Every schoolboy knows that the human body is 70% water. When the body loses 11% of water, then professional health care can not be avoided, and if the figure reaches 20%, then the lethal outcome is inevitable. But very few people know the danger of a hidden chronic lack of water. According to many doctors, the body of modern man is very dehydrated. Healthy instincts are ignored, the body has forgotten how to recognize thirst. We were taught to drink tea, juices, soda, there are soups and other liquid products. Meanwhile, only pure water completely satisfies the body's need for moisture. To understand how to properly drink water throughout the day, let's figure out why this is needed at all.
Why it is important to drink water
Water is a universal solvent and the main internal environment of the body. Here are its most important functions.
- Included in all liquids( blood, lymph, digestive juices, intracellular and intracellular substance).
- Supplies nutrients to tissues and organs.
- Dissolves foods that need to be eliminated from the body through the kidneys, skin, lungs.
Physiologists say that a day the body loses a liter of fluid only through the lungs with exhaled air, and from two to three liters comes out with sweat and other natural secretions. Without water, a person can not live more than 3-4 days. Any diet and even the most stringent fast supply water, so everyone who wants to lose those extra pounds is important to know how to drink water properly during the day to lose weight.
What kind of water to drink?
Directly update: any addition to water turns water into a drink. Even simple lemon juice. There are drinks that enhance dehydration of the body: tea, coffee, beer. They all have a diuretic effect, so they can not quench their thirst. Juices contain nutrients that require processing and removal of metabolic products - this consumes water. The same can be said about soups and other liquid foods. A sweet sparkling water - it's generally a crime against the body! So how correctly to drink water during the day and what should it be? Here, opinions diverge.
- Standing water from the tap is usable only if it was originally of good quality: low in iron, calcium salts, other contaminants. After standing for several hours, chlorine and ammonia leave the water.
- Boiled water. Many unnecessary mineral salts are precipitated during boiling, chlorine is removed. Some argue that boiled water is "dead", so do not recommend drinking it.
- Filtering .A good way for those who find it difficult to get clean water. One need only bear in mind that different adsorbents should be used for different chemical contaminants.
- Structured water - melted .It is also called "living" water. Scientists have proved that it has a special structure, useful for our body. The purest water is the one that freezes first. Long-livers of mountains owe their health, including structured water from glaciers.
- Mineral .It is not recommended to use it to quench your thirst. Such water contains many salts and is prescribed by a doctor to treat certain diseases.
- It is good to drink water from a natural source( spring, well).Such water is free from iron impurities and carries a positive energy potential. Of course, the source must be proven and of high quality.
- Distilled water is not recommended to drink for a long time - its pH is about 6, whereas in the body it is about 7.2.
- Bottled water - the best option for residents of the metropolis, who are too lazy to bother with freezing or filtering.
All opinions agree in one thing - the water should be clean, low in alkali and other impurities, pH - close to neutral.
Hot or cold?
And how correctly to drink water during the day in terms of its temperature? You can use it at any temperature, but you should know that warm water will be absorbed faster, hot - stimulate the secretion of gastric and intestinal juices and draw on the slag.
How much water does the body need?
The average rate for an adult is 2 liters per day. You can also calculate it from the body weight: 30 ml per kilogram. The need for water will increase with physical exertion, malnutrition, poisoning, fever, rising air temperature. In hot time the body spends a lot of water on cooling the skin - a person sweats intensely. Therefore, the norm in the summer increases to 3 liters.
How to determine how dehydrated the body is? An excellent indicator is the color of urine. Normally, it is almost colorless or slightly yellow. At an average degree of dehydration - yellow, and at heavy - orange. Constant companion of dehydration are chronic constipation.
Glass or more?
How to drink water properly during the day - with gulps or a volley? Oriented to the volume of the stomach. Nutritionists do not recommend drinking or eating more than 350 ml in total at one time. At one time you need to drink one glass of water, do it slowly, in small sips. With obesity, depression, cancer, it is recommended to increase a single portion to 2 glasses. Drink slowly, part of the water during this time passes into the intestines.
When and how often
So, we need to drink 8-12 glasses a day. The first reception is necessary in the morning: after awakening, at least half an hour before meals. After all, during the sleep the body is dehydrated, it is necessary to replenish the fluid reserves. The general opinion on how to drink water correctly during the day: before meals for 30 minutes, after eating after 2 - 2.5 hours - is mandatory. This will help start and finish the process of digestion and relieve a false sense of hunger. If you ate meat, then you need to drink a glass of water in 3,5 - 4 hours. How to drink in between meals: focus on a sense of thirst. You can an hour after eating, before training( to create a reserve of water in the body), an hour before bedtime. If you do not run to the toilet at night, you can drink the last glass at night.
Do not drink water while eating and immediately after it. So you interfere with digestion, dilute the gastric juice and increase the amount of contents in the stomach. This is harmful to health, because to work properly requires filling the stomach with a maximum of 2/3 of the volume.
Why is it recommended to drink water on an empty stomach? In this case, water quickly passes into the intestines and is absorbed. By the time you started the meal, it is already excreted in the digestive juices.
Water and weight loss
Many diets contain recommendations on how to drink water properly during the day. Malysheva recommends the following scheme:
- 15 minutes before meals before each meal cold plain water - 1 glass.
- Only five meals - 5 glasses.
- Be sure to have a glass in the morning on an empty stomach.
- Just a day, you need to drink 2 liters.
Elena Malysheva has developed her diet based on her own experience. She lost 23 kg and is of the opinion that it is more important what and how much you drink than what you eat.
How to drink water during the day on Malysheva, we learned. And why do we need water while losing weight?
- False feeling of hunger. It turns out that a man often mixes up thirst and hunger. It is enough to drink a glass of water to understand this.
- Water is necessary for the body to break down fats.
Water and disease: what doctors say
Gastroenterologists say that taking water half an hour before eating allows the body to digest water and isolate it with digestive juices. For those who adhere to this simple rule, it is easy to avoid heartburn, bloating, gastritis, ulcers, hiatal hernias, diaphragms, bowel cancers and obesity.
Studies have shown that in such people the risk of developing cancer of the digestive organs is reduced by 45%.Less likely to develop cystitis, bladder cancer( those who regularly drink water, less concentrated urine), breast cancer. When there is a shortage of water, the liquid is distributed primarily to vital organs, and the muscles and joints are separated - hence the problems with the musculoskeletal system.
To hypertensive people, asthmatics, people suffering from cardiac ischemia, doctors categorically forbid drinking water immediately after meals.
Now you know how important it is to quench your thirst and how to drink water properly during the day. The statement of the doctor, PhD doctor of medicine, Batmanghelidj only confirms all of the above: "Water is the cheapest medicine for the dehydrated organism".The Iranian physician, doctor of medicine F. Batmanghelidj spent several years in prison. There he treated prisoners, and since there were practically no medicines, accidentally discovered the medicinal properties of water. In 1982, his article was published in the Iranian medical journal, and in 1983 - in the scientific section of The New York Times. Since then, a lot of scientific works have been written, more than a dozen discoveries have been made and an institute has been founded whose task is to study this topic in depth. Since the early 1990s, Dr. Batmanghelidj started a broad campaign for educating the public about the chronic dehydration of the body. This is what the doctor thinks is the cause of dyspepsia, rheumatoid arthritis and headaches, stress and depression, hypertension, high cholesterol in the blood, overweight, asthma and allergies. Perhaps the mechanism of dehydration underlies the development of non-insulin dependent diabetes mellitus. In his books, the doctor also advises how to drink water properly during the day to lose weight.
In addition to quenching thirst, Dr. Batmanghelidj recommends maintaining electrolyte balance by monitoring the consumption of table salt and potassium. For 10 glasses of water, you need to use a half-spoonful of salt a day( 3 g).If in the evening swelling of the legs - the amount of salt is reduced, water - increase. It is also important to have a full vitamin and mineral nutrition. Kidneys with this load should be healthy.
When can not I drink water?
Timely thirst quenching, listening to your body, it is impossible to harm the health of drinking water. With caution, increase the number of liters consumed in pregnancy, swelling and kidney problems.
Those who want to know how to drink water properly during the day for weight loss, also need to keep in mind that most edema is from dehydration. Often they can be caused by the fact that the body retains water in order to dilute the salt. In any problematic cases, first of all, they limit the consumption of sodium salts and regulate the consumption of potassium, while continuing to drink water. You should also know that water is the most effective and natural diuretic.
Some people find it hard to teach themselves to regularly drink water. To do this, always carry a bottle of water, always make a choice in favor of water between tea or juice, accustom yourself to drink after going to the toilet. Learn to listen to your thirst, satisfy this need immediately - and you will get rid of many health problems and excess weight.