Stay Hydrated

I think by now we all understand we need water to survive, and function.  What I’ve learned personally, and while supporting others is there is a lot of confusion about how much water we need, why we need it, and what exactly does water do anyway!  Hence my intention behind adding light to the darkness around water!

Did you know water makes up 75% of all muscles, and 23% of fatty tissue?  Your body uses water to maintain its temperature, to digest food, to cleanse cells, and to eliminate waste. You lose water in different ways: breathing, sweating, exercising, and having sex.  If you talk a lot, or have a job that requires you to talk a lot- you are losing more water.  

What is the difference between Thirst versus Hunger? In general, most of us are not eating high water content food on top of the fact that we aren’t drinking enough water.  The outcome? Our energy drops, the brain gets confused, and doesn’t realize we are in need of water. Instead, it believes our low energy means we are hungry. So- we eat! The result is we are treating the symptoms of being thirsty instead of the root cause.  Our body is craving good ole’ plain water.

Benefits of drinking a lotta water

• Increase your energy.  

Keeps your enzymes working which support cellular energy-making activities.  Without the enzyme activity, you feel fatigued. 

• Supports metabilization, absorbing, and pooping.

We need water for every single stage of digestion.  Did you know your body produces an average of 1.75 gallons of digestive juices daily?  And do you know what is needed to make up those 1.75 gallons? Yep; water. If we aren’t drinking water, our body’s digestive system is not able to break down the food we are eating.  And- the body is unable to absorb the nutrients from the food. This explains the upper part of our digestion, now for the lower part; the colon. We need to bulk up the fiber we consume.  This creates the “sponge scenario”. We need both the bulk, and proper hydration to get the waste out. When we are not getting proper hydration, the body begins to store the “poo juice” that is in the stool.  That’s where constipation starts to kick in. We feel like we have to go and all we get for our efforts are little rabbit-pellet poops. Starting to get the importance of water?

• Immune-Boosting Power Party

What about the waste that enters our body from other sources?  We get toxins from the products we use on our skin, the air we breathe, and the by-products we use on our skin, the air we breathe, and the by-products of regular metabolism.  Water is vital for flushing the cells of this waste build-up. So where does the waste of the toxins go if we aren’t getting enough water? We end up storing them in our fat cells & carry them around.  It slows down our overall metabolic functioning, and can cause chronic aches & pains, headaches, menstrual problems, allergies, and an all-around heavy feeling. When elimination is not regular, from the cells themselves or from the body as a whole, we become more inflamed and toxic, weakening the immune system and making us more susceptible to infection and illness, not to mention creating a prime environment for slow-building diseases such as cancer.  

• Keep the Blood Flowing

When the body is in a state of chronic dehydrated, our blood becomes thicker & sticker.  The body tries to keep everything working & moving, so it tries harder to move blood through the veins.  The result; blood pressure increases.  

• Cholesterol Slowdown.

Cholesterol is a fatty substance found in the blood, produced in every cell of the body, and is the parent hormone for all the other hormones we produce.  Cholesterol is not evil, it serves various essential functions and at healthy levels is vital for health. Cholesterol levels tend to rise in response to high toxic load, emotional or physical trauma, high free-radical circulation, and inflammation.  As it relates to hydration, cholesterol helps form part of the membrane around each and every cell of our bodies. It keeps our cells, including those in our skin, waterproof. Without it, we’d be spilling out. For the most part, cholesterol is not a dietary issue but a symptom or response in the body to other things that are going on.  When we are dehydrated, water content or mixture is naturally drawn out of the cells by the process of osmosis (wanting balance on both sides of the gate). In an attempt to protect the coveted holy grail of the cell (the DNA), the cells will produce more cholesterol to strengthen the cell membrane and protect the cell from further dehydration.  The result, however, is often not just a thickening of the cell membranes but this cholesterol will also pour into the bloodstream, thus contributing to elevated cholesterol levels.  

• Management of the Junk in Your Trunk.

The junk in your trunk isn’t always fat, either.  Cellulite is not a curse bestowed on us by some mean cottage cheese- hating our master of thighs!  It’s a sign of built of toxins we store in our cells (cellulite). Dehydration can also increase circulating inflammatory compounds.  All of this adds to extra weight we are carrying around.

• Our Face.

Without proper hydration, the skin on our face starts to sag.  It loses elasticity and gets all dry and flaked out. To get the toxins out, we need to sweat.  In order to sweat properly, we need enough hydration to act as the vehicle to sweat stuff out. Dehydration doesn’t allow toxins to be adequately diluted for easy removal.  We actually need to sweat about 24 ounces a day to properly flush out and eliminate the toxins we store as well as those that are created as natural byproducts of the body’s metabolic processes.  Without adequate hydration, the crap will store up in our cells until, eventually, it starts busting out of our face, and armpits in the form of pimply complexions and stinky body odor.

• Reducing Acid.

The tissues of the body have a pH level, which is a measure of acidity & alkalinity.  Ideally, the score of resting body hangs out in the slightly alkaline range of 7.4 on the pH scale.  The more acidic your body is, the more prone you are to all kinds of pathogens, fungi, bacteria, and inflammation.  Consuming a less than stellar amount of water slows down the production and activity of enzymes, which are needed to keep the processes of the body in motion.  The slower the motion, the more acidic the body environment becomes. Other things that create a more acidic environment, by the way, includes poor digestion, constipation, and drinking sweet drinks.  Reaching for your water yet?

• Internal lubrication.

Joints, cartilage, and ligaments that are dried out like a rice cake are far more brittle and therefore prone to injury.  Also- dry vaginal issues plague women both young and old. The base of female lubricant is water.  

• Age is Just a Number.

A normal aging process happens due to the gradual loss in cell volume- think of a grape drying out into a raisin.  The cells just start to deflate. This deflation into old wrinkle-bottom is accelerated with a life of caffeine, booze, and sugar- all things that dehydrate us.  Drinking water is the surest way to slow down the aging process, and keep our skin looking plump + youthful.  

Top Water Dense Foods

Cucumber

Watermelon

Celery

Apples

Romain

Citrus Fruits

Top Dehydrating Foods

Alcohol

Caffeinated drinks (coffee, black tea, green tea, energy drinks, soda)

Deep-fried anything

Refined bread

Crackers

Chips

(Meghan Telpner, certified nutritionist )