Water, Water, and more Water!

WATER! We all know it's important, but HOW important? I could probably go on for pages and pages about the importance of water. Water is my 1st and #1 change to my daily life. Unlike other subjects I will write about, there isn't much controversy over the importance of water. Acorriding to the website "Health Benefit of Water" (www.health-benefit-of-water.com) there are a tremendous amount of health benefits to drinking enough water. From rheumatoid arthritis, low back pain, depression, sleep disorders all the way to Osteoporosis and Cancer, water is said to "dissolve process and transport nutrients, and eliminate waste materials".
Dr. Sang Whang, the author of the Reverse Aging book, says the aging process is basically the accumulation of acidic wastes built up within the body..." The nutrients that we deliver to our cells burn with oxygen and become acidic wastes after giving energy to our body. The body tries its best to get rid of these acidic wastes through urine and perspiration. Unfortunately, our lifestyle, diet and environment prevent our body to get rid of all the wastes that it generates. Gradually, these leftover acidic wastes accumulate somewhere within our body. Since acid coagulates blood, the blood circulation near the waste areas becomes poor, causing all kinds of degenerative diseases to develop..."
In a nutshell it's REALLY IMPORTANT!!!!
The BIG question is how much?? This is where you will find lots of different information. The most common is the 8X8 rule (8 - 8oz of water a day) The mayo clinic website (www.mayoclinic.com) there are 4 major things that determine how much water you need:
Health: “Signs of illnesses, such as fever, vomiting and diarrhea, cause your body to lose additional fluids. In these cases you should drink more water and may even need oral rehydration solutions, such as Gatorade, PowerAde or CeraLyte. Also, you may need increased fluid intake if you develop certain conditions, including bladder infections or urinary tract stones.”
How active you are: “An extra 400 to 600 milliliters (about 1.5 to 2.5 cups) of water should suffice for short bouts of exercise, but intense exercise lasting more than an hour (for example, running a marathon) requires more fluid intake.”
Where you live: “Hot or humid weather can make you sweat and requires additional intake of fluid. Heated indoor air also can cause your skin to lose moisture during wintertime. Further, altitudes greater than 8,200 feet (2,500 meters) may trigger increased urination and more rapid breathing, which use up more of your fluid reserves.”
Pregnant or nursing moms: “Women who are expecting or breast-feeding need additional fluids to stay hydrated. Large amounts of fluid are used especially when nursing. The Institute of Medicine recommends that pregnant women drink 2.3 liters (about 10 cups) of fluids daily and women who breast-feed consume 3.1 liters (about 13 cups) of fluids a day.”
Recommendations according to me………..I now have a water bottle with me wherever I go! I read years ago that a good plan for water intake is to drink ½ your body weight in water. So if you weight 150 lbs you should be drinking 75 oz of water every day. (this is what I do) I got my favorite water bottle and figured out how many times I need to drink a whole bottle to get what I need. I also have a checklist on the fridge and check a box every time I fill up a bottle so when I get super busy I don’t lose track of how much water I have had.
KIDS
The decision to seriously pay attention to my water intake made me realize I have no clue as to how much water my kids should be drinking! So I did a little looking and one article from ezinearticles.com states:
“The standard recommendation of water intake for children is at least 6-8 glasses (1.5 - 2 liters) a day, drunk regularly throughout the day (at least 3-4 glasses while at school) ensuring that plenty of additional fluid is drunk during warm weather and/or when exercising.”When exercising" means before, during and after exercise and is not restricted to formal PE and games lessons, but is also applicable to active play (e.g. football in the playground or periods of running around).
The Institute of Medicine of the National Academies, Washington DC (2004), includes a separate category for teenage boys aged 14 over who require a higher average fluid intake of 2.6 liters (about 11 large glasses).
Symptoms of mild dehydration can be difficult for teachers to spot. In class some children may become irritable, tired and less able to concentrate. By the time they get home many children are complaining of tiredness or headaches and some may be too lethargic to do anything but slump in front of the television. Although we may think of this behavior as normal, it is now known that it may, at least in part, be due to the effects of dehydration.
Children can be taught to recognize when their fluid intake is too low as the urine becomes concentrated (small amounts of deep yellow, cloudy, smelly urine). If their urine's no darker than the color of pale straw, odorless and copious they're doing OK.
The early effects of even mild dehydration are significant for health, well being, performance and learning - and in the long term carry a higher risk of a number of health problems and disease states. These include constipation, continence problems, kidney and urinary tract infections, kidney stones, and some cancers. In some scientific studies, a decrease in cancer risk was specifically associated with water, as opposed to any other fluids.”
I feel like a terrible mom! I never thought to talk to my kids about the importance of water and through studying about this we are going to have a little family meeting about our 1st step to being healthy is drinking more water. I’m sure there are days that some of my kids don’t drink any water unless they feel like they are dying of thirst and even then they are more inclined to reach for milk or juice. I decided to go buy them each their own water bottle and make them their own checklist to get them excited about how important this is.
I’m SO glad I am doing this!!!!!
(especially since the 1st 24 hours I did I dropped 2 lbs!!)