All Hail the Flavor Packet

Drinking water is a very important part of diet and excersize. Why? Is what I wanted to know. I understand that we need to drink and remain hydrated but I never understood what was so special about it. Doctors told me to 'Drink more water, of course!' as if I knew why drinking more water was important.

So I did what I do. I googled it! Here's a few tidbits on what I found interesting:

• If you're drinking water, you're not drinking something else.
• Drinking water briefly increases your metabolism after you drink it, burning more calories for a short period. Drink more water to increase your metabolism more often.
• Drinking a big glass of water whenever you feel hungry and before a meal or snack fills the stomach briefly and makes you feel fuller and stop eating sooner.
• Don't drink too much! Don't start drinking an extra gallon of water a day - that can kill you, especially if you are fasting or eating very little. Water taken in must be in balance with body salt - electrolytes.
• Exercise such as walking causes the metabolism to rise and body water to be lost through increased respiration and sweat. (Okay I knew this one but it's good to point out again!)
• Transportation of nutrients / elimination of waste products produced while exercising.
• Temperature regulation while sweating.
• If you are dehydrated, your body will try to conserve water (you will retain it). This will reduce your weight loss.
• Water flushes your kidneys (kidneys purify the body of all toxins etc, if you do not drink water, the kidneys cannot function properly and then the liver starts helping out the kidneys to flush out the system and puts on hold its own function, which is to break down fat…

Okay so that's all well and good. It's nice to know there's a bunch of reasons to drink water other than just to 'stay hydrated'. But I don't like drinking water. It's...boring, for lack of a better word. But I have to drink it so how can I help it?

The answer has been right under my nose for years! Crystal Lite makes this convenient little flavor packets that you dump into a bottle of water, shake it up and drink! It's like having koolaid without the sugar! I've always had a box of them in my house just because they were tasty. I'd have one maybe once or twice a week. Now I'm having one almost every day. It's only 10 calories for a packet making it easily worth it if it helps me to drink more. And for the budget conscious like me Walmart has off brand flavor packets for cheap in a variety of flavors so you don't get bored.

Flavor packets help me drink more water. All hail the flavor packet!