How to Stay Hydrated
In the many conversations I have with my patients and FASTer Way clients, I often hear them say they know they need to make changes to their lifestyle, but they want to wait until life is less busy. I get it. It does take time and energy to make healthy food, drink water, go to bed early enough, and exercise, but…the reality is that life isn’t going to likely be put on pause for you anytime soon. You need to have the tools to fit those things into “regular” life… and that’s where I can help.
This has been a tough week for me. My dad had a heart attack last Sunday night. Thanks to modern medicine, his heart is doing much better, but he’s still in the hospital with some other issues. I also took my 11-year-old to see an eye specialist in Toronto where we had to wait 5 hours to see the doctor for less than 10 minutes (plus 7 hours driving!). Thankfully his vision was found to be fine and we won’t have to go back. That’s a day of our lives that we can’t get back though. I am grateful that my family was able to get the needed care, but it was a reminder to me that I want to do everything I can to stay well so that my life doesn’t end up revolving around days at the hospital or doctor’s appointments. From the bottom of my heart, I want that for you too.
You can’t afford to put in the time to take care of yourself. It’s so easy for us to prioritize taking care of everyone and everything else. If we don’t take care of ourselves though, then in the best-case scenario we will find ourselves going through the motions but feeling exhausted, or in the worst case, we will find ourselves in a position where we can’t take care of anyone. We don’t want to wait until we are sick before we start taking the steps to be healthy.
My goal is to help you implement those steps in a way that is realistic and doable. In my newsletter over the next few weeks, I’m going to focus on different helpful steps. This week I am going to focus on how to make sure you are drinking enough water.
A general rule of thumb is to drink at least 1/2 of your body weight in ounces. The app I use in my FASTer Way groups calculates individual water goals, and when adjusted for my activity level mine is 100 ounces! To be honest, I’m not inherently a great water drinker, but here is what I do to reach my goal:
I got a big cup that makes it easier to drink more. I didn’t even know that a Stanley Cup was a popular trend when I bought one in November. I liked that it was 40oz and had a big straw. I think that the big straw has helped to make it easier to drink more (and I don’t spill!).
I add some flavour. You can add some cut-up lemons, cucumbers or berries to your water, just like you would find at the spa. I also mix up adding a scoop of electrolytes (look for one with only sodium, potassium and magnesium in it), collagen, or branched chain amino acids (not all together!). Not only are they good for me, they add some flavour to help me drink more.
I switch it up a bit. Drinks besides water that aren’t sweetened and don’t have caffeine also count towards your water goal. That means that non caffeinated herbal teas (hot or cold) and carbonated water are also options.
I would love to hear from you… how much water do you usually drink in a day? What challenges do you have that make it harder to reach your goal? Or what have you found makes it easier?
I had a group of ladies who started a new FASTer Way group last Monday. On Fridays we share our weekly wins, and it made me so happy to hear what they have already noticed - no more heartburn, pants fitting better, feeling proud for completing their 30 minute workouts, higher energy and better sleep. These are all women with very full lives - jobs, kids or grandkids, volunteering - and they are finding that it is do-able to make these changes and still enjoy life. In fact, they are enjoying it even more because of the changes they are making.
My next 6 week new client group will start March 25. You can find more about it by clicking below. If you have questions, please email me back and we can set up a time to talk on the phone and make sure the FASTer Way program is a good fit for you.