Drink water, this is probably the best affordable health hack around! The best part is studies suggest drinking water can suppress your appetite, boost your metabolic rate, and help you lose body fat. Water is also 100% calorie-free!
Water is an essential nutrient because we need it in amounts that exceed our body’s ability to produce it. Our body, which is approximately 60% water, uses and loses water all day, every day. Virtually every body function relies on water. Food digestion, absorption, transportation, conversion into energy, detoxification, elimination of waste products via sweat, urine and stools and regulating body temperature.
What happens when you don’t drink enough water?
Dehydration is extremely common. Even losing as little as 1-2% water is mild dehydration and can produce symptoms such as:
· Fatigue
· Headache
· Brain fog
· Poor concentration
· Constipation
· Mood imbalance
· Dry mouth & skin
· Joint pain
If you find yourself thinking you’re thirsty then you’re already dehydrated!
How much should you drink?
Although there is no official recommended daily allowance (RDA) of water. Most of us know we need to drink around 8 glasses or 2 litres of water each day.
This depends on Age, weight, sex, climate, physical activity level, sweating, pregnancy, breast-feeding and illness will affect the amount of water you need.
Foods high in salt and sugar affect hydration along with excessive intake of caffeine and alcohol.
What about Caffeine?
Caffeine is one of the most widely used, and addictive, stimulant drugs in the world. Coffee, tea, chocolate, soft drinks and energy drinks along with painkillers, cold medications, drugs to aid mental alertness, workout powders and weight-loss supplements can all contain it.
Research has shown that drinking more than 3-4 cups or 400 mg of caffeine per day can cause health problems. This can include dehydration, and the depletion of B vitamins due to its diuretic effect.
Consume less caffeine you will
· Achieve better sleep
· Lower blood pressure
· Less anxiety
· Fewer headaches
· Better nutrient absorption
· Improved fertility
· Healthier hormone levels in women
· Healthier gut
The good news! Caffeine, in moderation, has some benefits
- boosting energy
- enhancing athletic performance
- regulating blood glucose
- improving memory and concentration
- Relief from headache & migraine (beware though, caffeine can also trigger migraines in people).
If you want to find out a bit more about caffeine and its affects, read the article here, Caffeine
Hydration tips
So, here are tips for getting your essential daily dose of water:
· Upon waking each morning drink a glass of water. Leave a glass beside your bed or next to your toothbrush to remind you.
· Have a glass of water (warm) with the freshly squeezed juice of ½ lemon before breakfast or leaving the house. This is great for digestion and liver detoxification.
· Add flavours to your water bottle by adding slices of cucumber, lemon, or lime, sprigs of mint or frozen berries and enjoy throughout the day.
· Before meals, add one tablespoon of apple cider vinegar to a large glass of water to help balance blood sugar.
· Around that 3pm “slump” and before your afternoon snack, drink a large glass of water or herbal tea
· Non-caffeinated herbal tea counts as part of your 8 glasses per day. Try a relaxing herbal tea blend before bed.
· Eat plenty of fresh veg & fruit for their high water content.
· Carbonated and artificially sweetened and flavoured drinks don’t count as part of your water intake. These can be high in calories and contribute to electrolyte imbalances. Electrolytes are key to getting water into our cells for proper hydration.
· Don’t drink water with meals, it tends to dilute much-needed stomach acid which aids digestion. Leave at least half an hour between.
· A glass of water between alcoholic drinks may not help the liver metabolise the alcohol any faster but it may help with hydration.
A nutritional Focus is one of the habits we focus on in the reset stage of the MyMethod approach to resetting your health. Find out more about the My Method approach at a venue near you now!
