By Dr. Adarsh K Gupta – Family Physician and Medical Weight Loss Expert
You may be able to survive a good long time without food, vitamins or minerals; however, you’d only last a day or two without water. That’s because 1/2 to 2/3 of your body is water. And while it has no calories or nutrients, water has body-building power. It’s a solvent, a lubricator and regulator of body temperature. It carries nutrients to cells and takes waste products away. Water is necessary in all chemical reactions in body’s metabolism. If your body does not get sufficient water, the process of metabolism slows down and it also affects your digestion process. If the digestion process is disrupted, the nutrients taken will not be converted into energy and the body motivates to take more food. This is very counterproductive for those who are looking to lose weight.
There are many reasons why one should consume adequate water for weight loss:
- Flush out waste. Burning calories creates toxic waste (think of the exhaust from your car), and water plays a vital role in flushing them out of the body
- Avoids fatigue. Dehydration causes reduction in blood volume; a reduction in blood volume causes a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles; and a reduction in the supply of oxygen to your muscles can make you feel tired.
- Improves lean body mass. Water helps maintain muscle tone by assisting muscles in their ability to contract, and it lubricates your joints. Proper hydration can help reduce muscle and joint soreness when exercising.
- Helps with satiety. Drinking water with a meal may make you feel full sooner and therefore satisfied eating less. Note, however, that drinking water alone may not have the same effects. You need bulk, calories and nutrients.
- Improves digestion. Fiber helps in digestion but it is not capable of doing it alone. Fiber needs water to complete the process in a proper way. Without water, fiber can cause constipation and discomfort.
- Regulate body temperature. Water helps regulate body temperature. So you are out in sun and in an environment that is not air-condition (humid hot), you need extra water to avoid heat exhaustion.
- Improves skin tone. Drinking sufficient volume of water daily provides natural moisture to your skin and keeps a fresh glow.
You need water even if you are not thirsty. One should consume about 64 ounces of water every day. Check out these varieties and enjoy!
BOTTLED WATER IS NOT JUST WATER IN A BOTTLE
- Still Water: non-carbonated and can be spring, well or municipal tap water.
- Spring Water: whether still or sparkling, it seeps or “springs” to the surface from underground aquifers. If it’s not labeled “natural”, it may have undergone processing, such as addition of minerals.
- Mineral Water: contains dissolved mineral salts, such as calcium, sodium, magnesium, and iron. All waters have some mineral salts unless they are distilled
- Distilled Water: is processed and free of almost all mineral salts.
- Artesian Well Water: water that is forced to the surface from a confined underground aquifer by underground pressure through pipes drilled through the upper confining layer of rock
- Sparkling Water: carbonated, usually by carbon dioxide gas. Club soda is ordinary tap water with impurities removed, then carbonated with a special mixture of minerals added. Seltzers are tap water filtered and carbonated without added mineral salts.
- “Naturally Carbonated”: means the water was effervescent at its underground source
Additional Resources to get better tasting water:
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