The Truth About Water
In my initial consultation with new clients, one of the first questions I ask is ‘how much water do you drink?’
Water is often the most neglected nutrient. We get so consumed with drinking coffee and juices that we forget how fundamental water is to our diet. Dehydration leads to higher cortisol output and the repercussions range from increased stress on the brain to increased fat storage.
Why Water is Essential:
Women on average consist of 55% water and men 60 - 70%. As we get older we become less efficient at staying hydrated and those numbers decrease.
Water is involved in everything in our bodies from a health and performance standpoint. It is used to digest food, transport nutrients, get rid of waste, aid biochemical reactions, and help cool us down.
When we train we damage our tissue and muscles. We all know we eat to aid this recovery, but without water these nutrients cannot be delivered to where they need to go. This can delay recovery and negatively affect our training.
What Happens When We Are Dehydrated:
Being dehydrated leads to an increase in core temperature, early fatigue, and decreased performance.
Hydration plays a critical role in blood sugar balance. When we are dehydrated our body releases a hormone known as vasopressin that tells the kidneys to hold onto more water and the liver to release glucose into the blood (which is not good for body comp goals!).
So Lets Look at the Numbers:
Half a % loss in body water of your body weight will increase your cardiac output (meaning the heart has to start to work harder)
1% loss will decrease your aerobic endurance
2% loss will decrease physical and mental performance by up to 25%
3% reduces muscular endurance
4% reduces muscular strength, and motor skills
5% can result in heat exhaustion and mental capacity
6% physical exhaustion
And 10 - 20% can result in death!
So you can see you really don’t need to lose that much water in order to create problems. And if that hasn’t put things into perspective maybe this will…. feeling thirsty? This means you’ve already lost up to 1.5 - 2% of your body weight in fluid.
Water is essential in every component of our body, especially in fat metabolism. Going back to the car analogy I used in my carbohydrate article, trying to get lean without sufficient water consumption is like trying to drive a car with no fuel. You can push the accelerator as much as you want, but the car isn’t going far.
So How Much?
As a rule of thumb you should drink 40ml for every kilogram of bodyweight. So for example for a 60kg female you should be drinking about 2,400 ml – about 2.4 litres. Of course this doesn’t take into consideration activity level, climate, gender etc, but is a good place to start.
An easy way to ensure that you’re drinking your daily quota is to measure your prescribed amount in bottles for the day. The goal is to get through all the bottles by the end of the day to ensure you have hit your water requirements. I have sworn by this method for years and it works.
Start Your Day Right
Ensure you start off your day hydrated with a glass of 300ml of water, fresh limejuice and a pinch of Celtic or Himalayan sea salt. Why?
While we are asleep our bodies are busy repairing the damages of the day; processes that require water. After sleeping for several hours without ingesting foods or liquids this can obviously leave you dehydrated. Adding a small amount of salt to your morning glass of water can aid better hydration.
The lime juice will have an alkalising effect on your body. This is important because at night, our pH drops, and in the morning pH rises to help with energy production.
Limes are also a great source of B and C vitamins. B vitamins are essential for energy production in your cells and help with the nervous system.
So let me give you a goal. Work out your water quota and ensure you increase your water intake by at least 600ml a day for one week with the aim to increase to your quota over 3 weeks. Also start your day with the lime, salt and water and you should all be feeling a lot more alert, energised and hydrated in the weeks to come!