In one of my earlier blog posts, I discussed the amazing and well-known benefits of water, one of which is its effect on weight loss. Multiple studies have shown that aside from quenching your thirst so you can avoid unnecessary calories, drinking water can actually make your resting energy expenditure go up by around 25% for up to 4 minutes.
Basically, water helps burn calories.
The average recommended daily intake for water is 2.2 litres for women and 3 litres for men. But if you want to lose weight, I’d recommend adding another litre to your diet. Some people even drink twice the recommended amount. And if you want effective and fast results, what you need is infused water.
Drinking water by itself is already beneficial. In fact, it can help ward off chronic mental fatigue. But by adding infused water to your diet, you can increase your daily water intake in the nutritious and delicious way possible.
Also known as detox water, fruit-infused water, and fruit-flavoured water, infused water can be made not just with fruit, but also with all types of vegetables and herbs immersed in cold water. Despite being so flavorful, infused water has almost no calories. It can also make the act of rehydrating healthier, tastier and more enjoyable. The average infused water is estimated to have about 20% of the natural antioxidants of freshly squeezed fruit juice, minus the extra calories.
Just how beneficial is infused water?
Infused water has a plethora of health benefits most of us haven’t heard of. Drinking it throughout the day may help improve your mood; boost your metabolism; flush toxins out of your system; keep you feeling satisfied so you won’t crave unhealthy snacks; help you lose fat cells naturally; reduce muscle fatigue; improve your post-workout recovery; and keep grogginess and lethargy at bay later in the day. Most people who stuck to it for at least two weeks actually noticed an improvement in their overall well-being.
Because infused water is low in calories and is not made with artificial ingredients, you can drink to your heart’s content. You’ll even find lots of recipes with natural metabolism boosting properties that will help with weight loss.
You can make a serving of infused water any way you like. A single glass is fine, but I recommend using a pitcher so you can make a large batch you can keep in the refrigerator and drink every day. When deciding which fruit to add to your water, choose your favourite so that you’ll have no second thoughts about drinking it.