They say (who are they?) to drink 8 glasses of water a day, which is equivalent to about 5 regular water bottles. In reality though, how much water you should consume depends on your body. Additionally, that rule is not actually backed by scientific evidence. You should just be drinking enough water that you are never thirsty.
*Tip: Two ways to test if you hard hydrated are to pinch the skin on your hand (gently) and hold for about 30 seconds. Then when you let go, if your skin immediately goes back to normal, you're body is hydrated. If it takes a little while to return to normal, you need to start drinking more water!
Another way to test your hydration is by looking at your urine. The clearer your urine, the more hydrated you are!
Another way to test your hydration is by looking at your urine. The clearer your urine, the more hydrated you are!
A lot of people forget to stay hydrated, but my tip for you is to keep water by you whenever you can. Chances are, if it's in front of you, you'll drink it.
What are the benefits of water, you may ask? There are so many reasons why drinking water is essential, but here are just a few.
- Water helps your metabolism. When you don't have a sufficient amount of water, your metabolism doesn't work as efficiently as it should. This is connected to weight loss, and a study in the "Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism (sorry for getting fancy with facts, I just found this interesting as I was researching) suggests that increasing water intake daily by 1.5 L for a year can lead to a 5 pound weight loss without making any other changes.
- Water helps energize muscles. Water hydrates cells, which in turn avoids the shriveling of electrolytes, causing fatigue. *Tip: When exercising, the American College of Sports Medicine suggests drinking about 17 ounces of fluid within two hours of exercising and drinking at regular intervals to replace fluids lost by sweating. And keep drinking during and after a workout as well!
- Water helps you stay full. We all get that feeling when we know it's not hunger, but food just seems so appealing. Believe me, I would eat incessantly if I could. But what I've found to suffice is drinking water. When I'm in the mood for something, but I know I'm not hungry, I fill up my water bottle and add in a lemon or strawberry and sometimes it diminishes my craving.
More than half your body is made up of water, and it's constantly being used through sweat, urination, through your metabolism, or even due to breathing (crazy, right?). So you always need to keep replenishing! But you're in luck; around 20% of the water you need daily is found in the food you already eat!
And I guarantee most people won't drink as much as I do on a daily basis, but there are some ways to sneak an extra water bottle into your routine.
- Add in fruits to make it more tasteful. Did you know you can actually juice a strawberry?... Me neither - until I started cutting them up and squeezing them into a glass of water. I'll warn you the strawberries don't look so nice once they've been squeezed, but I drop them into my water and it tastes sweet and delicious. My sisters also really like putting lemon in water, and I've seen cucumber too.
- Eat more fruits and vegetables. Aside from the other benefits of fruits and veggies, they have high water contents to add to your hydration without having to drink so much water.
- Keep water with you whenever you can. I bet if you kept a water bottle by you all day, you'd drink it. That's what I do, and I find that by the end of the school day my Camelback water bottle is empty and I've recycled a regular water bottle as well. I then refill my Camelback (I totally recommend this brand to everyone, I love it) whether I'm going to the gym or not. Either way, by the end of the day, I've had plenty of water.
I know it sounds crazy that I've just babbled on about water for a while (I apologize for that by the way). But it really is essential to keep hydrated, and I just wanted to remind everyone how easy it can be to drink enough water each day. I also just think it's interesting to know all of this - I learned a lot more about water by looking it up lately and I wanted to share!
And while we're on the topic of water, I'll just tell you a funny story about a new app I got on my phone. I got the app called "How to cook everything", and it has tips on kitchen essentials, plus recipes to try on just about everything. I agreed that it would send me new recipes when they come to the app, and the other day I got this:
Turns out it's in quotations for a reason, it was a classic Mediterranean soup that's "as easy as boiling water". I had no idea though, and when I looked at the ingredients and didn't even see water listed, I was very confused. Water you expecting me to think though, I bet you'd be confused too!
And while we're on the topic of water, I'll just tell you a funny story about a new app I got on my phone. I got the app called "How to cook everything", and it has tips on kitchen essentials, plus recipes to try on just about everything. I agreed that it would send me new recipes when they come to the app, and the other day I got this:
References:
No comments:
Post a Comment