Tuesday 10 May 2011

Water Challenge Update - Nearing the End

It's ten days until the end of my one-month water challenge and I thought it'd be good to update on how it's been going. There hasn't been a single mishap - which I put down to the fact that I've allowed myself a hot chocolate in the evenings if my parents are having one and I'm sitting with them. This might seem like it's rather ruining the point of the challenge but the fact is that until I started doing this, I would drink fruit squash, fruit juice or hot chocolate whenever I was thirsty, and if I was out in town I would buy a fizzy drink. Now, I'm drinking water for 90% of my drinks and that one hot chocolate is a luxury instead of a habit.
Image by DeathByBokeh used under Creative Commons Licence


As I've said before, I've never been a big fan of water. When I was training hard I would take a bottle of water with me and appreciate it, but at mealtimes or just during the day I'd never want water. I won't pretend that I've become a water convert and will never again touch flavoured squash, but I do think I'm done with fizzy drinks except for very special occasions, and I'll no longer choose to go thirsty if water's the only option.

It makes me think about my future potential children, and whether I'll choose to restrict their intake to mostly water. I know enough about food now to realise that sugar and sweeteners are addictive and very quickly become a habit that I certainly have struggled with all my life. Perhaps if I start them off only drinking water, they'll find it easier to make educated choices when they're older and won't have to take an extreme measure to force themselves to be healthy.

And I also feel sorry for children. Understanding why something delicious is a bad thing is hard even when you're an adult with a knowledge of biology. I can fully see how a six year old would pick a can of Coca Cola or a carton of chocolate milk over a glass of plain old water.

No comments:

Post a Comment