We already talked about making flavored water with the easy-to-use Aqua Zinger, but for those who don’t want to spend the money on another household gadget, or who don’t want to waste the kitchen space, you can always skip the gizmos.

The Yummy Life has a great guide to making your own flavored water with nothing but fruit and herbs, ice, water, a spoon and a container. In fact, while considering how to approach the project, she even considered using all kinds of methods, including special products, blenders, boiling and more, but opted to keep the process as simple as possible so she wouldn’t lose motivation to keep making these tasty treats -something everyone can appreciate. Read more

The Basques say that a lantern’s value increases at dusk; water also becomes more precious when in short supply. Times of drought inspire gardeners to reduce water usage, but it’s hard to know where to begin.

You don’t need a magic-wand-style transformation to move your garden into the realm of water-sparing. Baby steps taken regularly, will get you there. It’s more a matter of pulling a new habit — not a rabbit — out of a hat. Read more

Drinking plenty of water can help prevent bothersome dehydration symptoms such as headaches and fatigue, improve muscle function during exercise and prevent undesirable hunger pangs and overeating. But what if you don’t particularly like guzzling plain water?

Or wish to get more nutritional bang from your drinks, minus the excess sugar and calories in many sports drinks and juices? Enter waters infused with fresh fruits, vegetables and herbs. The following simple recipes can add tantalizing zest to your hydration habits and reduce the effects of common health problems. Read more

Drinking lemon water is regarded by many professional nutritionists as having real and palpable weight-loss powers. Far from a weight loss myth, but, rather, a weight loss reality, drinking lemon water helps to speed up weight loss.

In addition to possessing properties that are favorable to weight loss, drinking lemon water also ensures that some of the toxins in your body are cleaned out, promotes quick bursts of energy and even cleans out some of your internal waste. If you drink lemon water in the morning especially, it will help to activate your body’s detoxifying process and also its natural cleansing process. This principle works proportionally, so the more lemon water you drink, the more you ought to speed up weight loss. Read more

Preloading water before meals helps you lose weight, according to a study published in the journal Obesity, which can be found via WebMD. The study looked at 84 obese adults and had 41 members of the group drink around 16 ounces of water before meals, while the other 43 adults were asked simply to imagine being full before digging into their food. (And yes, we’re talking pure, natural water here — no pre-packaged fizzy waters or store-bought bottles of flavored water that can sometimes also contain sugar or chemicals.)

Interestingly, those who had the 16 ounces of H2O before meals lost an average of 2.87 pounds more than those who just pictured themselves full. In fact, over the course of the 12 weeks, those who filled up on water prior to eating the three main meals a day lost an average of 9.48 pounds, whereas doing it just once a day or not at all resulted in an average loss of 1.76 pounds. Read more