Every student knows that the human body is 70% water. When the body loses 11% of water, then you cannot do without professional medical help, and if the figure reaches 20%, then a fatal outcome is inevitable. But few people know the danger of hidden chronic lack of water. According to many doctors, the modern human body is very dehydrated. Healthy instincts are ignored, the body has forgotten how to recognize thirst. We were taught to drink tea, juices, soda, eat soups and other liquid foods. Meanwhile, only pure water fully satisfies the body's need for moisture. To understand how to drink water during the day, let's figure out why this is necessary at all.
Why is it important to drink water
Water is a universal solvent and the main internal environment of the body. Here are its most important functions.
- It is part of all fluids (blood, lymph, digestive juices, intercellular and intracellular substances).
- Delivers nutrients to tissues and organs.
- Dissolves products that must be removed from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs.
Physiologists claim that in a day the body loses a liter of fluid only through the lungs with exhaled air, another two to three liters comes out with sweat and other natural secretions. Without water, a person is not able to live more than 3-4 days. Any diet and even the most rigorous fasting involves the consumption of water, so it is important for everyone who wants to lose extra pounds to know how to drink water during the day in order to lose weight.
What kind of water to drink?
We’ll clarify right away: any addition to water turns water into a drink. Even plain lemon juice. There are drinks that enhance dehydration: tea, coffee, beer. All of them have a diuretic effect, so it is impossible to quench their thirst. Juices contain nutrients that require processing and removal of metabolic products - this consumes water. The same can be said about soups and other liquid foods. And sweet sparkling water is generally a crime against the body! So how to drink water during the day and what should it be? Opinions differ here.
- Settled tap water is only suitable if it was originally of good quality: low in iron, calcium salts, and other pollutants. When standing for several hours, chlorine and ammonia leave the water.
- Boiled water. When boiling, many unnecessary mineral salts precipitate, chlorine is removed. Some claim that boiled water is "dead", so they do not recommend drinking it.
- Filtering . A good way for those who find it difficult to get clean water. It is only necessary to bear in mind that different adsorbents must be used for different chemical pollutants.
- Structured water - melted . It is also called "living" water. Scientists have proven that it has a special structure that is useful for our body. The purest water is the one that freezes first. Long-livers of the mountains owe their health including structured water from glaciers.
- Mineral It is not recommended to use it to quench your thirst. Such water contains many salts and is prescribed by a doctor to treat certain diseases.
- It is good to drink water from a natural source (spring, well). Such water is free from iron impurities and carries a positive energy potential. Of course, the source must be verified and of high quality.
- It is not recommended to drink distilled water for a long time - its pH is about 6, while in the body it is about 7.2.
- Bottled water is the best option for residents of a metropolis who are too lazy to mess around with freezing or filtering.
All opinions agree on one thing - the water should be clean, low in alkalis and other impurities, and pH should be close to neutral.
Hot or cold?
And how to drink water during the day in terms of its temperature? You can use it at any temperature, but you should know that warm water will be absorbed faster, hot water will stimulate the release of gastric and intestinal juices and draw out toxins.
How much water does the body need?
The average norm for an adult is 2 liters per day. You can also calculate it by body weight: 30 ml per kilogram. The need for water will increase with physical exertion, malnutrition, poisoning, fever, and an increase in air temperature. In hot time, the body spends a lot of water to cool the skin - a person sweats intensely. Therefore, in the summer, the norm increases to 3 liters.
How to determine how dehydrated the body is? An excellent indicator is the color of urine. Normally, it is almost colorless or faint yellow. With moderate dehydration - yellow, and with severe - orange. A constant companion to dehydration are chronic constipation.
A glass or more?
How to drink water during the day - sips or in one gulp? Oriented to the volume of the stomach. Nutritionists do not recommend drinking or eating more than 350 ml in total at one time. At one time you need to drink one glass of water, do it slowly, in small sips. For obesity, depression, cancer, it is recommended to increase a single serving to 2 glasses. Drink slowly, part of the water during this time passes into the intestines.
When and how often
So, we need to drink 8-12 glasses a day. The first intake is mandatory in the morning: after waking up, at least half an hour before meals. After all, during sleep, the body is dehydrated, it is necessary to replenish fluid reserves. The general opinion on how to drink water during the day: before meals in 30 minutes, after meals in 2 - 2.5 hours - is mandatory. This will help to start and complete the digestion process and relieve false feelings of hunger. If you ate meat, then you need to drink a glass of water in 3.5 - 4 hours. How to drink in between meals: focus on thirst. It is possible an hour after eating, before training (to create a supply of water in the body), an hour before bedtime. If you do not run to the toilet at night, you can drink the last glass at night.
You can not drink water during meals and immediately after it. So you interfere with digestion, dilute the gastric juice and increase the amount of contents in the stomach. This is harmful to health, because for proper operation, filling the stomach with a maximum of 2/3 of the volume is required.
Why is it recommended to drink water on an empty stomach? In this case, water quickly passes into the intestines and is absorbed. By the time you start the meal, it already stands out in the digestive juices.
Water and weight loss
Many diets contain recommendations on how to drink water during the day. Malysheva recommends the following scheme:
- 15 minutes before a meal, before each meal, cold plain water - 1 cup.
- Only five meals - 5 glasses.
- Be sure to have a glass in the morning on an empty stomach.
- In total, you need to drink 2 liters per day.
Elena Malysheva developed her diet based on her own experience. She lost 23 kg and is of the following opinion: what is important and what you drink is more important than what you eat.
We learned how to drink water during the day according to Malysheva. And why do you need water for weight loss?
- False feeling of hunger. It turns out that often a person confuses thirst and hunger. It is enough to drink a glass of water to understand this.
- The body needs water to break down fats.
Water and disease: what doctors say
Gastroenterologists say that taking water half an hour before eating allows the body to absorb water and excrete it with digestive juices. Those who adhere to this simple rule can easily avoid heartburn, bloating, gastritis, ulcers, hiatal hernias, diaphragms, colon cancer and obesity.
Studies have shown that in such people, the risk of developing cancer of the digestive organs is reduced by 45%. Less likely to develop cystitis, bladder cancer (those who drink water regularly, less concentrated urine), and breast cancer. With a lack of water, fluid is distributed primarily to vital organs, and muscles and joints become loose - hence the problems with the musculoskeletal system.
Doctors categorically prohibit hypertensive patients, asthmatics, people suffering from cardiac ischemia from drinking water immediately after eating.
Now you know how important it is to quench your thirst and how to drink water properly throughout the day. The statement of the doctor, doctor of medicine Fireidon Batmanghelidzh only confirms all of the above: "Water is the cheapest medicine for a dehydrated body." An Iranian doctor, MD F. Batmanghelidzh spent several years in prison. There he treated prisoners, and since there was practically no medicine, he accidentally discovered the healing properties of water. In 1982, his article was published in the Iranian medical journal, and in 1983, in the New York Times scientific section. Since then, many scientific papers have been written, more than a dozen discoveries have been made and an entire institute has been founded whose task is to thoroughly study this topic.
Since the early 1990s, Dr. Batmanghelidge has launched a broad campaign to educate the public on chronic dehydration. According to the doctor, it is precisely this cause of dyspepsia, rheumatoid arthritis and headaches, stress and depression, hypertension, high blood cholesterol, overweight, asthma and allergies. Perhaps the dehydration mechanism underlies the development of non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus. In his books, the doctor also advises how to drink water during the day to lose weight.
In addition to quenching thirst, Dr. Batmanghelidge recommends maintaining electrolyte balance by monitoring consumption of sodium chloride and potassium. For 10 glasses of water, you need to consume half a teaspoon of salt per day (3 g). If the legs swell in the evening - reduce the amount of salt, increase water. It is also important to have a full vitamin and mineral nutrition. The kidneys with such a load should be healthy.
When should you not drink water?
Quenching thirst in a timely manner, listening to your body, it is impossible to harm your health by drinking water. With caution, you need to increase the liters you drink during pregnancy, edema and kidney problems.
Those who want to know how to drink water during the day to lose weight should also bear in mind that most edema comes from dehydration. Often they can be caused by the fact that the body retains water in order to dilute the salt. In any problematic cases, first of all, they limit the intake of sodium salts and regulate the consumption of potassium, while continuing to drink water. You should also know that water is the most effective and natural diuretic.
Some people find it difficult to accustom themselves to the regular use of water. To do this, always carry a bottle of water with you, always make a choice in favor of water between tea or juice, teach yourself to drink after visiting the toilet. Learn to listen to your thirst, satisfy this need immediately - and you will get rid of many health problems and excess weight.