This might not seem like a big deal to most of you. It's hardly news that you're supposed to stay hydrated, and it's hardly news that drinking water is generally the best way to do it.
But...ugh. Guys, I have a REAL PROBLEM with drinking water. I love it while I'm working out, but that's it. Period. Unless I'm sweating buckets, I just. Don't. Like. Water.
There, I said it. It's pretty much blasphemy, right? In a world where everyone just LOOOOOOOOOVES their water! OMG, it's SOOOOO healthy and refreshing and I make sure I drink three full Nalgenes a day! (Actually, it's probably not Nalgenes anymore, since they cause cancer or whatever -- what's the new fancy bottle? Sigg? Am I still living in the past? Whatever.)
Here's my second confession: I definitely stay hydrated. Constantly drinking. Um, no, not really THAT kind of drinking. But in the eyes of some (probably most, at least in this healthy-living blogworld), what I'm about to say might be just as bad.
I drink diet soda. All. Day. Long.
Yup. Pepsi Max is my favorite, followed by Coke Zero, followed by Diet Pepsi, followed by Diet Coke. And I'm not talking "oh, I have one can each day as a treat!" Nope. I'd estimate that I drink at least two liters of diet soda every day. By myself. I average one 20-ounce bottle in the morning and another in the afternoon. When I get home, I'm constantly refilling my glass. I probably take in enough artificial sweeter to kill a lab rat.
I think I'm going to try to change this habit. I have a pink Nalgene that lives on my desk. It's lived with me here at work for three years now. For a while, it got annihilated twice a day -- but not with yucky plain water. No, I would blow through those Crystal Light iced tea packets like nobody's business. Eventually, I ran out and for whatever reason, just stopped buying them. Not sure why.
And this brings us to confession number three. I'm going to try to force myself to drink water instead of soda at work...but not really because I buy the whole "diet coke will leach calcium from your bones and give you cancer and make you fat" argument. Um, no. I'm trying to change my habits because SODA IS EXPENSIVE. I'm averaging TEN 20-ounce bottles every week -- probably more like twelve, because there are definitely days where I go through three a day. Even assuming I buy all of them from the soda machine at work (cheapest around at $1.25 each -- they are $1.75 at the convenience store downstairs, and more like $2.25 if I get them at DiBruno's), that's fifteen bucks a week on soda. I also kill about three two-liter bottles at home each week - so at a minimum, that's TWENTY DOLLARS every single week on fizzy, carbonated deliciousness. When I have a perfectly good water cooler at my disposal!
So, we'll see. I figure my palate will adjust if I just keep making it a point to drink water. I'm interested to see if I see any health benefits from what I'm sure will be a drastic cut in aspartame intake, but frankly...I'm skeptical. And I certainly don't plan to give the stuff up cold turkey -- I'm going to keep drinking it at home.
In other news, we got our baby Sophie just about one year ago:
I can't get over how tiny and cuddly she was. Now she's got a big ol' diva attitude, and I can't imagine our lives without both of our dogs.
Ahh cute pups!
ReplyDeleteThat's a lot of soda. And a lot of money being spent on soda. Good luck with drinking more water. I am a shameless water whore.
Stop the maddness!! That is to say the diet drinks. They are not good for you at all and In my humble opinion, you get addicted to them. Once you get the chemicals out of your system, you will be fine with just water. Seriously. The only soda I drink now is a natural one usually sweetened with juice rather than sugar or a sugar sub. I have no craving for them either and I used to L O V E fountain Cokes.
ReplyDeleteWOOOOOOW. That's a lot of soda! I actually pretty much don't drink soda at all (aside from the once-in-a-while bourbon and coke and maybe once a month I'll drink a can instead of having coffee). When I was 15 I wanted to lose weight. (Yes, it is pesky being 5'7" and weighing a whole 145 pounds ::rolls eyes::) At that age I pretty much ate and drank whatever I wanted and never exercised...so instead of going on a "diet" I decided to start working out and to drop soda and drink pretty much only water (I didn't drink coffee back then and juice was a rarity...I really only like apple juice). It was tough for the first, say, week or two (shoot, it may have been tough for the first month...that was 12 years ago now, so I don't remember haha) but eventually it got to the point that I couldn't stand soda. It tasted like pure nastiness in my mouth. I honestly didn't drink it at all for probably five years or more (I didn't get into the rum and coke or bourbon and coke phase until I was 21 or 22). And needless to say, I love me my water! I drink at least 100-125 oz a day. No lie.
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