In the May 10th blog titled “Starting to heat up, Folks” we talked about the importance of water, and based on the experiences of my colleagues and myself, we have learned that we as a nation are dehydrated and it results in health issues.
To re-cap the amount, consuming 1 ounce of water for every 2 pounds of body weight per day is recommended and since fruits and vegetables are up to 90% water and meats and cheeses up to 50%, they can be used in your quota as well. Also, anything with caffeine or alcohol is not counted as a “fluid”.
So, with regard to water consumption, we understand that we must keep hydrated but many find it difficult to know how or when to get fluids in. ANYTIME is a great time to drink water but there are certain times to keep in mind.
Firstly, to help your body do its thing, TIMING of fluid consumption can be helpful. For instance, since eating and the digestion of food need water, drinking water a 1/2 hour before your meal will help digestion while not diluting the essential enzymes and acids needed in food breakdown and drinking water a couple hours after a meal will help to rehydrate what was used in digestion.
Secondly, your body does most of the “housework and repair” while you sleep, so hydrating before you retire for bed will help the process (not too much as to keep you up all night) and when you awake, drinking water will help re-hydrate what was used during sleep.
Hopefully the TIMING hints will help in the HOW of getting your quota of daily fluids to remain vibrant and healthy!
Yours in Hydration – Coach
I once read in a fitness magazine that people in general are so dehydrated that our brains have come to mistake lack of hydration for hunger!
Whenever I get cravings for something “not so good”, I chug down some cold water and wait a few minutes….If i’m still hungry, then I go grab a small snack.
🙂
I learned something today thanks to you. I am always conscious of my eating habits and my water drinking habits, but now can improve both by consciously drinking water a half hour before the meal… that makes so much sense to me, not sure why I hadn’t grasped that idea before now. So thanks again for pointing it out! Kudos Coach!
7.5 Bottles of water!!!!
That’s a bit much, that’s almost 1/3 of my 24 pack of bottled water I buy every month… I hardly think that’s human. How much fluid is in fruit anyways? I understand 90% but what does that translate to in “ounces”.