Earlier this January, Robinsons launched the Enjoy Drinking More Water campaign as part of a mission to get brits to enjoy drinking more water. Have you joined in yet? We were thrilled to take part in this campaign at the London Wetland Centre and to learn the importance of enjoying drinking more water to keep us hydrated.
While the children went off to enjoy the bug hunts and ponding with the Wetland Centre staff, nutritionist Helen Bond shared the important of drinking more water and help parents to get their children to drink more.
Water is essential for life, health and wellbeing. You can live without food for week but not without water! We can only live a few days. Your body has water in every cell, tissue and organ. It helps transport nutrients and oxygen to cells, lubricates and cushions joints, regulates body temperature, removes waste products from the body, keeps the skin moisturised as well as other important jobs.
How do you know if you are not adequately hydrated? These are the signs of poor hydration: being thirstier than normal, dry, sticky mouth, dark urine, headache and feeling tired with reduced concentration.
Did you know that children in fact need almost as much water as an adult as 70% of their body are made up of water? Two out of three (64%) parents say they do not know how much water their children should be drinking each day. Studies show that children from the age of 2 to 3 require 1.3l, aged 4 to 8 required 1.6l and aged 9 to 13 boys require 2.1l whilst girls need 1.9l. There are 42% that say their children find the taste of water ‘boring’. So how do you help your child to drink more water?
It is important to make sure children have a drink within arms-reach, and at their eye level, to remind them to take regular sips throughout the day. Although water is the best drink to stay refreshed, it’s not your only source. Water is present in milk, fruit juices, smoothies, squashes and even in tea and coffee. According to the British Dental Health Foundation, after water and milk, drinking diluted, no added sugar fruit squash is the next best alternative. So try to add a dash of Robinsons no added sugar squash to a glass or water bottle, to make water more enjoyable to drink and it won’t be boring again!
We were also challenged to place the sugar levels in each drink. I am surprised to know that smoothies are the worst. They contain the most sugars per 100ml, whilst Robinsons drink comes next to water and milk. It is nice to know that I am not over feeding my children with too many sugary drinks as Robinsons have no added sugar and only contains natural sugar from the fruit juice.
So how do you keep yourself hydrated?
Disclosure: We were invited to the event with transport and entrances but not compensated to write this article.