How to Drink More Water When You HATE Water: 10+ Tasty Inspirations

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This list of things to drink instead of soda may contain affiliate links. Momma’s got pay some bills, yo.

It doesn’t matter if you are trying to quit drinking soda, or if you are trying to find ways to stay more hydrated.

If you’re an awesome woman with super powers you need to find a way to stay hydrated even when you HATE water!

CONFEsSION TIME: Ashley Gets Real About Her Water Issue

It’s time that I make a little confession……

I HATE DRINKING PLAIN WATER!!!

Yup, can’t stand it. (Though it’s gotten better now that I’ve completely given up drinking soda)

Before that, drinking water regularly would make me pee ten times an hour. At least that’s how it felt!

I’d spend so much time in the bathroom, I think my husband was beginning to wonder if I was having an affair with the Charmin guy.

Plain water is just SOOOOO boring, so I’ve lived my life in a chronic state of dehydration until recently.

How Do You Make Yourself Like Water?

This is probably the number one question that people ask me!

“Ashley, How do I make myself  LIKE water?”

That’s actually something that I used to ask myself……ALL…….THE……..TIME…….

Quite honestly it was the main reason that I kept failing when I tried to kick my soda habit to the curb!

So, what is the magical answer to the ever looming “how do you make yourself like water?”.

……Ready for the answer…….the answer is……….. YOU DON’T

Yep, you read that right you don’t! (Don’t leave yet, we won’t leave you hanging like that….. Keep reading for solutions!!!)

There are many ways to increase how much water you drink without it being straight water.

What Can I Drink Besides Water to Stay Hydrated?

Now that I am wiser, and doing the 30 Day No Soda challenge, I have a game plan. 10 tried and true things to drink other than soda when you hate water is my strategy for success.

This list is a compilation of my no sugar beverages I drink every day. There are a few of my ‘break glass in case of emergency” go to drink I really have to have something sweet!

Over the last few years, I’ve learned what I can drink besides water to stay hydrated.

It’s taken me from being chronically dehydrated, to a gal that was not only able to kick her soda habit but find hydrating beverages that she actually LIKES!

 

1 Black or Herbal Tea:
Learning how to quit soda is important because if you don’t have a plan, you will be more likely to fall back to soda.

My plan to quit soda without headaches was find great drink options that had some caffeine in them. Black tea was one of my favorite finds!

 

My favorite black tea is Bigelow Tea’s Constant Comment or Chai Spiced tea. It’s full of flavor and I don’t even miss the sugar.

• Bigelow Tea Constant Comment: This stuff is delicious hot or cold!
• Bigelow Tea Chai Spiced Tea: Oh my spice. It’s warm and cinnanomy (is that even a word?) Awesome naked or with a splash of honey
• Hibiscus Tea: It’s a gorgeous bright pinky color, and it has so much flavor you won’t miss the sugar. (You don’t need no stinking sugar)

2. Fruit juice with soda water:
If you need something sweet and bubbly, putting 100% fruit juice and soda water.

Usually mine are a 50/50 ratio. That way it’s not too watered down. Make sure to look for brands with no added sugar on the label.

3. Fresh Fruit Spritzers:

These are even better than the suggestion above. It’s a blend of fresh fruit, with soda water that gives you all the yummy fiber from the fruit and no added sugar!

 

4. One Word, Izze Sparkling Juice:

When I am out to eat and need to grab a drink, I check and see if they have Izze Sparkling Juice.

Izze has no added sugar. It’s only sweetened with fruit and rarely has caffeine.

The Clementine flavor is my favorite! This is the way I go first before I break for a soda. 99% of the time it’s just enough to keep me from going back to the Dew. Here are some of the other awesome Izze flavors.

• Izze Sparkling Black Berry
• Izze Sparkling Apple
• Izze Sparkling Grapefruit

 

5. Fruit Infused Teas:

Using fruit to infuse teas is another great way to have a flavored drink without any sugar. My kids love my strawberry infused tea. We make it now without any sugar and it’s divine. .

6. Unsweetened Tea:

As you drink less and less sugared drinks you’ll notice you won’t crave it as much. Unsweetened tea used to be disgusting to me. Now I keep a pitcher in the fridge for me to grab when I feel the urge.

If a girl that grew up in the South, aka the CAPITAL of sweet tea, can learn to drink unsweetened tea so can you! I promise.

If you just can’t get past it, feel free to add some stevia drops to your tea to sweeten it without sugar.

7  Honest Tea:

When I am on the go, I grab a Peach White Tea Honest Tea. Their teas usually only have 50-100 calories to the bottle and have very little added sugar.

They have a great selection of fruit sweetened teas, unsweetened teas, and partially sweetened teas. More and more places are carrying them too.

Between Honest Tea, Izze, and unsweetened tea I can usually find something to drink when I am out. These are my favorite flavors of Honest Tea.

• Honest Tea Organic Green Honey Tea
• Honest Tea Peach Ginger Tea
• Honest Tea Pomegranate Blue Herbal Tea
• Honest Tea Peach Tea

8. Milk:

This one may seem weird, but milk is actually slightly sweet when you cut out all the hard core sugar drinks. Plus it’s not empty calories.

Don’t like regular milk? Coconut milk, rice milk, soy milk, or almond milk are good options too.

9. Fruit Infused Water:

Infusing my water with a few drops of lemon essential oil is one of my favorite ways to “flavor” water.

It has just enough taste to make it not just water. My other trick is to infuse it with fruit like watermelon and berries. Check out my watermelon infused water here.

10.  Coconut water:

Quite a few people have told me that they LOVE coconut water. There are a lot of great brands of coconut water out there now with different flavors too!

Buy a brand that has only coconut water as the ingredient. There are a lot of junk drinks disguised as coconut water.

11. Coffee, glorious coffee:

One thing I refuse to give up is my coffee. Normally I am a “coffee with your cream and sugar” gal, but I’ve had to re-adjust that.

Now if I really want my cup of joe, I put a little bit of organic creamer in there and 2 tsp of sugar. It’s enough to get me my coffee fix without having all the sugar in my favorite mocha from my local coffee house.

It’s going to take some time to get used to not grabbing for the soda, but YOU CAN DO IT! (In my best Adam Sandler voice) Want support? Make sure to join the 30 day no soda challenge.

 

 

Love this post? Check out these other posts about how to quit drinking soda: