I hear a lot of folks who hate water. That's because your taste buds have been desensitized with all of the ‘non food' we eat. Our bodies are supposed to be 60-70% water…many clients I see are half that, and double diseased. Change the way you drink it! Ditch the Gatorade, HFCS juices, and even save $ on Vitamin water, by making your own. Make water nutritious and desirable by adding a few sliced strawberries and 3 inches or so of sliced cucumbers to filtered water and Wala! Homemade hydration 🙂
Even better, drink reverse osmosis (don't forget to add back the minerals), or high ph water, otherwise known as ALKALINE water, and THEN add your fresh produce!!! I've worked out a deal for my clients, to have access to the healthiest, best tasting water to drink and bathe in. Read more about why just your basic filtration systems such as Brita and Pur aren't enough anymore…not to mention unreasonably EXPENSIVE. $9 per gallon vs 2 cents per gallon, which is why you should read more here:
WHY BOTTLED WATER ISN'T HEALTHY
Ever wonder why you’re offered hot tea the moment you sit down at a Chinese restaurant? I used to wonder why it was the ONLY time I ever really drank hot tea, or anything hot other than coffee for that matter? I realized it was because I didn’t drink tea or hot water with a sliced lemon out of habit. I wasn’t raised that way…on the contrary, I smelled coffee upon waking and observed my parents ritualistic manner of drinking it first thing in the morning, most of the time before breakfast or even skipping breakfast. This became the ‘norm’ for me…and what I had to break myself free of, in pursuit of my health.
I grew up drinking coffee first thing, being fueled by caffeine and dairy, taxing my adrenals, skipping breakfast, eating lunch, crashing thereafter, needing more coffee at 2pm and wondering why I was still so puffy looking with as much working out I was doing. I came to my conclusion … Just because our parents did it, and just because it's what we see others do it, doesn’t make it right…RIGHT? It takes 30 days to break a habit and tame the memory fibers of brain muscle to create a new one. So now, every morning, I drink a hot cup of water with ½ sliced lemon squeezed into it. BUT WHY you ask? Most people will do things when they understand the implied benefit of it, rather than just being told to do so…so here’s the WHY behind it!
FACT OR MYTH?
You should not drink ice water with a meal.
FACT!: Drinking ice water, or other cold drinks, with your meal can be detrimental to your digestion. As I mentioned, the Chinese were the first to know and understand that drinking ice water with a meal could harm your digestion. They have, for many years, chosen to instead drink warm or hot beverages, such as water and tea, with their meals.
How Improper Digestion Can Harm You
Not being able to properly digest your food can be harmful to you in many different ways. Your body must turn the food you consume into energy in order for your organs to function properly and give you the energy you need to perform your daily tasks. Also, your body retrieves essential vitamins and minerals from the food you eat. If your body cannot work properly to retrieve these elements, it will suffer. Your immune system, which works to fight off colds and other illnesses, can also suffer from poor digestion because it does not have the energy it needs to function correctly.
How Ice Water Harms Digestion
Ice water can be harmful because it damages your body's ability to properly digest food and drink. Drinking cold beverages with a meal can slow down your body's proper digestive actions. You can think of it as almost freezing your insides temporarily so that they cannot do what they need to do at that moment. So, instead, food goes by improperly digested, and your body's unable to retrieve the nutrients and energy from it that it needs. By decreasing the activity of your digestive system, cold beverages rob you of the nutrition of the food you ate.
Also, when you drink cold beverages, your body has to use energy in order to warm up that liquid inside your body. This is also robbing your body of the energy it needs to properly process the food you have eaten. Instead of working to get all the nutrition of the food, your digestive system is instead working on regulating the temperature of the cold drink.
What You Should Drink Instead
Instead of ice water or other iced beverages, you should opt for room temperature drinks or even warmer liquids, such as hot water or hot tea. Do not drink beverages straight out of the refrigerator. If a beverage must stay chilled in order to keep, make sure your pour a glass and then wait until it has warmed to room temperature before drinking. When you are in a restaurant, be sure you tell your waiter to hold the ice. To their oblige, I religiously order hot water with sliced lemons on the side so I can squeeze the lemon juice into it, rather than dump the whole lemon into it (restaurants serve conventional lemons, which contains heaps of pesticides on the skin).
Drinking warmer liquids will aid your digestive system by increasing its activity. This will, in return, allow your body to absorb the proper amount of energy and nutrition from the foods you consumed.
FACT OR MYTH?
Drinking ice water helps the body to burn more calories.
MYTH! In order to lose weight, in it’s simplest terms, you must expend more calories than you take in and unfortunately there isn’t anything that you can consume, that will “burn” calories. Unfortunately, the idea that ice water uses up more calories is a myth. If drinking ice water burned measurable amounts of calories, there wouldn’t be an obesity epidemic. While it is technically true that your body has to expend more energy to use ice cold water, the difference is not significant.
How Water is Absorbed
When you drink a glass of ice water, your body has to convert it to a temperature it can use to hydrate your body. In converting an 8 ounce glass of ice water to your body temperature, your body expends approximately 1 to 8 calories (or unit of energy) per each 8 ounce glass of ice water. The specific numbers vary depending on exactly how cold the water is and your specific body temperature.
How Many Calories You Burn
One pound of fat is equal to approximately 3,500 calories. If a person were able to consume 400 to 3500 glasses of ice water, they might see a difference on the scale. Physiologically, it is not possible to lose weight from drinking ice water. If a person tried to consume such a large quantity of water, they would suffer adverse health effects before any possible weight loss could take place.
Too Much Ice Water
While it is not common, it is possible to drink too much water. The most common reason for drinking too much water is the fear of dehydration, particularly in beginning endurance athletes. The over consumption of water can lead to hyponatremia. This occurs when a person drinks so much water that they disrupt their blood osmolarity and organ failure takes place. Again, hyponatremia is very unlikely if you are not an avid marathon runner, but it is still more likely than losing weight from drinking ice water.
How Much Water You Need
The average person should consume approximately 64 ounces of water each day. I like to say at least ½ your water weight in ounces…If you exercise, you should be consuming 8 more ounces for every 30 minutes that you exercise or 1 liter (32 oz) for each hour of hot yoga you endure.. The American Heart Association recommends drinking no less than 64 ounces, but it is not a “hard” rule. Each person will be slightly different and your ideal water intake will depend on your weight, medications, caloric intake and your activity level. Drink water at a temperature that feels comfortable for you; ideally room temperature water.
Water and Healthy Weight Loss
Water is necessary for cellular functions and for healthy weight loss. This does not mean that you need to drink ice water in order to lose weight. It is safe to say that drinking excess amounts of ice water to lose weight is a myth. In fact, drinking excess amounts of ice water will do more harm than good to your body. It is common for people to mistake their thirst for hunger, but this is really the only way that drinking more water can help you lose weight. Staying adequately hydrated will help you reach your weight loss goals.
Water is fun! Love it, cherish it, bath in it, drink it…and when all else fails, soak a Slip N Slide with it and go to town. Be a kid again!
One of the questions I am probably asked most after ‘which brand of water do you recommend' is?
WHAT IS THE BEST WATER FILTRATION SYSTEM TO BUY?
This is the one I personally use at home. I used to spend $50 per month on water, not to mention multiple trips to the Water Brewery to fill up my 5 gallon jug…and then lugging it into my house. Until I found Berkey! This one is AWESOME, will filter about 3 years worth of water before having to buy new charcoal wands, and you'll get your $ back within 6 months of purchase (if you're single). If you're in a family of 4, you'll get your $ back in 1-2 months! 🙂 Among that, here are the KEY BENEFITS to why I recommend Berkey:
- FREE SHIPPING
- LIFETIME WARRANTY
- LESS THAN $300 FOR ENTIRE UNIT + FILTERS (compare that to $5k systems that do the same)
- REMOVES UP TO 99.9% OF BACTERIA, VIRUSES FLOURIDE (get the flouride upgrade)
- PORTABLE – I take this on trips with me because it's small enough to fit into my suitcase.
CLICK THIS IMAGE BELOW TO READ MORE & BUY YOURS TODAY!
So…you can get the ‘Travel Berkey' PLUS Flouride Filters PLUS a Shower Filter for UNDER $300! That's the set up I have. 🙂
This is THE MOST POPULAR system recommended among health practitioners I know. For the many reasons I have stated above as well as others I have not that you can read about on their site. If you call to order, be sure to tell them I referred ya for your discount! 🙂
Yours in health,
Coach Di
