Staying Hydrated, Staying Positive

I personally think one of the best ways to stay healthy is to stay hydrated. Unfortunately, it's often one of the easiest things to forget especially when it isn't a habit and you have a busy lifestyle. During school, I easily get sucked into drinking multiple cups of Starbucks a day without much water intake, hence why I have never been able to keep up the habit of drinking 8+cups of water a day. However, I notice that whenever I'm drinking water throughout the day, I feel so much more refreshed, energetic, focused, and just more positive in general.
Here are some tips I've learned over the years to help me drink more water on a daily basis.

1. Flavor it up
Who says water has to be plain and boring? It's really easy to pop a slice of lemon, lime, or even different fruits in your water bottle to jazz things up. For even more flavor, I like adding a quarter to half packet of Crystal Light to my water.

2. Time yourself
I've learned that it's best to sip water throughout the day rather than just chug a whole bottleful at once. In fact, every time I drink large quantities of water in a short period of time, I actually end up feeling bloated and uncomfortable. So instead, I make sure to drink about 1 glass (or 8 oz) every two hours or so at the least. That way, I'm not running to the bathroom every 5 minutes and I don't feel like a water-chugging machine.

3. Herbal tea counts as water
Some people may say that herbal tea doesn't really count as water, but I beg to differ. In the winter months, I cannot bring myself to drink large amounts of cold or even room temperature liquids. I love warm, cozy drinks during the colder months so I switch over to drinking herbal tea during this time of year. Make sure the tea isn't caffeinated as these types of tea have a dehydrating effect. Celestial Seasonings and Tazo are some of my favorite tea brands and they both make a variety of yummy herbal teas!

4. Buy cute drink ware!
If you're a sucker for packaging like I am, an integral part to drinking any type of liquid is the container it comes in. I've tried various types of drinkware and I find that a sippy water bottle like the Camelbak works best for when I'm out and about. Whenever I'm at home I like using either a tumbler or a cute glass with a straw -- you can find some adorable mugs and cups at Target! The Camelbak is definitely one of the most convenient travel water bottles out there, but using attractive mugs/cups at home makes drinking water a lot more fun and something that you'll actually do more frequently!