A Better You, to Grow Younger Every Day: Day 26 - Water is a "First World Problem"

For those of you who have never seen an example of the popular "First World Problem" meme (as seen above), let me explain. These "memes" are used to display a 'problem' that faces individuals in first-world nations.

There seems to be a limitless supply of these memes (pronounced meems) that you can easily find with a simple search engine, but I seem to find this one as striking as any other because of the real-world examples I have witnessed with this one.

I can't even count on both hands and feet, the number of times I have heard a friend, family member, or coworker use the phrase, "Well I can't just drink water!"...

My response to that is, "Why the %^*& not?" Unfortunately, we live in a society that truly cherishes beverages of all types. Why is this unfortunate that we have so much choice? Because for a majority of our beverage choices, the sugar and/or fat content in these drinks are through the roof!

I don't really want to turn this into a discussion about world politics and infrastructure, but I want you to sit back and really think about this number for a second:

"According to the WHO/UNICEF Joint Monitoring Programme for Water Supply and Sanitation (JMP), 37% per cent of the developing world’s population – 2.5 billion people – lack improved sanitation facilities, and over 780 million people still use unsafe drinking water sources."

780 million is well over twice the popluation of the United States, and roughly 23 times the population of Canada!

So a better comment that one should make, rather than "Well I can't just drink water!" should be, "I don't want to drink water." Instead, I am going to make a less-healthy choice for something that has some flavor to it.

The unfortunate part about flavored beverages, is that the body does not satisfy its satiety (hunger pangs) through liquids, so all of those extra calories that you drink in essentially go unnoticed and only add an extra notch to your pant size.

The truth of the matter is that water is the perfect beverage for human beings. It has zero calories, it satisfies thirst, it is delicious, and most importantly, your body needs it to survive.

How can it be delicious? If you spend some time cutting out all of those other junky, calorie-laden drinks from your diet, you will soon begin to appreciate the simplicity beauty of a cold glass of water. If you really can't get your mind around drinking that stuff, then find a (healthy) way to spruce it up a bit for yourself such as adding lemon or cucumber. Please stay away from artificial sweeteners, however, as that can lead you down another road that can be just as bad...

Many of my readers out there have access, right now, to clean, delicious, FREE water. No, you most certainly do not need to buy it in bottles with a ridiculous markup either! If you don't believe me, watch this great video: