Hydration - Part 2
How to Stay Hydrated
Here’s the truth about hydration: Your thirst mechanism isn’t always accurate, especially on a hot day or if you’re not a regular water drinker. Your “hey, I could use some water” signal from your body might be so quiet that it’s easy to ignore and the first sign you get is “I’M THIRSTY!!! GET ME WATER NOOOOW!”, and by then it can be hard to rehydrate.
Every day your hydration needs to change because your lifestyle is a bit different. You might have more dehydrators and less natural hydrators and so you need to drink more water. Knowing the basic amount you need can be a good starting point and knowing all of the dehydrators well can help you gauge how much water you need.
Let’s look and what can dehydrate and hydrate our lovely bodies:
Dehydrators
1. Talking
Talking is a HUGE dehydrator. You may have noticed that I’m always sipping on something during my videos and consultations. The water I’m drinking only balances out the water I’m loosing while talking. It prevents dehydration but doesn’t add to my hydration.
Any day you spend talking a lot is a day that you’ll need extra water to compensate. Exactly how much depends on the person, but aim for at least ½ litre for every 2 hours of talking. You may need much more (I need ½ litre for every hour or so)
2. Alcohol
Have you ever looked in the mirror after a few drinks and wondered where all of those wrinkles came from? Ya…me too. That’s because alcohol is a major dehydrator/diuretic. It flushes out water really REALLY fast.
(all of those commercials that sell the concept of a refreshing cold beer on a hot day are lying)
Drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic drink can help save you from a hangover and help your body stay a bit more hydrated. Also, make sure you’re pretty darn hydrated before you start drinking, otherwise, it’s darn near impossible to catch up.
3. Caffeine in High Amounts
Caffeine only becomes dehydrating in doses around 250–300 mg. This is the equivalent of two to three 240-ml cups of coffee or five to eight 240-ml cups of tea. So, it takes A LOT of caffeine to be a dehydrator.
This means, that first cup of tea or coffee in the morning is adding to your water intake, but the 3rd cup is starting to drain the water out of you.
BUT! Many coffee shops have very high-octane coffee. A 240ml Starbucks coffee (short) can have as much as 180mg of caffeine! So one “tall” Starbucks order will tip you over that 250mg mark.
Espresso has much less caffeine, generally closer to 75mg and darker roasts have less caffeine.
4. Exercise
Movement warms you up from the inside out and you sweat to cool yourself off. The more you sweat the more water you loose (but even non-sweaters can dehydrate with exercise).
Leg cramps and restless legs after exercise can be due to both dehydration and low levels of minerals (like magnesium, an electrolyte). If you get this symptom often you might be chronically dehydrated.
5. Diarrhea
This is a much more deadly issue in third-world countries than it is where most of you live, but it still can be a concern.
When our body has an intestinal infection, it tries to flush it out as quickly as possible by pulling as much water as possible into the colon, hence the watery poops. Over time, this can cause serious dehydration because very little water is being absorbed.
Electrolytes can be helpful, but if it continues for more than a few days or if you’re feeling dangerously dehydrated (dizzy, lightheaded, etc), seek medical attention promptly.
Now for the good stuff –
Let’s Get Hydrated!!
I’m going to share with you many different ways to hydrate your body, but the most effective one is also the simplest – get in the habit of drinking water.
I know, I know, it can be really difficult to remember and it’s a very VERY common struggle with my clients.
Tips to remember to drink water:
Drink a large glass of water when you first wake up in the morning. Put it by your bed or on the kitchen counter so you don’t forget. It helps to get your colon moving too.
Buy a water bottle that you love and add a few hair elastics around the bottom. Each time you fill it up move one of the hair elastics up. It’ll give you a visual of how much water you’ve had.
Make homemade iced tea with a yummy flavoured herbal tea (I’m drinking chilled raspberry tea right now). The flavour can make it easier to guzzle it down.
Set reminders on your phone or use a water reminder app (yes, those exist…have apps solved all of our problems? ☺️)
Bring water with you when you head out the door for more than an hour. Being in close quarters with a bottle of water will encourage you to grab it and drink it :)
Refill your glass or bottle of water as soon as you notice it’s empty.
Keep an eye on your urine colour – dark urine means get some water!
How to Hydrate Fast!
Even with your best intentions, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be dehydrated at some point. It happens to the best of us.
When that happens, here are some ways to pull the water into your system fast!
1. Sea Salt - add a pinch of sea salt to your water. Water follows salt and works wonders at increasing your hydration. But, if it tastes salty then your body doesn’t want it, so dump it out and refill with regular water. Enjoy it if it tastes wonderfully refreshing to you :).
2. Electrolytes or Coconut Water – if your body doesn’t like salt then it could be that it needs some potassium instead. Coconut water and most electrolytes are super high in potassium (steer clear of Gatorade and other sugary electrolyte drinks)
3. Fruit – a piece of fruit is a great way to hydrate because it’s full of water and all of the electrolytes. It can even help the water you drink absorb better!
4. Lemon or Lime – squeeze some lemon or lime into your water to make it taste better and to help with absorption.
5. Eat lots of fruits and veggies - they contain 80 – 99% water!! Watermelon and cucumber are particularly full of water :)
Do an experiment -
It’s hard to get into habit of drinking more water when your body is used to being chronically dehydrated (remember, slight dehydration causes lots of problems). Commit to 2 - 3 days of drinking lots of water and see how your body feels.
Notice your symptoms - energy, clear thinking, clear skin, happy joints, change in pain.
Then, when you fall back into your old habits, how do you feel? When you really notice and feel the change, new habits become easier ❤️.
In the next section I’ve answered all of the questions you’ve submitted :). Head over to Part 3.
Got any questions or comments? Comment below, jump to our private Facebook Group, or the Ask Lisa page :)