If you are a health buff like I am and is stuck in drinking just water ... then perhaps in so many "some days" you've had it and took a sip of soda, instant juices or purees for a change. The truth is it's okay but if you'd be honest - a sip actually leads to more sips and more sips and sooner or later you'll find yourself back into the habit of drinking crap - and breaking that good habit of drinking - good stuff only.
It's that sugar really, it's addictive in a different way - just like having a hit. I've never done the later so I don't really know what that means I just saw the effect on people who did it how bad it could go when the craving starts. I was a sugar junk back in my twenties perhaps because I needed some borrowed energy from it since I was working 16 hours a day. I was a workaholic and it has something to do with my mindset, too back then really - I used to believe in working hard - having the "working smart" philosophy discovered in my early thirties. For some time, I used to drink colored and additives filled drinks to pump me up till my very last class in the evening back then. Perhaps it was all my fault, too but you see there were so many convenient stores back where I used to live - most of their racks sell crap and the fresh markets happen to be already closed at night, I could only get a grab of something fresh on weekends or when I get to squeeze doing the groceries in between my very busy schedule.
It was when I had to live with my aunt and her family (after a bad break up) - who happened to be diabetic when I realize I had to make a change. For the love of fruit - because I watched her enjoy just a half of a fuji apple a day and be deprived of many other things because of diabetes. Not to mention that my teeth were starting to corrode and cave in from the inside because even though I brush my teeth like a dentist does, use what the dentist use and floss like there's no tomorrow - I was drinking canned sodas. It was my ignorance of how addictive sugar could be that got me hooked into it. So i needed to get it off my system and I didn't slowly or gradually cut back taking sodas and instant juices - I just stopped and switched to mineral water. Yes, mineral water because we can't really drink what runs out our taps back then. The funny part was - the freaking mineral water sells cheaper than the craps I used to take. For that and for the many reasons, I love water that much.
I live in The Netherlands now and if you pay someone a visit they'll always ask you what you'd like to drink. People are used to being asked for juice, coffee or tea so the first time I took the courage to say, WARM WATER please, someone's jaw dropped - another person's eyes rolled. "Strange" ... is the word thrown.
See, I happened to be friends with a Chinese couple in the Philippines and he and his wife often asked me to join them for dinner. It was them who actually influenced me to have this good habit if I may say so. Fred and Joey ( I miss you both very much) often cooked their dinner and they always invited me to join them and I couldn't help but give in because I have heard that if a Chinese invites you to join them in a meal - it would be insulting to say no. The very first time I joined them, they gave me warm water first. I found it funny because it happened to be in summer - which is always hot in the Philippines even at night. She explained that the warm water would help eliminate the oil from whatever we will be eating - she served a Peking duck with cucumber spring roll that night which made me forget my name and pressed the wrong buttons in the elevator of the condominium going back home later . It was so freaking good and so I got hooked into giving in to their dinner invites. The next time I went, I asked her to let me fill the cups with warm water from the mineral water dispenser. She told me they bought a cup specially for me and pointed out which one is Fred's and which one's hers. Being a bit of an OC I actually liked that because a dishwasher did not exist in my country back then - so I became the warm water "waiter" sort'a. She also told me that if I make it a habit to drink water, I'll surely loose my fat belly and most Filipinos no matter how thin - have that. Our food happens to involve oil much oil in the cooking. I hid her advice, took warm water the first thing in the morning before my breakfast, warm water whenever I could and carried a bottle of mineral water everywhere I go. I am almost 40 and despite the fact that I love hanging out in the sun by the beach you won't find much brown spots on my face. It's pure warm water works really.
However, it does get boring some days and for the love of fruit - I look for water hacks that could give me something to tease my taste buds specially on summery days like what we now have in The Netherlands. Thanks God for days like this - if a weather like this could be saved - I'll definitely invest on stocks! These days, melons are on sale in groceries and I always check out what's on sale - not because I am frugal but because I do think that a fruit in season is what exactly our body needs. Nature has actually gotten every thing taken care for us - we just need to find out. If you notice, when it's cold season - it is the very same time mandarins and oranges abound. I say go ahead and splurge - but eat in moderation and make sure you don't flush any water in your mouth for at least 15 minutes after indulging in any citrus fruits. Doing so would corrode your teeth.
Let me share my Melon Water Hacks to you who also are health buff and would want to take their sweet drink from nature itself.
Ingredients
60 cl H20
A quarter of an African melon ( you might want to double it if you have a sweet tooth I only used a quarter because if you happen to know African melon they're actually bigger than my head - it gets too sweet for me going more than a quarter)
To Prepare:
Slice a quarter of water melon vertically, thinly and evenly like that on the picture below to achieve what looks like a strip when you cut them into smaller pieces so you could have them in your glass when you pour out.
Throw into your pitcher of water.
Pour one glass after 15 minutes. If you want to know why - I explained it on the blog before this - link.
Refrigerate and let it soak for 1 or two days. Cheers!
