Water consumption plays a key role in your weight loss and healthy living journey. With the majority of our body being made up of water, it’s no wonder we need to consume it regularly to help refill our stores and to allow our body to carry out its normal processing.
And while water is great, sometimes it’s nice to mix it up a little and add a little extra flavor and excitement!
If you want to stay on track with your health and weight loss, get your water intake, and have it taste good at the same time, whip up one of these detox waters and drink up!
Cranberry Detox Water
There's a reason cranberry juice is the go to for individuals experiencing urinary tract infections or bladder infections: it’s really good your kidney. The kidney is the filtering organ for all the fluids that go through our body and is responsible for helping to keep us hydrated. When not clean itself high, it can't do a very good job of filtering out any toxins and as a result these are continuously put back into circulation in our body. Consuming unsweetened cranberry juice regularly helps keep the kidney in tiptop shape!
Ginger Detox Water
This fiery root is one of the best ways to naturally help fight indigestion, upset stomach, bloating and abdominal distension. Slice some ginger and gently bruise it in a mortar and pestle or with the back of a spoon, and add to some room temperature water. Consume regularly to maintain digestion, or just when you are having problems. It also makes a great tea! Try adding some lemon and lime as well.
Lemon Detox Water
As one simple way to improve your health and wellbeing, you can start drinking a glass of hot lemon water in the morning as soon as you wake up. It’s great for alkalinizing your body (excess acidity in the digestive system is at the root of several health problems), and it helps gently wake up your digestive system and stimulate it for the day. However, you can also benefit from drinking lemon water all day long, to aid in alkalization and to help your body continue to flush out toxins you may be exposed to during the day.
Parsley Detox Water
The original reason behind garnishing plates with parsley isn’t for the aesthetics alone. Rather it’s because parsley is a digestive aid helping to settle the stomach and stimulate digestion. Add some parsley to your water to help ease cramps or gas, aid in de-bloating, or just to settle an upset stomach. You can also steep it into a tea, adding 2-3 parsley stems to some hot water and leaving it covered to steep for 15-20 minutes.
Beet Detox Water
This bright, beautiful veggie is good for more than just it's pretty colour. Not only is it an excellent source of antioxidants, which help fight the free radicals in your body, but it is also a source of nitric oxide, which acts to open up your blood vessels and increase blood circulation. This is great if you are an athlete, but in terms of detox, better blood circulation and more oxygenated blood means your body will be that much more effective at removing the built up toxins.
Coconut Detox Water
Although you may not make this at home, investing in some coconut water to have on-hand is definitely worth the splurge. This natural water, found inside young coconuts, is incredibly high in electrolytes, making it a great way to refuel after tough workouts instead of chugging down sugary Gatorade or other sports recovery drinks.
Orange Detox Water
You are probably well aware that you should amp up your vitamin C intake when you are sick. Vitamin C is an antioxidant and helps fight free radicals in your body, and is also an immune system booster. However consuming vitamin C through orange juice means you also get a lot more sugar, which is an immunosuppressant and slows down your immune system, as well as causes your body to leech important viatmins and minearls from other areas where they are needed so the sugar can be processed. Instead, infuse your water with orange slices. I like adding blueberries to! You will still get a dose of vitamin C from the orange, but without all the added sugar!
By: Laura Peill – (Check out her blog Chronicles of Passion & Facebook)
