Three Litres of Water a Day

Three litres of water a day seems a lot to drink. But is it...? 

It is vital that you drink between two and three litres of water a day while on the 8-week blood sugar diet to try and prevent constipation and headaches. In fact it's a good idea to drink plenty of water whether you are dieting or not. 

You can drink any calorie-free liquid that you wish; fruit tea, tap water, fizzy water, tea and coffee (but go easy on the milk). I enjoy a mixture of all these, every day.

You must absolutely not drink fruit juices or fruit smoothies. And absolutely no sugar filled fizzy drinks at all. At a push you could have a diet fizzy drink but do this infrequently, if you go out or are doing something special.

If you are not keen on drinking tap water (I’m not) try buying a large bottle of ‘nice’ water. I like Volvic or Buxton. You can then see how much water you are drinking and it becomes more rewarding. Or buy a water filter which definitely helps make the water taste better. If you are really struggling with water, try adding ice and a few frozen raspberries, a slice of lemon or a squeeze of lime.

I thought it would be interesting to work out how much fluid I drink in a day. So, during the course of an average day I’ll have a large-ish cup of tea with breakfast (if I’ve got time – which at the moment in the summer holidays I’ve got plenty of – I might have two) let’s say that’s 400ml. I have an effervescent multivitamin drink in the morning too, let’s say that’s 200ml. I’m already on 600ml!

I’ll drink a glass of water, maybe two throughout the morning and another with lunch (1200ml). 

Maybe another cup of tea after lunch (400ml). And about four o’clock I’ll have a coffee (250ml). That’s an additional 1.8L of fluids. And the day is not over yet! 

I’ll have a glass of water with dinner (400ml) and if dinner was particularly salty perhaps another, and after I have washed up I’ll sit down with a peppermint or Redbush tea (250ml).

This works out to just over three litres of water in one day – I never knew I was consuming so much liquid! And I haven’t even been trying!  

    

You will notice that you pass a lot of water too – this has got to do with drinking so much water, obviously, but there is also an interesting scientific reason about the release and use of glucose from your body. I’ll try and write a blog about that one day…