Water & Tea -}

I am going to start with a disclaimer, I have terrible eating habits. I can not say 'No' to ice cream ever, I love a good bottle of Hoëgarrden or Carlsberg on Friday nights, and a slew of other bad habits. There are several habits that I have slipped in my routine, to try and counterbalance the bad habits.

There is almost always a cup of water beside me at all times – to the point of where my little shoebox apartment is littered with them by the end of the week. Without consciously thinking about it, I can drink about four or five cups of water just sitting about and reading through my blog roll or watching the latest uploads on YouTube.

While, water might be the best thing for you to drink, it can get pretty boring sometimes. So I've picked up a tip from Korea (and recently the rest of Asia) – drink water mixed with vinegar. I know, I know. It sounds absolutely disgusting, it certainly did to me when I first heard the idea. Now, I'm not talking white vinegar, the stuff you use to clean and cook with – although, I'm sure that's perfectly fine. However, there are actual products made for the specific idea with loads of flavors. I am personally loving this pomegranate vinegar I picked up for Y500 from Costco. It's delicious and cheap and my skin loves pomegranate, so win-win. Vinegar is supposed to be very good for the skin and the body, and some touted (though not proven) benefits are improved skin tone, improved digestion, and an increased metabolism. Plus if you're drinking a 'red' vinegar (hongcho? in Korean) they're supposedly loaded with antioxidants.

Another habit, I've picked up since living in Japan is drinking tea. While I'm still not a fan of English tea, or heaven-forbid, matcha, I've really grown to like hot oolong tea and cold barley tea (mugi-cha), and even more recently I've started enjoying a cup of hot green tea. Although in contrast to everything else, I tend to prefer cheap tea . . . I haven't gotten myself to like the really strong stuff. Now, green tea is suppose to help lower your chance of cancer – which helps me gulp down the strong stuff whenever I'm presented with it, but it also apparently helps against wrinkles and ageing of the skin. Oolong tea is also high in antioxidants, specifically those that are supposed to fight free radicals. And barley tea is assumed to have the ability to protect teeth enamel as well as other health benefits. I have to say though, even though I've snapped a picture of the Lawson bottled tea, I much prefer home-brewed barley tea – somehow the Lawson one tastes faintly of soap to me.

What are your healthy habits? Do you like tea or vinegar-water?

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