Hydration Beyond the Elixir of Life
When most people think of proper hydration, they think of water - the elixir of life. However, proper hydration goes beyond simply drinking a glass of water. We all know we should be drinking a certain amount of water every day, but that’s not to say we should drink just any water.
In our intermittent fasting post, we shared how people can live without food for periods of time as a weight-loss tool. What you can’t live without though, is water. A mistake we see some people make is focusing so much on their nutrition and diet that they forget about proper hydration.
When you first wake up, you need to hydrate your body. A lot of our clients are dehydrated, especially first thing in the morning. As we sleep, our bodies are drying out. That’s why it’s so important to drink a glass of water upon waking - to rehydrate your cells.
The best water to drink is distilled water and reverse osmosis water. Unlike a typical glass of tap water, or even many “drinking” bottled water brands, there are no inorganic materials in reverse osmosis water and distilled water.
People may disagree with us on this fact, but what we have found is that many of the water sources are tainted. That lake, stream, river, and spring water you are drinking, might not be as clean as you think.
Distilled water is the cleanest. Reverse osmosis water is the second cleanest. You have to be really careful about the water you are consuming because when you are putting a toxic load into your body, it can do more harm than good.
In addition to hydrating your body with water, you also need to consider your electrolyte management. This is key to building up your mineral balance for your body to operate as efficiently as possible.
Unfortunately, many people think of Gatorade first when I mention electrolytes. While Gatorade can give you electrolytes, the problem is that it is also loaded down with sugar. You want the minerals of sodium, potassium, magnesium, and calcium, but you need to avoid the sugar.
A better way is first thing in the morning, drink a glass of distilled water, and throw in a pinch of sea salt, or even just a little bit of electrolytes in there to stimulate your body’s hydration. Another water source that already has electrolytes mixed in it is coconut water. Again, just be sure to watch for high sugar content.
For some of our clients, we recommend having a glass of pure water with a capful of apple cider vinegar or squeezing a half/full lemon into it. When you start your day with that kind of hydration, you’ll find you are more energized, more wired, and you just feel better.
Aside from that, you need to increase your water intake throughout the day, especially on hot or humid days. On the other hand, you shouldn’t jump from drinking half a liter to four liters a day. Like all changes, you need to work your body up to new things. Instead, increase incrementally over the course of two to three weeks until you get to that four liters, or whatever number is best for your unique body type.