National Hydration Day
At birth, your body is about 75-80% water. By the time you’re an adult, the percentage of water in your body drops to ~60% and continues to decrease as you age.
There are many benefits of consuming water throughout the day:
• Breaks down food
• Transports nutrients
• Maintains body temperature
• Lubricates joints
• Regulates blood pressure
• Eliminates toxins
• Improves mood, memory
To determine your daily baseline hydration needs in ounces, take your current body weight, and divide by 2. Let me know in the chat if you are meeting your needs or if you have a little work to do.
Signs that you may be under-hydrated include low energy, fatigue, poor concentration, constipation, dry mouth/skin, cracked lips, hunger or cravings. Another indicator is urine color, which should be darkest first thing in the morning, and be a very pale yellow or almost clear by late afternoon or evening.
There are times when you may require more than your calculated needs, such as having a fever, with vomiting or diarrhea, sweating, exercising over 20”, taking a sauna, smoking, drinking alcohol or > 8 oz caffeine. An additional 10 oz of fluids or more will be beneficial in these instances.
Here are some tips to increase your fluid intake:
• Drink fluids throughout the day
• Drink 16 oz (2 cups) water, 30” before all meals
• Keep a water bottle with you. Strive to drink 1-
2 of these 24-32 oz bottles/day
• Dilute sugar-sweetened beverages with water
• Water, milk, juice, soup, broth, gelatin, popsicles, ice cream, pudding and many fruits and veggies all count towards your daily fluid intake.
Caffeine and alcoholic beverages DON’T count. Sorry. 😞
If you don’t really like the taste of water, try filling a pitcher or water bottle with water and add fruit or vegetable chunks or herbs to change up the flavor. I like fresh lemon and lavender, fresh peppermint sprigs, and strawberry basil combinations. I rarely drink plain water anymore.
What is one thing you’d be willing to try to improve your hydration status? Let me know in the chat.
