I know that when I drink plenty of water I feel really good, and if I don’t I usually end up with a headache. Most days I drink lots of glasses of water, away from mealtimes. Drinking water too close to eating food hinders digestion, as the liquid dilutes your digestive juices. I read ages ago that you are best to avoid drinking a lot of fluid within half an hour of a meal, and at least one hour after.
So once breakfast is over I have quite a few glasses in the morning, and the same again in the afternoon. I don’t tend to drink a lot of anything after dinner as I want to have a good night’s rest without getting up for the loo!
A chic habit I have been implementing lately is to have a ‘dedicated water day’. I will either have a one-litre jug on the kitchen bench, filled with water and maybe a few slices of lemon, or I will treat myself to a large bottle or a couple of smaller bottles of still mineral water.
My goal is to drink two litres of water by dinner time. Just think of the toxins being flushed out of your body, your skin being plumped up and rehydrated, and all your hard-working internal organs having plenty of clean, fresh water to let them do their job well.
I always feel so refreshed when I have a day where I focus on two litres of water, and an added bonus is that when I’ve just had a glass of water, I don’t look around for something to nibble on. Win/win.
American measurements – two litres of water equals roughly half a gallon, just over two quarts or 68 ounces.