As the summer heat persists, two things should be on your mind; where is the closest beach and how am I going to stay hydrated today?
Hydration is so important to almost all of our body systems; it keeps your blood flowing, flushes your kidneys, gets your digestive system moving, keeps your skin looking fresh.. I could go on and on but you get the idea.
Your daily needs for water not only depend on your body type and activity level but also the type of environment you live in. As temperatures rise during the summer months, so do your hydration needs. Use this great hydration calculator to figure out your specific needs.
Along with how much to drink, finding the right type of water can always be confusing. We are fortunate in the Lower Mainland to have great quality water at the turn of a tap, with no need to worry about fluoridation and other environment toxins. However, the added chlorine posses a laundry list of health risks and in a city like New Westminster where you are more likely to have an older house with lead pipes. But bottled is not the answer. Plastic bottles are not only hard on the environment but they also leach toxins into your overpriced water. Not to worry, inexpensive filtering units are easy to install and can be easily found at your local hardware store. Better yet,chlorine dissipates from tap water left to stand for 30 minutes or more.
Counting your 8 glasses a day can get monotonous so why not look to the market stalls to add some sparkle to your water, naturally. I’ve created a simple recipe for flavoured water that will tickle your taste buds.
Savoury Summer Sipper
- 1 litre filtered water
- 1 inch cucumber, thinly sliced
- Handful of cilantro
- The juice of half a lemon
Combine all the ingredients in 2 to 8 hours. The long the fruit and/or herbs sit in the water the more intense the flavours will be.
You can experiments with all kinds of different flavours; berries, citrus, other fruit or herbs like; mint or thyme.
