My name is Cory and I have a drinking problem

[csberry]

Now, wait a sec, don't get too worried. I certainly don't have any alcohol issues (other than having a mason jar of vodka and lemon rind that still needs to be mixed with syrup to make a new batch of homemade limoncello). I have a drinking problem in that I don't hydrate myself enough.

I have been doing a survey diary the past 5 days on what beverages I drink, how much I drink, etc. I've known for a while that I don't hydrate enough, but seeing how sparse my beverage diary has been was a wake up call.

On a typical day I...

1. Fill up a 20oz plastic jug of water and nurse that all day at work.
2. I will drink a tall glass or two of apple juice during the evening while at home.
3. Most days, I'll have half to all of a can of Caffeine Free Mountain Dew for dessert at some point in the evening.

And that is it. Lately, I haven't been eating cereal as much, so that's another area I've unfortunately cut my fluid intake. Admittedly, when I'm doing physical labor, I'll drink more water. However, I don't do much physical labor in my day-to-day routine.

I need to figure out what I can do to help spur me to drink more. Some sort of routine or habit other than some sort of requirement for me to chug some amount of water at certain deadlines. I've tried that before and couldn't consistently get myself to do it.

Comments

[ktnzgtklws.livejournal.com]

This is probably kind of strange, but one of the ways that really helped me keep on top of my water intake (back when I was freakishly active and really had to) was to take metamucil every night.
Sounds strange, I know, but supposedly the fiber helps keep you full, cleans out cholesterol, and keeps things moving, so it was done more as a weight control thing. I just figured out the water benefit after I quit and started up again. In order to make it, that's 10 oz. right there. The label says 8? Yeah, they lie, it is SO much easier to take if it's 10. Oh, and mix it in a shaker cup so it's not clumpy. Then it's easily another 8 to wash it all down. Kind of a camel-esque way to get more fluid, but it seemed to work for me.

[csberry.livejournal.com]

After I had a hemorrhoidectomy a few years ago (If you are really curious, my posts on it are on this page of my TMI tag page. (http://csberry.livejournal.com/?skip=30&tag=tmi#asset-csberry-233736)), I increased my fiber intake. The issue I run into, though, is that I sometimes get problems with constipation because the fiber isn't getting enough liquid to adequately move through my system.

[ktnzgtklws.livejournal.com]

Ahhh, ok, so that wouldn't help.
Well, all the studies have said that flavored water seems to help people drink more. What about adding some lemon juice? Or some true lemon/lime/orange powder? That stuff is AWESOME, BTW. http://www.truelemon.com/
I also had good luck in the past with a very weak dilution of Crystal Light.

[csberry.livejournal.com]

I do put a squeeze of lemon in the water. If I don't have lemon, it is nearly impossible to get me to drink water. I think I may need to do some Crystal Light for the sake of variety.