Confession time! I usually don’t like drinking just water. Iced tea, lemonade, drink mixes — sure! Plain water? Only if there’s nothing else. But our bodies need water, and lots of it. The recommended daily amount of water in your diet is between eight and eleven glasses; that’s a whopping sixty-four ounces or more!
Some benefits of water:
- Keeps your skin soft and supple.
- Keeps you feeling energized, especially on hot days.
- Keeps your body running at its best.
Remember — if you’re feeling thirsty, you are probably already on your way to being dehydrated. Keeping a water bottle at your desk, in the car, and at your side while walking is a great way to make sure you keep sipping. If you have a drink handy, you’re more likely to drink it. Makes sense, huh?
But you don’t have to stick to liquids to get enough water. There are plenty of juicy fruits and vegetables that can get you a cup or more of water per serving.
- Watermelon is the water winner — “watermelon” isn’t just a clever name! This juicy fruit can give you more than a cup of water (around nine ounces) in a large wedge. As an added benefit, watermelon is full of healthy lycopene, thought to be a great cancer fighter.
- Honeydew gets you close to that one cup mark — a one cup serving gets you more than five ounces of water.
- Add more water to your salad with sliced beets. A one-cup serving has more than five ounces of water.
- Cantaloupe is another sweetie that’s just full of juice. One cup of cantaloupe contains more than five ounces of water.
Many fruits and vegetables are full of liquid. Think about a crunchy apple, a juicy orange, or a cool slice of cucumber. Celery, carrots, and even leafy greens all contain water. I bet you never thought of a salad as a thirst quencher before!