On this sunny, chilly, late winter Monday morning, I thought nice warm tasty healthy hot beverages would be an appropriate blog topic!

As a new mom whose sleep has been severely compromised, I admit to enjoying a cup (or two) of coffee in the mornings. While I love a nice cup of hot coffee and all the ritual and romance of it, I found myself getting dehydrated through the day. As my husband will attest, it takes me hours to drink one cup of coffee. So a coffee I pour at 8am might not be finished until noon. Because I always had my coffee on the go, I was missing out on my daily water intake. This is not good – maintaining your hydration status is crucial! I was starting to notice the onset of dehydration symptoms – dry skin, dry lips, less frequent urination, constipation, light headedness. SO here is a trick I put into effect this weekend: while my coffee was brewing (quitting cold turkey won’t work for me! – more about that later), I boil the kettle and start the morning with a nice big mug of hot lemon water. Read on for my 3 main reasons for loving lemon water:

1) A mug of hot lemon water will decrease my coffee intake for the day. I will substitute it for one of my cups of coffee in the morning, so now I will only have one cup per day. Since coffee is dehydrating, by cutting my intake in half, I am effectively decreasing my dehydration.

*Tip: Coffee is a “diuretic”, meaning it makes you pee. So depending on how manycups you have, coffee can become incredibly dehydrating. The rule of thumb is to drink 2 glasses of water per every cup of coffee you drink. This will help stave off dehydration and still let you enjoy your cup of joe!*

2) Along with decreasing my dehydration, a mug of hot lemon water will increase my hydration by boosting my water intake for the day. Add that to my two cups of herbal tea at nite and the 4-5 glasses I drink throughout the day.

*Tip: Whenever you think of it, grab a glass of water! Always have a glass on the go that you can keep filling up throughout the day. By the time you feel thirsty, it’s too late –  you’re already dehydrated! Is your pee clear? That’s a quick and easy way to assess your hydration level.*

3) It will help prime my liver for my

spring detox.

*Tip: Lemon is a liver food, meaning it helps gently and naturally cleanse and detoxify this crucial organ. Hot water is also good for the organs, so hot lemon water makes the liver extra happy!

Okay and a fourth reason – 4) it’s delicious!

A couple other little tricks to make this more do-able: cut up 3-4 lemons at a time and keep them in the fridge in a covered container with a little bit of water. This will help keep them moist and convenient to grab in the morning! Also, just squeeze the lemon juice into the hot water, and leave the lemon out. This keeps any pesticides on the lemon out of your delicious drink.

Obviously, half of what I’m wanting from my morning coffee is the caffeine fix. But I’m also just wanting a big cup of a tasty and comforting hot beverage. Hot lemon water is the answer. My eventual goal is to ween off coffee completely once my son begins sleeping in longer than 3hour stretches. I’m sure I will still be tired, but then I can switch to green tea, which has about half the caffeine of a coffee and a plethora of other amazing health benefits. I want coffee to be a special treat

I have on sunday morning errands with my husband, not an absolute necessity to physically wake up! But I’m starting slow. I like to think that the key to success is baby steps. If I were to try to get up tomorrow and quit coffee cold turkey, I would fail! Making your goals small, realistic, and attainable allows you to reach them, accomplish them, and overcome them – and then set new ones!

I encourage you to try hot lemon water with me tomorrow morning. And then if you like it tomorrow, try it again the next day. And so on. Baby steps!

Happy sipping!