Am I really that abnormal to prefer water over any other beverage? Okay, fine, let me clarify. I love coffee and wine, too, but throughout the day, it’s water, pure and simple. I don’t drink soda or juice. I don’t like them and my body doesn’t need them. I know, I know. My body doesn’t need wine, but it also isn’t in my glass all day long. Although I could share many articles on the health benefits of wine and coffee, too, today I am talking about water.
I made an observation last week while sitting at a dinner table with my children and about ten other people. My older son and myself were the only ones drinking water. To keep my younger son from salivating, I allowed him a root beer. It’s his favorite and he enjoyed every last sip. Most everyone else had a soda of some sort and not their first or only soda of the day, either. I share this observation because I think so many of us think our drinks simply don’t count as much as the food we put in our mouths. So not true! The sugar alone averages over 30 grams in a twelve ounce can. Drink a few and your intake of sugar in a day is through the roof and the empty calories are simply empty and serve no purpose in your body other than to promote weight gain and possibly diabetes. If I am going to put some sugar in my body, I would rather it be from an occasional ice cream cone or slice of pie, not in my daily beverage intake.
Water hydrates me, it promotes healthy skin, aids in weight loss, and is simply my favorite beverage. My water bottle is my best pal. I am not deprived and neither are my kids. They love water and know it’s what is best for them. As a matter of fact, if you gave my fifteen year old any number of choices, he would pick water every single time. As for my younger son, he knows what is best for his body and understands why we drink water more than any other beverage. I am proud of him. Really proud of him.
So, tell me, what do you drink most throughout the day?
In Defense of Water
July 8, 2010 · by · 5 Comments
I typically drink water, and have since I was about ten or eleven.
As a kid I remember my family always having coke in the house, but thinking getting tea or lemonade was a special treat. We always had milk too, but my siblings and I didn't drink much of that plain. I guess when we were younger we were offered juice more, but what I remember the "default" drink being in our house was always soda.
I drank soda because that's what we had, but I never liked it as much as tea/lemonade/etc. How I stopped drinking soda is actually a kind of funny story.
We moved to a house that had a lot of mint growing at it, so we started making mint tea more often and I would usually choose that over soda. In that house the place my parents wanted to keep the twenty or so two-litter bottles of soda we'd buy at a time was a pain to get to, so my siblings and I would fight over who's turn it was to put the soda away and who did it last time. Since I wasn't drinking as much of the soda as my siblings I didn't think it was fair I still had to take as many turns putting it away.
One time my dad asked me "Did you drink any of it?" and told me "Then you can put it away this time." when I said I had only had a little bit. Being rather stubborn I decided right then and there next time he asked that the answer would be "No."
For a while I continued to drink soda sometimes when we were out, but make mint tea most of the time, and never drink soda, at home. Eventually I got tired of making tea and other drinks and took to drinking plain water most of the time. Now drinking anything with carbonation makes me half sick and even a lot of teas and juices are way too sweet for me to drink more than a little bit of.
(You'll be happy to know my parents have also since chosen to cut way back on the amount of soda they drink.)
I'm with you water all the way!
my family and I drink water as our main hydrator too. I don't even buy juice. We have always served water, we hardly even drink milk.
Water. and only water. I stopped drinking soda when I was in high school after realizing how much sugar I was consuming.
oh–but when I was pregnant w/my boys I did drink OJ w/calcium since I don't care for milk.
But water is my drink of choice =)
I LOVE water and am supposed to drink it all day due to bad kidneys. Some days I do – others I don't. Depends on if I am home or out and about I guess. My kids love water too – playing soccer in Florida you NEED it. 😉