ARE YOU HYDRATED?
“We forget that the water cycle and the life cycle are one.”
The oldest cliche in the book: are you drinking enough water? Perhaps cliche, but it’s something we have to talk about. Chances are if you are reading this you may be dehydrated!
Let’s talk about WHY that’s bad, WHY you need more water in your life and HOW you can make that happen.
General recommendations
You should be drinking half your weight in ounces of water, PLUS an additional eight ounces (one standard cup) of water for every 30 minutes of exercise you do.
Here’s the formula:
Daily ounces: (0.5oz) x (weight in lbs) + 8oz/ every 30 mins of exercise
If you weigh 140 lbs and work out for an hour four times a week, you should aim for 70 oz of water on non-workout days, and 86 oz on days you exercise.
Why you need more
H2O is needed in countless metabolic reactions that take place in the body. Detoxification processes, like the first phase of liver detox are especially dependent on water. Water is needed to maintain adequate blood and lymph levels, which is necessary to circulate nutrients to the brain, tissues, and muscles. Water is also needed to assimilate those nutrients into bioavailable forms. If you don’t have enough water, your body won’t be able to perform these basic and important functions.
Symptoms of Dehydration
🔹Brain fog
🔹Confusion
🔹Fatigue
🔹Anxiety
🔹Dark urine
🔹Dizziness
🔹Feeling faint
🔹Rapid heartbeat
🔹Dry skin
Sound familiar?
Tips for drinking more water
🔹Get a super cool *all* metal or glass water bottle you take everywhere! You can easily count ounces this way. Skipping plastic is better for the environment as well as your health. Plastics contain harmful chemicals including (but not limited to) BPA which can disrupt hormone functioning. Disposable water bottles made with thin plastic contain the highest amounts of harmful chemicals.
🔹Fill up said water bottle at night with lemon water, and sip on it on when you wake up. This is a GREAT way to start the day: the lemons supports detox, immunity, and digestion.
🔹Drink a glass of water before drinking coffee, tea or alcoholic beverages. A handy rule of thumb is 1:1 water to other beverages.
🔹Spice your water up with lemons, limes, mint, herbal tea, crushed-up raspberries or lemonade electrolyte powder. The Ultima Replenisher brand is delicious!
🔹Set an alarm on your phone for every 30 min to remind yourself to hydrate. After a few days, this will become habit and you can ditch the alarm.
🔹Eat your water. You can do this by incorporating foods such as oranges, watermelon, grapefruit, leafy greens, bell peppers, celery, cucumber and berries.
