The importance of water
Why drink at least two quarts a day?
Because that’s roughly how much water we lose normally through
perspiration, waste removal and other functions. Add sultry weather or
enough exercise to break a sweat
and the amount of water needed to stay healthily hydrated - not to
mention avoid fatigue, light-headedness, nausea, and even heat stroke
- quickly climbs.
Additionally, water keeps your energy up, weight down, muscles strong,
joints supple, digestive system smooth — your whole system in
physical balance.
Water:
1) regulates body temperature
2) makes up 83% of blood
3) removes waste
4) composes 75% of brain
5) helps carry nutients and oxygen to cells
6) moistens oxygen for breathing
7) helps convert food to energy 
protects and cushions vital organs
9) helps body absorb nutients
10) accounts for 22% of bones
11) cushions joints
12) makes up 75% of muscles
It really depends on the person and their activity level as well as
the weather. I find the more I drink the less
I actually retain with my activity level and climate. Additionally
because of diureteic effects of caffeine drinks
you should have 1 8-ounce glass of water for each 8-ounce glass/cup of
these you drink to minimize the effects.
On the other hand however, there is a thing as too much water. If you
drink in excess of 8 liters without getting the proper other nutrients
your body will actually start depleting
itself of those nutrients.
Also,
Are you Hungry? Many of us mix up food pangs with water cravings!
By Malcolm Stewart, PhD
As a clinical and health psychologist, I work with many people who
want to lose weight for personal or medical reasons. It’s not uncommon
to hear complaints of
intense hunger between regular eating times, no matter how satisfying
their meals. For some people, it’s puzzling, irritating hunger that
makes them want to pick at food
constantly. Others describe sharp cravings that demand immediate
satisfaction.
Regardless, the effect is the same: Despite increasing their physical
activity (perhaps the key weight loss technique), they can’t lose
unwanted pounds.
But a little-known fact both helps explain these food pangs - and
provides a means to deal with them: Sometimes thirst masquerades as
hunger. So you may think your body is asking for food when what it’s
actually asking for is water.
Your body needs water - a lot of water, every day - more than anything
else except oxygen.
WE can live without food for a week or more if necessary, but not
without water.
If your body has just 2 percent less than it requires, you’ll feel
fatigued. A 10 percent shortfall can produce significant health risks.
A week without water can be fatal.
Adults need six to eight 8-ounce glasses (about 1 ?? 2 quarts) every
day, more if you’re large or physically active
and even more if you drink much coffee, tea or cola, because the
caffeine in these is a mild diuretic.
Why do we sometimes feel hungry when in fact we’re thirsty? For one
thing, many of us seem to have learned to interpret some signs of
thirst as signs of hunger.
For another, the body may seek food as a source of water because about
37 percent of our daily water intake
comes from food. Fruits and vegetables are typically 70 to 95 percent
water. Cooked meat is 50 to 60 percent. Even bread is made up of about
35 percent water.
So your body may signal that it’s hungry in order to get more water
through food. And because water is so important, the body gives off
strong messages when it needs more, which is why thirst masquerading
as hunger can be so compelling. Which would be fine if food didn’t
contain calories as well as water.
Being able to understand that sometimes “I’m hungry” really means “I’m
thirsty” can help you react more healthfully, starting with drinking
eight glasses daily. This takes a conscious effort for most of us, but
it’s easier if you make a habit of drinking water every time you do a
particular activity - for instance, each time you go into the kitchen or
whenever you’re about to make a phone call. You can also up your
intake by using a larger glass or drinking a refill.
Some people find “sipper bottles” convenient.
Now apply this to dealing with hunger between meals (which can be
translated as “reach for water, not the ice cream”). If you feel
hungry when it’s not meal time, first have a large glass of water,
then get busy doing something - keep at it for at least 20 minutes
before you consider eating anything.
After drinking one glass, you may immediately want another. This is
your body saying, “Yes! That was want I really wanted - give me more!”
If you still feel hungry after 20 minutes, try having another glass of
water, then get busy again.
People often feel like they’re “bad” or “weak” if they feel hungry at
times they think they shouldn’t be. However, once you are aware that
thirst can masquerade as hunger, you
realize that hunger pangs often are a legitimate request by the body -
but for water rather than food.
This isn’t a cure - all for curbing hunger, but I’ve learned from my
practice that it can go along way toward beating between meal eating.
And that can mean weight-loss success.
and
An excerpt from Oprah’s book, Make the Connection, by Bob Greene:
Water is essential to life. Without it, we would survive maybe two or
three days. That makes it our most
important nutrient. Water surrounds and is a part of each and every
cell in your body, and it’s needed or involved in virtually all body
functions. About 60 percent of your body
weight is water.
We lose a lot of water each day through basic body functions. By
exercising, you lose even more water
depending on the type, length, and intensity of exercise and the
climate you work out in. Your body must continually regulate the
amount of water that it holds. You become
dehydrated when your body’s water supply cannot meet its demands. This
can cause a variety of complications, including heat exhaustion and
heat stroke. Although less life threatening, dehydration also affects
the body’s ability to digest food and metabolize fat. Needless to say,
having enough water is essential for your body to function at its optimum.
As far as weight loss and weight maintenance are concerned, drinking
enough water is extremely important. There are at least six basic
reasons why replacing water on a daily basis is important for
controlling your weight.
1) Digestion and metabolism - These are two functions we are
particularly concerned with when it comes to controlling our weight.
If you aren’t getting enough water, you risk
impairing these two functions to a certain degree. Enough water
ensures that both digestion and metabolism are working at their full
capacity.
2) Water’s filling effect - by drinking six to eight glasses of water,
you can help curb your appetite. Water can fill you up so that you
don’t overeat.
3) The thirst-hunger response - When you are dehydrated, your body may
signal you to eat when what it really requires is water. It does the
same thing for a variety of nutritional
needs. For example, your body may need sodium, so it signals you to
eat foods containing salt. But all you really need is the salt without
all the additional calories in food. I call this phenomenon artificial
hunger. By meeting all of your nutritional needs, including your need
for water, you can control artificial hunger.
4) Better workouts - You can exercise more effectively and at higher
levels when you are getting enough water.
5) Muscle requires more water - Muscle is comprised of about 70
percent water, whereas fat is made up of
less than 25 percent water. One of the many benefits of exercise is
that you maintain and even add muscle weight, which in turn burns fat.
As you gain muscle, you require more water and need to replace more of
it daily. So water becomes more important the more active you are. Think
of it as a cycle: The more muscle you maintain, the more water is held
by the body and the more calories are burned by that additional
muscle. So the more muscle you have, the more water you must have
available.
6) Glycogen storage - Glycogen is a form of carbohydrate stored in
your muscles. It can be used as energy when you exercise. The more fit
you become, the more glycogen is stored in your muscles. Every gram of
glycogen holds about 2.5 to 3 grams of water. So, the more fit you
are, the more water your body will hold, and the more water you need
each day. Being more fit also allows you to burn calories at a higher
rate.
In addition to those six reasons, as you begin to lose fat, your body
increases its percentage of water. So the amount of water you need to
drink each day increases. This is
especially so the more active you become. Your body is signaled to
hold more water. It will usually let you know it needs more water by
making you thirsty, but not always.
and
WATER
Water is often called the forgotten nutrient since many people take it
for granted, but water is essential to
life. We can live with less than enough food for weeks, months, even
years, but take away our water and we
last just a few days.
Water makes up about 60 percent of the average adult’s weight. It is
the medium the human body uses for
nearly every activity it performs and has many functions, including:
- Carrying nutrients in the body
- Cleansing the body’s waste products
- Acting as a solvent, dissolving minerals, proteins, carbohydrates,
vitamins and other substances
- Being involved in the chemical reactions in the body
- Lubricating joints
- Acting as a shock absorber for many organs
- Helping to regulate body temperature
Since water is so important, its balance is delicately monitored by a
number of mechanisms. Our brain
signals us to drink when the sodium concentrations in the blood become
too high or when blood volume drops too low. Unfortunately, by the
time this thirst mechanism kicks in,
we are already in the beginning stages of water deficit. That’s why
nutritionists recommend drinking before you are thirsty.
This is particularly important for the elderly population because as
we age we become less sensitive to our thirst mechanism. At the same
time, our percentage of body fluid drops, so it’s easier to become
dehydrated faster.
Young children are also at a higher risk for dehydration, but for
another reason: Their thirst mechanism is not yet fully developed, nor
are they always able to recognize when they
are thirsty.
Water needs vary with each individual, but in general, nutritionists
still abide by the old rule of eight glasses
- - 64 ounces - - or more of fluid a day. Water is your best bet, but
it is certainly not the only way to get fluids.
Fruit juice, seltzer, milk, lemonade, and soft drinks can also quench
thirst.
Alcohol and caffeinated beverages like tea and coffee do not count
because they are actually diuretics, meaning they cause you to lose
fluid rather than retain it.
Food like soup, cucumbers, watermelon, lettuce, tomatoes, and oranges
are high in water and good way to supplement your liquid intake.
How much water do you need?
The old standard suggestion of 6 to 8 8-ounce glasses of water a day
is still good. But people who exercise may need more like 2 or 3
quarts, especially when it’s hot and humid
outside (and during illness).
Get in the habit of carrying a water bottle. It’s easy to measure,
handy to cart around especially during
workouts, and saves waiting in line at the water fountain - - where it
never seems polite to guzzle what you really need when others are waiting.
Drink cool water when you’re hot. Cool water empties out of the
stomach and enters the system faster.
Drink warmer water (room temperature or warm uncaffeinated tea or
broth) when exercising outside in the
cold.
Drink before you’re thirsty. People who drink to satisfy thirst
replace only about half of what they need. An intelligent, buy the
book, “hydration schedule” for a workout looks
something like this:
- 17 ounces of water 2 hours before your workout
- 8ounces or more 15 minutes before your workout
- 4 to 8 ounces every 10 to 20 minutes during your workout
- another 8 ounces after your workout
and from another site (http://members.tripod.com/~rrandolph/water.html)
Incredible as it may seem, water is quite possibly the single most
important catalyst in losing weight and keeping it off. Although most
of us take it for granted, water may be the only true “magic potion”
for permanent weight loss.
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.
Here’s why: The kidneys can’t function properly without enough water.
When they don’t work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto
the liver. One of the liver’s primary functions is to metabolize
stored fat into usable energy for the body. But, if the liver has to
do some of the kidney’s work, it can’t operate at full throttle. As a
result, it metabolizes less fat, more fat remains stored in the body
and weight loss stops.
Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention. When
the body gets less water; it perceives this as a threat to survival
and begins to hold on to every drop. Water is stored in extracellular
spaces (outside the cells). This shows up as swollen feet, legs and hands
Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored
water along with some essential nutrients. Again, the body perceives a
threat and will replace the lost water at the first opportunity. Thus,
the condition quickly returns.
The best way to overcome the problem of water retention is to give
your body what it needs–plenty of water. Only then will stored water
be released.
If you have a constant problem with water retention, excess salt may
be to blame. Your body will tolerate sodium only in a certain
concentration. The more salt you eat, the more water your system
retains to dilute it.
But getting rid of unneeded salt is easy–just drink more water. As it
is forced through the kidneys, it takes away excess sodium.
The overweight person needs more water than the thin one. Larger
people have larger metabolic loads. Since we know that water is the
key to fat metabolism, it follows that the overweight person needs
more water.
Water helps to maintain proper muscle tone by giving muscles their
natural ability to contract and by preventing dehydration. It also
helps to prevent the sagging skin that usually follows weight
loss–shrinking cells are buoyed by water, which plumps the skin and
leaves it clear, healthy and resilient.
Water helps rid the body of waste. During weight loss, the body has a
lot more waste to get rid of–all that metabolized fat must be shed.
Again, adequate water helps flush out the waste.
Water can help relieve constipation. When the body gets too little
water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. The colon is
one primary source. Result? Constipation. But, when a person drinks
enough water, normal bowel function usually returns.
So far, we’ve discovered some remarkable truths about water and weight
loss:
The body will not function properly without enough water and can’t
metabolize stored fat efficiently.
Retained water shows up as excess weight. To get rid of excess water
you must drink more water. Drinking water is essential to weight loss.
How much water is enough? On the average, a person should drink eight
8-ounce glasses every day. That’s about 2 quarts. Howegver, the
overweight person needs one additional glass for every 25 pounds of
excess weight. The amount you drink also should be increased if you
exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry.
Water should preferably be cold–it’s absorbed into the system more
quickly than warm water. And some evidence suggests that drinking cold
water can actually help burn calories.
To utilize water most efficiently during weight loss, follow this
schedule:
Morning: 1 quart consumed over a 30-minute period.
Noon: 1 quart consumed over a 30-minute period.
Evening: 1 quart consumed between five and six o’clock.
When the body gets the water it needs to function optimally, its
fluids are perfectly balanced. When this happens, you have reached the
“breakthrough point”.
Endocrine-gland function improves.
Fluid retention is alleviated as stored water is lost.
More fat is used as fuel because the liver is free to metabolize
stored fat.
Natural thirst returns
There is a loss of hunger almost overnight.
If you stop drinking enough water, your body fluids will be thrown out
of balance again, and you may experience fluid retention, unexplained
weight gain and loss of thirst. To remedy the situation you’ll have to
go back and force another “breakthrough”.