One of the
few things I picked up, or rather learned, during my two-month stay in Manila was the importance of infused water. Although fresh fruits and vegetables
are furiously expensive (your mercury can hit the roof) for a tropical country
that is basically a nation whose life hangs in the balance on agriculture,
infused water is a far better alternative (for those who can afford it) to the
chemically infused drinks that most of us can’t live without. On sale, fruits
and vegetables at the hyper-marts in Saudi Arabia are ridiculously cheaper than
what you pay for the same fruits and veggies in Manila.
Some might mumble, "Why can’t I just swallow the fruit?" But hey, why not? This is flavored water, after all. Imagine your life eventually shying away from drinks, which is by and large making you sick, maybe not now, but as time marches on in your life. By
the time you realize you have poisoned yourself, it will be too late.
Long before
there were gargantuan machines that manufacture drinks and medicines, primitive humans were extracting juice from roots, leaves, barks, and fruits for illness remedies. Infused water is no different except that
you are doing it with some class. The tea bag, if you have observed, is a glaring example of how plant natural products steep into your drinks.
I searched the net for a scientific study comparing the health benefits of infused water to simply consuming the fruit to your heart's content, but I couldn’t find any. I came to the conclusion that the benefits are the same, except for one that I believe is particularly significant: adopting a healthy lifestyle, whose benefits are immeasurably huge in the long run. Imagine: instead of
a Coke or a zest O (these companies will kill me) in your lunch bag, you carry
a chilled natural drink of apple cinnamon or a lemon/cucumber. Instead of
serving your visitors with a Pepsi, you hand them glasses of chilled infused
water of carrots and honey :-)
Steeping the fruit in your drink doesn't mean you have to give up eating the fruit or your veggies
altogether. If you can gulp a chemically synthesized orange drink and munch on an orange fruit, why not opt for the real thing altogether? I eat the orange fiber I get from the fruit after removing it from the jar of water. The orange fruit has become
tasteless, but since I am after the fiber, I eat it just the same. Hey! You
don’t have to do it. I tried it with the apple, but it tastes really bland. By
the way, don’t keep the fruit or veggie, whatever, for more than 6 hours because after that, it becomes bitter. Honey is expensive, but if you can afford it, a teaspoon in a liter of water will make a significant difference in both taste and health benefits. Do you know that honey doesn’t spoil…I mean, forever?
I have been
virtually mumbling without coming to the point: the health benefits of infused
water. Fruits, including the peel, especially the peel that you discard, are antioxidants. These are vitamin C and E, the essential vitamins that you get from fruits and veggies, and others. It neutralizes and removes potentially damaging oxidizing agents from your body, which you also consume through meat and unnatural foods. It maintains the well-being of the collagen in your body, the building structure of your connective tissues, meaning you get beautiful skin and a beautiful body.
Note: I have
been reading lately about “freelancer” writing as a job. I may or may not steer
in that direction in my retirement years (I can see it from here…must be close), but what the heck! I learned in just a matter of a few clicks what SEO means, what web content is, press releases, news writing, and keywords. As a
freelance writer, you will be asked to write about subjects you have no knowledge of, and I said, okay…infused water for mental gymnastics.
