But in a recent attempt to change my evil ways and be better to myself, I am making the effort to down atleast 8 glasses of H2O everyday. Some may advocate drinking 10 others 6. I'm going with the middle of the road and choosing 8. Some health experts will even allow decaffeinated coffee and decaffeinated diet soda to count in the mix. I'm choosing to only count the actual water in my 8 a day. That's not to say I'm not having my decaf diet soda, I'm just limiting it and I have cut out sweet tea altogether.......atleast for now, until I have a better handle on my health.
Because I am a need-to-know kinda gal, I've done just a bit of research on why, as human beings, we need water. Aside from the fact that water helps keep you feeling full so you are less likely to overeat or snack, water aids in digestion, helps regulate body temperature, carries nutrients to organs, carries oxygen to cells and protects your joints. You may say that it's blood that does these things for us but did you know that blood is mostly water? Or that muscles, lungs and brain all contain alot of water?
Did you know that you can be mildly dehydrated and not even know it? Or that you can be dehydrated long before you feel thirsty?
Some symptoms of mild dehydration are: 1. chronic joint and muscle pain 2. lower back pain 3. headaches and 4. constipation. These might be signs that are frequently mistaken for "just getting older". A strong odor to your urine, along with a yellow or amber color, indicates that you may not be getting enough water. Though be aware that Vitamin B or Riboflavin will change urine color to yellow. And as you might imagine, thirst is an obvious sign of dehydration.
So how much H2O do you really need each day? Studies say that a good way to determine the amount of water you need to consume each day is to take your body weight, divide that in half and then start guzzling that number down in ounces of water. For example, if you weigh 200 pounds, then you need 100 ounces of water each day. Also, if you are a fitness buff and exercise (as we all should) you need to add an additional 8 ounces for each 20 minutes you spend exercising. While sports drinks are great for replacing vitamins and minerals lost in exercise, you need to be cautious that they are not high in sugar content.