Importance of Water in the Body

Hydration anyone?  How many people actually drink ALL of the water they are suppose to drink?  Why would you when we have all of the artificial liquid joy we can consume, right?  Let's take a closer look at which bodily functions actually use water to benefit yours truly (yourself!).

Nearly all of the body's organs rely on the consumption of water.  Water is your body's principal chemical component and makes up about 60 percent of your body weight.  Every system in your body depends on water.  For example, water flushes toxins out of vital organs, carries nutrients to your cells and provides a moist environment for ears, nose and throat tissues.

Lack of water can lead to dehydration, a condition that occurs when you don't have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions.  Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired.

So how much fluid (i.e., plain ol' water) does the average, healthy adult living in a temperate climate need?  The Institute of Medicine determined that an adequate intake (AI) for men is roughly 3 liters (about 13 cups) of total beverages a day.  The AI for women is 2.2 liters (about 9 cups) of total beverages a day.

For active exercising adults, a generic formula of body weight x .66= oz.  This should help you gather an idea of where you should be. 

Oh, and by the way...if you don’t have enough water in your diet, your liver will not metabolize fat as efficiently because your liver is taking on some of the functioning of the kidneys.  So if you don’t drink enough water, you will not metabolize fat as efficiently.  Think about it!!!

Week 2 Challenge - Water Intake

We are now into week 2 of the 8-week challenge from trainer, April Crosby.  How did you do last week with adding 20 minutes of activity into your daily routine?  Was it hard to find the time?  Were you successful?  Hopefully you were able to get your 20-minutes in on most of the days last week.  Keep going, though, don't stop just because that week's challenge is over.  The goal of this program is to improve your health and get you ready for spring!!  We are hoping you will make PERMANENT lifestyle changes and not just short-term changes.

This week's challenge is about hydration.  If you haven't read our previous blogs on water intake, go back and read "Water...Is it the Magic Pill for Weight Loss?" and "I Don't Like the Taste of Water - Do You?" before continuing with this week's challenge.  These blogs will give you a little better perspective on the importance of water and hydration.  With that being said, let's move on to this week's challenge.  Most Americans are in a constant state of dehydration due to the over-consumption of soft drinks/caffeinated drinks and sports or energy drinks.  How often do you drink just plain ol' water?  Our body's are made up of approximately 60% water.  Our brains are comprised of almost 70% water and lungs are nearly 90% water.  Without the proper hydration level, our bodies do not function at their peak performance.  More importantly, if you are dehydrated, you are not an efficient "fat-burning" machine.

So what is April asking of you this week?  In short, she wants you to increase your water intake.  Your goal is to consume half of your body weight in ounces of water daily.  For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, you will need to drink 100 ounces of water.  That's about 6 small water bottles a day.  First of all, don't panic.  If you are not up to speed on your water intake, start with baby steps in the beginning of this week.  The first couple of days, drink 25% of your weight in ounces of water.  In our example above, that would equate to 3 small bottles or 50 ounces of water.  Work your way up to half of your body weight of ounces.  You will be amazed at how much better you feel when your body is fully hydrated!  Your mind will be more clear, you'll have more energy, and most importantly your body will function as it should!!

So this week, keep up with your daily 20-minutes of physical activity and keep a water bottle with you all day.  Remember, we are looking for plain ol' water...not "vitamin" water or anything with additives in it.  You can add fresh fruit to your water to "spice" it up a bit but that's it!  Keep track of your water intake on your smart phone or in a journal.  Start small and work your way up. 

Let's make your body an efficient fat-burning machine so you can either lose those extra pounds or to keep them off permanently!!  Good luck and keep us posted on this blog or on Facebook.

Water...Is it the Magic Pill for Weight Loss?

Water is vital to sustain life.  Human beings can survive for quite a long time without food as long as they are properly hydrated.  In most instances, patients who had feeding tubes removed could survive for 10-14 days.  Hydration levels, again, play a major role in survival rates.  Sustaining life without water is a different story.  Depending on the environmental conditions and state of the body (i.e., elderly, infant, disease state), a person can begin to dehydrate within an hour.  Thus in a situation of extreme conditions, death can occur within a few hours.

The human body is more than 60% water.  Blood is made up of 92% water; muscles and the brain are approximately 75% water; bones are 22% water.  We lose water through sweat, urine, feces, and even breathing.  Mild dehydration causes decreased saliva production, decreased urine output, decreased frequency of urination, and urine that is dark in color with a strong odor.  Moderate dehydration further causes even less urine production, rapid heartbeat, dry mouth and dry, sunken eyes.  Severe cases result in no urine production, vomiting, diarrhea, lethargy and irritability.  Final stage of dehydration is shock.

In a study published by Brenda Davy, PhD from Virginia Tech, water just may be the latest appetite-control agent.  This study was presented at a national meeting of the American Chemical Society in August 2010.  Davy confirmed through this study that just two 8-ounce glasses of water, taken before meals, enables people to shed pounds. What???  Over the course of 12 weeks, water drinkers in the study lost just over 15 pounds while non-water drinkers lost 11 pounds.

So here's the deal.  Davy reports this may be accomplished because water fills up the stomach with a substance that has zero calories.  You feel fuller as a result and eat less calorie-containing food during the meal.  Increased water consumption may also help people lose weight if they drink it in place of sweetened calorie-containing beverages, according to Davy.

Our challenge to you is to try this...drink two 8-ounce glasses of water before your meals and see if you eat less.  How easy is that??  This is the first study to look water intake and weight loss.  There will be more studies in the future and results may be different.  However, this is an easy way for you test this theory and, unlike weight loss through pills, it is a harmless way to try to lose weight.

Drink your water...be healthy...and, maybe, lose some weight!  Come in to PROMATx Health Club for more information on weight loss.