Drinking water is so glam!
It is commonly said that drinking water first thing in the morning is healthy, but why is that? Your body repairs, cleanses and replenishes itself at night during sound sleep. These functions require water and nutrients, (like vitamins, minerals, carbohydrates and healthy fats), and creates a lot of waste that is stored in urine, faeces and body cells. These waste products are damaging to the body cells if left there for too long, and this is why drinking water upon rising is so important. But how much water is healthy? And how much do we need during the day? And does any old liquid count as water - even herbal teas? A general rule of thumb is 4 pints of water a day - which is about 2 litres. This is, of course, unless you have a known medical reason to limit water intake (some medications require fluid restriction). But generally, this is a healthy amount for everyone. With the busy lives most people lead, it can be tough to remember to drink enough water during the day, so here’s another good tip: drink 1 pint upon waking - 1/2 hour before eating, and then another pint 1/2 hour before each meal. If you have 3 meals a day, that’s 3 pints right there, so then sip a pint of water between meals and that’s your 4 pints taken care of! This protocol can be especially helpful if you suffer from reflux or poor digestion. Drinking water 1/2 hour before meals gives the water a chance to go through your stomach (and it does more quickly than food, which needs to digest) and straight into your cells. The water is completely out of your stomach in 1/2 hour and has started to go to work. If you then eat a meal, your body’s focus goes to digestion, so the fresh water in the cells is more available to aid this process, and it does this by producing the right amount of stomach acid and enzymes to fully digest your meal and aid in absorption. Meaning you digest more fully, and the nutrients from your food are more available to the body cells and organs that need them. In my perfect world, I could lounge by the pool drinking coffee and assorted adult beverages all day, and that would work just as well as water. But back on planet earth, there is no substitute for plain water, unless it’s cleaner, better filtered water - you get the idea. This is because, unlike all other beverages (even herbal teas), water gives the body no extra nutrients to process - it simply hydrates, and this is a huge job to be done each day when you consider that over 50% of your body is water. That’s also the reason why, even though foods like fruits and vegetables do contain water, it’s not accurate to include that water in your daily intake. So then, what does water actually DO for my body? Water aids almost every single function in your body: sweating (cooling), getting rid of wastes, growth, being used by the liver to detoxify harmful substances, making hormones - like estrogen, testosterone & insulin, making neurotransmitters like adrenaline, dopamine (which makes serotonin), and histamine, and aiding digestion. When the body doesn’t get enough water from daily intake, it goes to the GI tract and the bowel to reabsorb water, and this can cause some constipation. In fact, one good way to tell your own level of dehydration is to compare your stool with the types on the Bristol Stool Chart.
Now I’m not suggesting jumping into the toilet with with a microscope, but do have a look at your deposit and compare it to the type on the chart above. Ideally everyone should go two to three times daily - one time for each meal eaten. It should be easy to pass, slender, like a sausage or a snake, smooth & soft, and there should be little to no residue left on the toilet paper. If it is harder, lumpy and difficult to pass or you don’t have a feeling of completion, this indicates a degree of dehydration. So how do I get hydrated? The road to recovery is pretty straight forward: up your water intake to 4-5 pints a day and decrease known diuretics, like alcohol and caffeine. Remember that even green tea and decaf coffee have some caffeine. At first you’ll find you need the loo quite a bit. This is because your body is used to reabsorbing water from the Gi tract and the bowel, rather than using all the water that you’ve drunk. Once the body readjusts to taking its supply from your daily water intake, it will stop channelling so much of it into urine. SO, what are these tips again? 1. Four - five pints of water daily, the first being just after you get up in the morning and 1/2 hour before breakfast - and if you are a morning coffee person, wait until just after breakfast to indulge. Then a pint 1/2 hour before lunch, another 1/2 hour before dinner and sip one pint through the day. 2. All fluids are not created equal - Water is Water. If you drink juice, soda, coffee, teas, etc, make those in addition to your daily water ration. 3. Keep an eye on your poo and use that as your guide to hydration. That’s all! Easy, isn’t it? If you have any questions or want more information, just shoot me an email at vitalitynutritionuk@gmail.com, or get in touch with me via Facebook at Vitality Nutrition (Health/Beauty). Be Well.
