You have access to one of the easiest keys to improving your eating habits and your health right at your fingertips — a glass of water. Yes, simple water can make a big difference in your overall health, especially when you include it as part of your exercise and fitness routine.
Ways To Use Water To Help Take Control Of Your Health
Water will jump start your fitness goals into efficiency.
H2O can boost your metabolism, helping you eliminate toxins. It will also aid in your overall digestion. Studies have shown that you consume 90 less calories at each meal if you sip some water prior to eating. Common sense would also dictate that a glass of water in your stomach offers a calorie-free way to help you feel fuller with a smaller amount of food.
Drinking cold water might benefit you more than drinking lukewarm water.
Certain online myths of late claimed that cold water hardens the fats you consume. However, our bodies actually regulate the temperature of the liquids that we intake. So when we drink cold water, our bodies need to use a degree of energy to heat it. This could explain why some recent studies have indicated that drinking cold water before a meal leads to a slight bump in the number of calories burned. Cold water can also help keep your body temperature down a bit during exercise, which can assist in keeping you hydrated in addition to keeping you from becoming overheated. So be sure to drink up after your group exercise class at a local gym for women.
You don’t have to drink a set amount of water.
Grandma might have sworn by the “eight–glasses-a-day” rule, but new studies have proven somewhat more nuanced. The advice to drink until you are not thirsty serves as a good rule of thumb. You can also use the color of your urine to determine your level of hydration. If it’s light, you are drinking enough water. Your urine darkens as you dehydrate. Some experts recommend weighing yourself daily after using the restroom in the morning and drinking an extra 16 ounces if you’ve lost a pound since the day before. Follow this same advice of drinking extra water for heavy workouts, exercising in the heat or for working out for longer than an hour.
Water can also benefit your skin and helps replenish needed moisture.
Your skin has hyaluronic acid that absorbs some of what you drink but only as much as it needs. If you can pinch your skin without it immediately bouncing back, it’s a sign that you should pour yourself a glass of water.
You can make water taste delicious without piling on calories.
Some might think that you must choose between either sugar-loaded soft drinks or tasteless water. And while one cannot argue against developing a taste for basic water, you can add a variety of flavors to H2O while still keeping it low-cal. You can cut up fruit and refrigerate it overnight in the water to infuse your water with a pop of flavor. You can also freeze fruit juice or coconut water and add cubes or chunks to your water to create a similar splash of flavor. If you enjoy the taste of your water, you will likely drink more of it.
Water doesn’t have to come strictly from liquids intake.
The foods you eat can play an important role in keeping you hydrated. While drinking water is essential, you receive a good percentage of your daily hydration from what you eat. Many fruits come packed with natural hydration, with some fruits, such as watermelon, containing more than 90 percent water. Even certain “dry” vegetables that you might not consider sources of water, such as baby carrots or raw broccoli florets, can offer a few ounces of water per serving. And let’s not forget soups, which although a salty option, can serve as another tool to help you stay both hydrated and healthy.
Don’t rely solely on thirst to gauge how much water you need.
If you’re thirsty, you may already suffer from some dehydration. Don’t compensate for this by overdrinking either. If you don’t often feel thirsty and practice common sense water consumption, you can remain confident in your hydration. Once again, monitor the color of your urine. If it’s consistently light colored, you are likely consuming sufficient water. If it becomes darker, even if you aren’t thirsty, you should go drink.
It’s possible to drink too much water.
Don’t let all of these benefits of water make you chase the other extreme. You can overload on water, which results in a condition called hyponatremia. Consequently, the body’s sodium levels drop to dangerous levels, causing brain cells and tissues to bloat. If this happens, you risk nausea, seizures and even possible death. However, this problem is unlikely to develop in most people who drink a reasonable amount of water when thirsty, especially since most Americans consume more than enough daily sodium. Even so, those on a limited sodium diet should keep this condition in mind.
Pace your water intake throughout the day.
In 2014, a teen drank an inordinate amount of water in one sitting without even breaking to use the restroom for a radio contest. She died from the resulting complications. Use common sense with your usage of water in your diet. Pace yourself and stop once you’ve had enough.
The Essence of Life
Water offers so many benefits to your overall health. Virtually every organ in the body relies on water. Your body needs all of its systems running at full power to achieve optimum health. Water keeps you hydrated and protects your organs while helping your cells receive nutrients and regulate electrolytes to keep your muscles strong. Remember to use common sense to help guide your water consumption. You cannot forego something as essential as water, so learning how much your body needs every day will contribute to your lifelong health. At Flow Fitness, we provide participants in our women’s fitness classes with refreshing water to support your optimal workout.