Water. For years and years I took it for granted and kind of
avoided it. I preferred soft drinks or lemonade or tea or almost anything other
than water. Why? No good reason; water’s just kind of bland. It’s a nothing
sort of drink. It’s just, you know, good for you and healthy and stuff.
Well, after years and years of drinking anything but water,
I am now trying to drink mostly water. When I drink more water, I get fewer
headaches. My lips are less likely to chap. My heels don’t crack as easily and
my skin looks better. It’s not just propaganda:
water actually is better for me than anything else I can drink.
It’s taken some retraining, however, to adjust to reaching
for a glass of water before I pop open a soda can. I had to get used to the
flavorlessness of water. Yes, I know you can add water flavorings but I really
hate those. Talk about bland with a hint of something fruity. I either want my
water plain or a truly fruity drink. In restaurants, I usually order water with
lemon but I don’t know why. I guess it seems more refreshing and somehow
cleaner that way. But at home, I take it in a glass, no ice. I like to drink
water straight from the fridge or at room temperature. We keep a Brita
water-filtering pitcher in the fridge and that has definitely helped me to drink
more water. I pour a glass (I generally use one of my “cow” glasses from Crate
& Barrel) and leave it on the counter, drinking from it throughout the day
and refilling it as necessary. I usually have some left in my glass when I go
to bed and then I finish it off first thing in the morning and start over.
The hardest thing was eliminating my lunch-time soda. I’ve
been carrying a soda in my lunchbag ever since I started working, usually a
diet Sunkist. But now I fill a water bottle and take it instead. I try not to
use disposable water bottles, although I keep them around the house for Jon and
for guests, but I’ve broken two reusable water bottles already. In fact, I need
to go get a new one.
I don’t just drink water, of course. Here are some of my
other favorite drinks:
Breakfast: a tall
glass of half non-fat white milk and half low-fat chocolate milk. If it’s
winter, I may substitute a mug of Earl Grey tea and if I’m sick I sweeten that
with honey.
Lunch: well, yeah,
this one is water.
Dinner: a soda,
either diet Sunkist or diet Coke. Sometimes water if I’ve already had one soda
since coming home from work. If it’s summer, a glass of lightly sweetened iced
tea.
My favorite restaurant drink is the Freckled Lemonade with
light lemonade at Red Robin. I don’t drink alcohol. Mind you, I’ve tried and I
realize there are strong health benefits associated with red wine, but I
honestly just can’t stand the taste.
