We have all heard we are supposed to drink 8 cups of water a day, but do we know why?
Water is an essential part of life on earth. Our bodies are made up of approximately 60% water, with our brain, heart, and lungs utilizing the most. Our skin, alone, is about 64% water, so when you have dry skin or lips, try upping your water intake instead of grabbing those expensive lotions.
The outside of our bodies is a direct imprint of our insides. When someone has splotchy skin, dandruff, acne, or any other assortment of “skin problems”, there is a dysbiosis happening in the body. The quickest and easiest way to address this problem is by drinking more water. Sure, we can tackle our diet along with our emotions, but if we drink lots of good quality, clean water, we can easily nip a lot of these issues in the bud by diluting the toxins that are building up in our bodies.
But what about too much water? Isn’t that bad for you? Well, yes, too much of anything is bad for us. We don’t want to drink more than a liter of water at a time. About four cups of water every hour (or one liter) is more than enough for our bodies and any more than that will cause our kidneys to go into overdrive and eventually shut down. But the only time we really have to worry about that is when we’re drugged up at the weekend’s rave and dancing for nine hours straight. Just kidding. Athletes have to be conscious of this, too. The good news is, our bodies send us plenty of signals if we’re getting too much.
The truth is, there is no clear data on how much we actually get each day. In fact, most of the data is based on polls and according to the polls, men get more than the recommended on average, and women don’t. But how much of that is men not wanting to be “wrong” when polled and women wanting to be honest when polled? We just don’t know.
So what do they recommend? Well, this is also debatable. We’ve all heard “8 glasses a day!”. The 8x8 rule, or 8 8oz glasses is a good place to start. That equals about 2 liters a day. (now you know why you never have to worry about “too much” water - unless you are trying to drink your entire daily requirement in an hour)
Others recommend we drink half of our body weight in ounces. That means that someone weighing 165 pounds should consume at least 83 ounces which is about 2 ½ liters. This is about 7 or 8 12 oz bottles of water.
So, can we drink other stuff instead of water? Sure, you can get your water intake through juice, tea, coffee, even soda, but keep in mind that caffeinated drinks are actually dehydrating, so you need to consume much more than you think, especially if you are drinking soda and coffee. Although you may have a host of other problems going on if you are drinking 2 liters of soda or coffee a day.
You can also get water from raw fruits and vegetables! Those of us who consume a good amount of produce in our diets from produce have even less to worry about when it comes to getting the recommended dose. Just be aware that when we cook vegetables a lot of the water escapes.
So we’ve touched on all of the ways we can consume water and get our daily dose. There’s just one more question:
Does the type of water matter? This is a huge YES!
Water quality is a huge issue because our bodies are composed of so much of it. We can slowly poison our bodies with poisoned water. This is why it is so important to pay attention to the source. Tap water in the United States is loaded with chemicals to “treat” our water, such as chlorine, for “treating” our water, such as fluoride, and contaminants in our water, such as prescription drugs. And a large portion of our bottled water is filled with tap water. And most of our prepared foods are prepared with tap water. And most of our beverages are prepared with tap water.
Kinda makes you stop and think a second, eh?
With all that being said, what’s a person to do?
Well, for starters, check with your municipality to see how they treat your water. If you get your water from a well, have it tested. You can test it straight from your tap. If you collect rainwater, awesome! You’re right in line with a third of the world. It’s already purified through the evaporation process. Just make sure your collection tank is clean.
Okay, so your water is contaminated with whatever it may be. The best water you can drink is reverse osmosis. Either find a store in your area (typically grocery stores will have them, including Walmart). Invest in some quality jugs, preferably glass but if not, commercially safe plastic specified for drinking water that is BPA free, and fill ‘em on the regular.
Or you can sign up for a water delivery service. This can be a very economical option. You can even rent the dispensing machines directly through the delivery service.
If your only option is bottled water, look for reverse osmosis or triple-treated varieties, preferably in glass bottles. Plastic containers and bottles bring on a whole host of other issues by affecting the endocrine system and the immune system.
So….this week’s task:
Every day this week, I want you to think about water. If you are a heavy soda drinker, I want you to drink a glass of water for every bottle or can of soda you consume.
If you are a heavy drinker, I want you to consume a glass of water for every beer, glass of wine, or shot of liquor you consume.
If you are a heavy coffee drinker, I want you to start with a glass of water, before each cup of coffee.
If you want to think about substitutions, you can start thinking about those, but right now, the most important thing is to up your water intake while you are enjoying all of your favorite beverages.
That’s all! See how many glasses of water you can consume in a day. Make it a game and respond with your results.
And if you’re having any hangups, this is what this group is for, dishing out our feelings and emotions while working on bettering ourselves.
Now drink up! Cheers!