bottom and presto! Flavored water! I love this! Genius!!! It comes in several colors and you can purchase on their website. There are also tons of recipes on the site, too!
Some other products you may want to try include:
Fill the tube with herbs, veggies or fruit and drop it into a pitcher of water.
Takeya Fruit Infused Water Maker
This is a great pitcher to keep in your refrigerator if you want to make a big batch of flavored water! It holds 66 ounces!
I hope this inspires you to make some of your own spa water the next time you have the urge to reach for that sugary soda!!! Whew! I can't decide if all of this talk about water is making me thristy or need to use the ladies room!
On to my Move More Eat Well weekly update:
Weigh-in: Not much changed from last week's scale reading. I lost a whole 2 ounces. Which bring me to my next update:
Isagenix Cleanse: I mentioned in last week's MMEW post that I started my Isagenix cleanse. If you recall from that post, I am not doing this cleanse to lose weight but rather to rid my body of toxins while at the same time replacing it with the good stuff it needs. So I'm really not too upset that I haven't lost much weight. And let me tell you, I feel fabulous! My energy is through the roof and I feel like my concentration and focus is much better. I'm not going to lie and tell you it has been an easy go this time. When I did this cleanse last fall for whatever reason I wasn't exercising as much so I didn't feel hungry between my Isagenix shakes. But this time I've been at the gym more and I think I need the calories to keep my energy up. So I have been reaching for fruit, and sometimes almonds when I need an energy boost. This past Saturday I totally fell off of the cleanse wagon, but got back on come Sunday. Another thing that is difficult this time is that it is downright freezing outside. It's so hard to drinks shakes when it is 16F degrees outside!!! But I only have 3 more days and I'll be done!
Meatless Mondays: Last week was the first time I introduced Meatless Mondays at dinner time. I think it went pretty well and Chris really didn't complain~although he did pick out the sweet potato from the dish I made! I found this great recipe for Lemon Asparagus Penne from MeatlessMonday.com. I had to substitute a few of the veggies, but it really turned out yummy! Be sure to check out the site for some good meatless dishes!
Before I close I wanted to include some other blogs of those who are also participating in Cathy Zielske's Move More Eat Well 2.0 class at Big Picture Classes:
These ladies blog about other topics as well. You will have to search through their sites to find MMEW posts.
Have a healthy week! Thanks for reading!
