A rather unusual post from me today but I wanted to talk about something that I'm doing at the moment that I think might be of interest to others. I thought the problem that I have made me a bit strange but recently I've spoken to a few other people on Twitter who have the same problem so now I know I'm not the only one. That makes it sound a bit dramatic doesn't it? It isn't really! My problem is that I hate the taste of water.
Image source: We Heart It
This has always been a problem for me. I do drink water but can usually only drink it with some kind of cordial in. If it's hot enough and I'm thirsty enough then I can just about manage to drink water but I think this is only because my body really is desperate for it so I can manage to stomach the taste. Another problem I have is that I appear to have been born without whatever it is that makes you realise that you need to drink, if you know what I mean? Typically I'll only drink if I'm thirsty, so in the summer it's not too much of a problem as it's warmer and naturally you want to drink, but in the winter I can quite easily get through a whole day before I'll realise that I haven't had a single thing to drink all day. I don't like tea or coffee either so I'm not a natural drinker of those through the day.
I've wanted to try and start drinking more water in the past as I'm sure my body is probably suffering because of it. I'm aware that the majority of the time I'm dehydrated and I'm sure my skin and all sorts of other parts of my body would benefit from an increase in my water intake. So what has recently pushed me over the edge? Over the last month or so I've started suffering from fainting.
Fortunately I haven't actually fainted yet as I've been a fainter since my early teens, so I know the signs, and since the very first time I did I've had a 100% success rate with managing to stop it before it's happened. Unfortunately though all three of the times that I've come very close to fainting recently I've been on set and on two occasions I've actually been filming at the time. Both times I managed to get through the scene, although with only about 50% vision, which in one scene resulted in me walking into a wall! I'm just hoping that was a rehearsal shot or if they were actually shooting, that it won't make it into the show. As soon as the director shouted cut I sat on the floor, the medic was called and I was given a bottle of water with Dioralyte in which makes you feel great after about half an hour. On both occasions we were shooting outside in the heat we've been having recently and I had more clothing on than I should have had for the heat. Just to give you an idea of what I was wearing on one shoot, which was a period role, I had on hip pads, three skirts (one reasonably thin but two made of that thick old fashioned curtain type material), an apron, a corset, a blouse, another corset, a jacket, a shawl, a rag tied round my waist, a cap and a bonnet. It's hardly surprising I nearly fainted is it! It's hard to try and explain how difficult it is to wear something like that and how heavy it is and my body was well and truly battered after having it on for 24 hours over two days.
So anyway I decided that it was time to start trying to train myself to just drink water without really thinking about it and I'm quite proud of how well I've done so far. My boyfriend bought me a big pack of bottles of water that lives in the back of my car (so I have them to hand on set or can at least grab one to take with me if I can't actually park on location) and over the last few weeks I've bought two more big packs of water myself and have had at least one bottle every day. If I don't actually drink a bottle of water I do make sure that I drink glasses of water, usually with cordial in still as I find it easier to drink just water from a bottle than a glass. I'm not sure if I've noticed any differences in my body yet but I'm aware this might take a while after years of drinking nowhere near enough. It has actually got a lot easier now and I often find myself actually wanting to go and grab a bottle from my car, sometimes because I'm really thirsty (unsurprising in this heat) but other times just because I think my training is working. I still don't like the taste of water, but I always ensure I drink a good few gulps rather than sipping it as then I only actually taste it at the beginning and end. In the winter I'm sure it'll become more difficult as I won't be thirsty most of the time but by then hopefully I'll have got to the point where it really is just second nature and I don't think about it too much.
Are you a water drinker?
Are you a water drinker?