by Fern Shaw | May 29, 2020 | Water Coolers
At present, it’s understandable that we may crave comfort food and drinks. The quick fix from salt and sugar loaded food and drink is undeniable, so even while you’re attempting to stay better hydrated, you may be ingesting dehydrating substances without even realising it.
Sodium is a big culprit
When you eat salty foods, your cells tell your brain that you’re thirsty. Examples of foods high in salt are fast foods, potato crisps, tinned foods, deli meats and condiments like tomato ketchup, brown sauce and sweet chilli sauce.
Sugary drinks also contribute
Much like salty foods, sugary drinks also tell your brain that you’re thirsty. Try to avoid these – fizzy, energy and sports drinks as well as over sugared coffees and cocktails.
Instead of eating and drinking these dehydration-inducing foods and beverages, drink more water and add these top superfoods to your diet for optimal health and antioxidant levels.
Blueberries
Yielding antioxidants, vitamin C and anti-inflammatory properties, a handful of these berries daily can do wonders.
Fatty fish
Fatty fish with omega-3s include salmon, herring, sardines, and mackerel. Make sure that you only buy fish off the endangered list. A good guide to which are sustainable and safe fish to buy can be found here.
Soy
This does not mean using enough soy sauce to turn your sushi rice another colour. Soy sauce has a high sodium content. Clean and simple soy is recommended. Soy in this category includes tofu, soymilk and edamame. For the curious, edamame are green soybeans boiled or steamed in their pods.
Fibre
There are a variety of great options for getting more fibre in your body:
- Beans. Think three-bean salad, bean burritos, chilli, and soup.
- Whole grains. That means whole-wheat bread, pasta.
- Brown rice. White rice doesn’t offer much fibre.
- Popcorn. It’s a great source of fibre.
- Nuts. Almonds, pecans, and walnuts have more fibre than other nuts.
- Baked potato with skin. The skin’s important here.
- Berries. All those seeds, plus the skin, give great fibre to any berry.
- Bran cereal. Actually, any cereal that has 5 grams of fibre or more in a serving counts as high fibre.
- Oatmeal. Whether its microwaved or stove-cooked, oatmeal is good fibre.
- Vegetables. The crunchier, the better.
With all this talk about salt, it’s quite likely you’re now thirsty, so to help, here are a few thirst-quenching alternatives that are not only good for you, but will tamp down on your dehydration quickly:
Tea
The antioxidant powers of tea are present in both black and green tea. Moreover, you’re drinking water when you drink tea, minus all the sugar you would be when consuming fizzy drinks.
Calcium-rich
The health-conscious tend to stay away from dairy products for fear that they contain fat, but calcium is necessary for the body. If you’d rather not consume cheese and milk, take a calcium supplement.
Water
As always, the simplest and quickest route to maintain good hydration is to drink water more. To gauge how much water you should drink, refer to AquAid’s handy guide to start you off.
*updated from a blog post Jan 2013
by Fern Shaw | Apr 22, 2020 | aquaid, bottle fed water coolers, water cooler
Social media has played a huge part in communicating with and connecting people over the last few months.
Posts, videos, memes, all exhorting individuals as to what they could do while practising self-isolation. Everything from downing raw eggs (can you say salmonella) to playing tennis across rooftops (which we quite liked, truth be told). We are being bombarded with so much information it can be overwhelming, so, whereas here at AquAid we’ve decided to add to the pile, we like to think you may find our to do (or not do) list easy to digest:
- If you’re lucky enough to have a pet, pet your pet. Often. There’s nothing quite as recuperative as communing with a furry creature who adores you. (Or scaly, or feathered if that’s the way you roll, pet wise).
- Drink water more. Make sure there’s always fresh water for above-mentioned pet.
- Remember the oxygen mask deployment rules when flying (slight paraphrase here): take care of yourself first so that you are better able to help others.
- A prime example of taking care of you is to remember to drink water. Properly hydrated equates to you being better equipped to perform – no matter the task.
- Bend your knees. Whether you’ve decided to completely re-landscape your garden; spring clean your entire dwelling; re-arrange your furniture or stoop to blow that dust bunny back under the sofa – bend your knees.
- You guessed it. Irrespective of your level of lockdown activity, hydrate. Then hydrate some more.
If you require a water dispenser, your Bottle-Fed water cooler topped up or bottled water delivery wherever you are, remember that here at AquAid, we continue to operate responsibly, including maintaining social distancing and our customers not having to sign for bottled water deliveries.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 10, 2020 | water boiler, water cooler
Now that March has arrived, it would be nice to believe that spring isn’t too far off (and it isn’t that far as the new season arrives officially on the 20th of March).
As we Britons are used to radical weather patterns whatever the season, it’s no surprise that the topic remains at the forefront of our communication. Whether (ha) we’re topping up our water at the water cooler station at work i.e. chatting to colleagues (not the water cooler, although should you wish to, please, feel free – even a water cooler can benefit from some attention) or chatting with family or friends or indeed, speaking to strangers.
Irrespective of our opinion about the topic of the weather, there is no denying it has a huge impact on our behavioural patterns; moods; what we eat; our travel patterns; what we wear and what we drink.
Although we may not think about how different our drinking water patterns are depending on our environment, they very much are. When it’s warmer we tend to exert ourselves more and are always on the lookout for the perfectly chilled water, while come the colder months there’s nothing better than a piping hot drink to stave off the chill. This usually means you are more likely to be on the lookout for a hot water boiler that can dispense a constant supply of hot water throughout the day.
If you’re prone to drink more water when it’s warm and less when it’s cold – a gentle reminder that you’re just as likely to become dehydrated in winter as you are in summer, so remember, whatever the weather, make sure to have AquAid address all your hot & cold water cooler requirements. We are always happy to help.
by Fern Shaw | Mar 4, 2020 | bottle fed water coolers, mains fed water cooler, Water Coolers
Recently, Sadiq Khan, Mayor of London, spoke of his wish to have all London primary schools become ‘water only’ zones.
The reasoning behind this stems from a report that found that nearly 40 percent of children in London between ages 10 and 11 are obese. Mayor Khan said, “Making water freely available and introducing measures like ‘water-only’ in schools are some of the simple things we can do to not only tackle childhood obesity, but also improve behaviour and learning.”
AquAid has always promoted and encouraged proper hydration habits for every individual; however, a large portion of our focus has always been and continues to be ensuring the provision of large capacity water coolers, designed specifically for the school environment, to schools throughout the UK. Our water coolers can either be Mains-Fed for large schools where the water consumption is high or, Bottle-Fed for schools where there are no water mains close to a particular area.
This is because, at AquAid, we understand that remaining properly hydrated helps to improve attention, short-term memory, and well-being. The fact is, a hydrated child is a much happier child and to this end, we have always encouraged our school customers to be able to provide readily available drinking water for both the children and school faculties.
Further to that, our water coolers are all equipped with anti-bacterial taps to ensure safe drinking water, and various drainage options to reduce overflow and spillage wherever possible. Moreover, to help create and instil better hydration habits, we also offer free refillable drinking water bottles and free school posters to help keep water top of mind during the school day.
by Fern Shaw | Feb 12, 2020 | Uncategorized
As we pile on the layers, wrap up warmly, turn up the heat and miss the usual thirst signals, it’s understandable that we may believe that we need to drink less water than we would when it’s warmer.
The exact opposite is true though.
Expelling water vapour means you’re dehydrating. Although we aren’t sweating as much, our bodies lose moisture in other ways – a clear indication is the water vapour we puff out from our nose and mouth when we’re outside in the cold.
Exercise as much as you do when it’s warmer. If you’re experiencing mid-afternoon slump or need a serious shot of caffeine post lunch to stave off feeling fatigue, you are most likely already dehydrated. We function more slowly when dehydrated, to avoid this, maintain regular hydration habits: at the very least ensuring that you’re drinking water throughout the day. As when it’s warmer, treat the water cooler at your premises as your new best friend, visit often and replenish your water. By keeping moving and active, you’re helping your body function better.
Keeping winter hydrated helps your body’s immune system. Another factor of dehydration is the weakening of our immune system barriers: the mucous membranes in our lungs and sinus passages can dry out, thereby reducing their resistance to infections. By keeping ourselves properly hydrated, we can better ensure that the barriers used to protect our bodies from colds and flu remains intact and functioning properly.
Stave off winter weight gain. The temptation to hibernate is (understandably) strong during dark days and cold nights. Sadly, we’re not bears and we don’t get to sleep through winter living off the fat we’ve accumulated through the summer months. Ignore the instinct to reach for the comfort food – at the very least, drink a glass of water before your next meal. Our brain often mistakes thirst for hunger, which means that after drinking water, not only will that hunger trigger be satisfied, but you will also be a little better hydrated.
When the temperatures plummet, it is not as difficult to maintain hydration levels as one would think – in fact, with AquAid, your options to up your water intake increase quite a bit. We offer a range of high quality hot and cold water coolers; hot water dispensers; hot water boilers and Instant Taps: tailor-made to suit all your hydration requirements – whatever the weather.
