H2Oh! My!!

H2- OH MY!! At first thought, how to write an entire chapter solely on water seemed like a grueling task but there is just so much to know in order to understand how a lack of this essential nutrient can really affect everyday life. Without further ado, let’s find out why you need this stuff. “DRINK MORE WATER!” Ever hear that one? Of course you have so the goal here is to explain WHY it is important so that you can understand and embrace the need for it. If a person understands the “why” of something then the inclination to follow through is greater. Think of your body like a car. In this analogy, food (calories) is like the fuel and water (lubrication) is like the oil. Your car will not run right without fuel and oil, right? So why would a person think that the body can function optimally without the same. Ok, so really though, the human body is made up of mostly water, right? The only accurate way to determine exactly how much water per individual is through a process called bioelectrical impedance analysis. Now, unless you want to get naked, roll around in electrolyte gel and lay there with contact pad electrodes streaming from your body, you will never know the exact percentage. So, take my word that you are made up of somewhere between 45 and 75% of water. The amount is highest at birth and slowly decreases with age and is lower than average when a person is obese. That’s not important. What is important here is to realize that if you don’t maintain your body’s water content through hydration that you will suffer many ailments and consequences. Now, listen… I am not talking dehydration like you didn’t drink water all day and you ran a marathon now you are going to pass out kid of dehydration! I am talking about not giving your body enough water to run its daily processes efficiently and thoroughly. You have to realize that things like sweating and having a bowel movement to name a couple reduces the water content in the body so we have to replenish it by drinking more water! “Why?” clients ask. So, let me tell you …that headache at the office, the mid-day sluggish feeling before you go for the energy drink or coffee (which is counter-productive by the way but we will talk about THAT later!), the dry skin, aching joints, cramping, fatigue, the rancid yellow pee you just made, the uncontrollable hunger, these are just a few indicators that you are not consuming enough water. Now the goal of a trainer is to reinforce what they believe to be the best information available with regards to fitness and health. While the list of benefits to drinking water seem endless, I found this summary that I would like to share with you which includes just some of the top reasons you SHOULD drink water, it is written beautifully, simply and easy to understand: 1. “…Water can be a miracle cure for many common ailments such as headaches, fatigue, joint pain, and much more. We can go for weeks without food, but only 3 days without water!” (Bartram 2004) – I told you so! A large amount of ailments that Americans complain of are directly related to dehydration. 2. “It is difficult for the body to get water from any other source than water itself. Soft drinks and alcohol steal tremendous amounts of water from the body. Other beverages such as coffee and tea are diuretics therefore stealing precious water from the body.” (Bartram 2004). I always told my clients that a caffeinated beverage negates the equivalent amount of water intake for the day. In other words, if you drink 2 cups of coffee and 8 cups of water then you should consider that you only truly took in 6 cups of water! So here, it is important to note that decaffeinated tea and coffee are the best choices however, if you must drink a caffeinated beverage, do so only after drinking water first! 3. “Water plays a vital role in nearly every bodily function. Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue. A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.” (Bartram 2004) Amazing isn’t it? It isn’t coffee or an expensive (not to mention unhealthy) energy shot that you need after all, it is good old fashioned (and free!) WATER! 4. “Water is essential for proper digestion, nutrient absorption and chemical reactions… No less important is the ability of water to transport waste material out of our bodies.” (Bartram 2004). 5. “Water is essential for proper circulation in the body. The levels of oxygen in the bloodstream are greater when the body is well hydrated. The more oxygen the body has readily available the more fat it will burn for energy without the presence of oxygen the body cannot utilize stored fat for energy efficiently. Not only will the body burn more fat when well hydrated but because there are increased oxygen levels you will also have more energy.” (Bartram 2004) Wow, am I good or what? I think I already told you that you will lose weight and feel better if you drink more water but I just had to show you that I wasn’t making this stuff up! 6. “Water helps remove toxins from the body, in particular from the digestive tract. Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize stored fat. Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.” (Bartram 2004). Wow, all I can say is that I am good! I totally already mentioned that toxins are removed easier and you will burn more fat if you increase your water intake. 7. “…if you drink 12 ounces of plain water, your body will absorb 8 ounces of it within 15 minutes. If you drink 12 ounces of a 10% sugar solution, less than 1 ounce will be absorbed in the same period. The typical soft drink is a 10 to 12% sugar solution.” (Bartram 2004) Is this not good enough reason to put down sugary junk and drink more water? 8. “Consistent failure to drink enough water can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration. This condition where the body's cell are never quite hydrated enough leave them in a weakened state, vulnerable to attack from disease. It weakens the body's overall immune system and leads to chemical, nutritional and pH imbalances that can cause a host of diseases.” (Bartram 2004) 9. “Dehydration can occur at any time of the year, not only during the summer months when it is hot. The dryness that occurs during winter can dehydrate the body even quicker than when it is hot. When you are dehydrated you tend to eat more.” (Bartram 2004) If I wasn’t already married, I’de have to hunt down this Bartram guy and get together over a drink… of water! Here’s a General Rule: Due to the fact that every person’s body is different, the rule we often hear about drinking 8-8oz. of water per day can be a little misleading. We need to drink half our body weight in ounces of water every day to provide the body with its MINIMUM water replacement requirements (Minimum being the key word here). Triple the intake for best results. This trainer always said “Drink the equivalent of your body weight in ounces daily!” Now, I am not sure what sources Bartram pulled this information from but be sure that this stuff is invaluable information and I have witnessed first-hand the benefits of drinking lots of water and the repercussions of failing to do so. (Anyone who is a former client of mine has heard this stuff before so you shouldn’t be surprised that I am citing it all here.) You see, your body is fighting mortal combat with you and telling you that it needs more water in more ways than one, so give up the fight and pick up the water bottle! So the first rebuttal from clients: “I drink water all day long” …Bullcrap, people. A tiny percentage of people actually consume ENOUGH water every day as to not interrupt the body’s natural processes. Sipping out of that pretty little water bottle or making passes at the water fountain every time you go to the next cubicle over to talk about the latest status update isn’t enough and is a poor way to keep track of how much you drink over the course of the day! The next client rebuttal “I’m hungry, not thirsty” – on the contrary! As I already mentioned, most “hunger pains” are really dehydration signals going to the brain so, before you open your jowls to consume unnecessary calories, go for the water bottle! It is surprising that most of the time; water consumption relieves that feeling of being hungry whereby preventing you from gaining more weight from unnecessary eating. This is a lifestyle change, right? So put down the sugary crap! Pick up the water bottle! Ok, clarification here; This is NOT a suggestion that you stop eating and replace meals with water, what is being said is that you need to make sure you are hydrated first. If you are still hungry 20 minutes after chugging a bottle of water, then eat! I am not trying to create anorexics here; the goal is weight loss and improving the quality of life. One of my favorite client rebuttals of all “Oh, I have to have my coffee as soon as I get up” – ya, because you think you get energy from it when in reality, you are making yourself even more dehydrated after going all night long without water in the first place. The truth is you need water as soon as you get out of bed. If you are caught up in this cycle, now is the time to start changing this aspect of your lifestyle. Doesn’t it sound simple? Go for the water when you rise then have the Joe. So, the first thing this trainer says is to take 1 gallon of water with you to the office, keep it under the desk and pour from it into that water bottle so you can have a visual of how much you drink! . It is totally doable. This way, you are accountable and can see that, by mid-day if you have not put a dent in that thing, you need to start pounding it down! A gallon a day is a great goal. Now, of course if you are not a water drinker, this may initially scare the crap out of you or intimidate you somehow but look, this is about changing your life, not your shoes. So, here’s how I suggest you progress: If you drink multiple juices or sodas in a day, you replace just one with a big glass of water for the three days. Then, replace two beverages with water for the next three days, and so on until you are consuming nothing but water all day. “How am I supposed to choke down water, I hate water, I can’t drink water” blah blah, some of the crap clients say is funny (but that is another book), well you will be glad to know that you can still have that cup o’Joe in the morning! Yes, but you see, you need to rev up your metabolism by drinking a big glass of water as soon as you get up. This will wake up your metabolism after it slowed down all night long during rest, it will say “GET MOVING AND BURN CALORIES FOR ME”, I promise! So, once you drink your big ole glass of water as soon as you get up, then you go for the coffee. Also, if you need flavor in your beverage, there are several choices out there to add to your gallon which makes it go down much nicer for those who find drinking plain water well, boring! My advice on that note is to look for something sweetened with Stevia which is a natural plant derived sweetener that won’t spike your blood sugar (it leaves the glycemic index alone) rather than something with aspartame, other toxic chemicals. Of course, sugar is not a good sweetener when you are trying to lose weight or live a healthier lifestyle so give stevia a try, which goes for sweetening your coffee as well. There are several brands of stevia based sweeteners available so check the labels and make sure you get the right thing! The goal here is to make your water taste good to you so that you will drink it, and drink all of it. The feeling of “being tired of drinking water” is completely understood here! It is important to note that the water intake needs of each individual are different based on size, weight and activity level so a gallon a day is a good goal to shoot for but start by drinking more today than yesterday is where you need to start. Make sense? Another must-do is to keep a bottle of water next to the bed. Drink as much as you can before going to sleep and again each time you awake to check the time or use the bathroom, just chug away! It will make a big difference in how you feel when you wake up. In my case, every time the baby wakes me up to eat (which is many times), I drink water. The sluggishness when the alarm goes off diminishes and it is a great feeling. Attention must be drawn to the fact that most Americans are chronically dehydrated based on their respective needs, got it? Now while water intake “needs” for maintaining bodily functions may be significantly less than I am suggesting you drink, but I thought you picked up this book because you were seeking to improve your lifestyle, increase your energy and live a healthier life. If this is the case, then the “minimum” needs do not apply to you. If you keep doing the same things, you keep getting the same results, right? I bet you didn’t realize there was so much to learn about water huh? So never mind the pish posh that you will find when you do a search engine inquiry…no matter your weight, size, age, gender or race, you need more water! Now my goal here was to make you aware that you need more water and to help you understand why so I thought it appropriate to sum up why you should not drink the “other stuff”. It seems like common sense that sodas and other high sugared drinks are not good for you, but when you wrap your head around some of this information, and understand WHY, you just might toss that crap out of your hand for good! Here, Bartram also sums up the negatives of drinking sodas : “Simply put, sodas are water thieves. Yup, they work very much like a diuretic which takes away more water than it provides to the body. Just to process the high levels of sugar in soft drinks steals a considerable amount of water from the body. You would need to drink 8-12 glasses of water for every one glass of soft drinks that you consume! Soft Drinks never quench your thirst, certainly not your body's need for water. Constantly denying your body an adequate amount can lead to Chronic Cellular Dehydration, a condition that weakens your body at the cellular level. This, in turn, can lead to a weakened immune system and a plethora of diseases. The elevated levels of phosphates in soft drinks leach vital minerals from your body. Soft Drinks are made with purified water that also leach vital minerals from your body. A severe lack of minerals can lead to Heart Disease (lack of magnesium), Osteoporosis (lack of calcium) and many other diseases. Most vitamins cannot perform their function in the body without the presence of minerals. Soft Drinks can remove rust from a car bumper or other metal surfaces. Imagine what it's doing to your digestive tract as well as the rest of your body. The high amounts of sugar in soda cause your pancreas to produce an abundance of insulin, which leads to a "sugar crash". Chronic elevation and depletion of sugar and insulin can lead to diabetes and other imbalance related diseases. This is particularly disruptive to growing children which can lead to life-long health problems. It also severely interferes with digestion. Caffeine and high amounts of sugar virtually shut down the digestive process. That means your body is essentially taking in NO nutrients from the food you may have just eaten, even that eaten hours earlier. Consumed with french-fries which can take WEEKS to digest, there is arguably nothing worse a person can put in their body. So you think you are doing justice by choosing a DIET drink? Diet soft drinks contain Aspartame, which has been linked to depression, insomnia, neurological disease and a plethora of other illness. The FDA has received more than 10,000 consumer complaints about Aspartame, that's 80% of all complaints about food additives. Soft Drinks are EXTREMELY acidic, so much so that they can eat through the liner of an aluminum can and leach aluminum from the can if it sits on the shelf too long. Alzheimer patients who have been autopsied ALL have high levels of aluminum in their brains. Heavy metals in the body can lead to many neurological and other diseases. Soft Drinks are EXTREMELY acidic: The human body naturally exists at a pH of about 7.0. Soft Drinks have a pH of about 2.5, which means you are putting something into your body that is hundreds of thousands of times more acidic that your body is! Diseases flourish in an acidic environment. Soft Drinks and other acidic foods deposit acidic waste in the body which accumulates over time in the joints and around the organs. For example, the Body pH of cancer or arthritis patients are always low. The sicker the person, the lower the Body pH. Don't even think of taking a sip of a Soft Drink when you are sick with a cold, flu or something worse. It will only make it that much harder for your body to fight the illness. So, of course sodas are the WORST THING you can possibly put in your body.” Wow. Talk about tons of reasons to replace that toxic soda or sugary juice with water! So now that you know the importance of this vital mineral and are prepared to chug it down, let’s move on…