WATER – Self Care in a Glass!
Water is a common place element in our lives in the western world that we often treat it as common. It is far from being common however. When we consider just the effect water has on our everyday body functions, we have to take a moment to give it the respect that it deserves.
Weight Management – What is the connection between water and weight? Water drives all of our body’s met- abolic functions. For those looking to lose weight, water is of the utmost importance. Drinking just 500 ml or 16 oz of water 20 to 30 minutes before any meal will help you shed pounds and help you feel confident and sexy along the way. This is, in fact, one of the 4 keys to the 2B Mindset nutrition program that I coach people on.
Just how much water should you be consuming? As a baseline, it is suggested to drink half your body weight in ounces. But that’s just a baseline. Why do I say that? Because someone who lives in Arizona would have a completely different water intake need compared to someone who lives Maine, based on climate alone. Two individuals who both weigh 150 pounds in these areas would have 75 ounces of water as their baseline to consume. However, their water intake should be VERY, VERY different. The person living in the south is losing water just doing their daily activities through perspiration. Physical activities also have to be accounted for, so you really do want to make sure that this formula is only used as a baseline and increase as necessary.
Disease Management – Most people today are walking around daily in a mild state of dehydration. Dehydration means you have a 4% or more loss of your total body water. While the body is extremely efficient at covering any minor losses to maintain a state of homeostasis or metabolic balance, there is a danger in chronic mild dehydration of just 1%-3%. Studies show that this can put you at a higher risk Type 2 Diabetes, kidney disease, hypertension and more.
Stress Management – Another surprise about water is drinking enough will help to regulate your stress and reduce high levels of the hormone cortisol. You have probably heard about cortisol as that stress hormone. Too much cortisol and it results in stubborn belly fat and weight gain and that brings stress levels up.
So why don’t we drink more water? Do we find it too taxing to carry a water bottle with us? Do we want something with more flavor? Whatever the reason, we can find ways to overcome these hurdles. There are water bottles that are collapsable for easy transport, bottles with infusers to help flavor water, bottles with motivational sayings, really there are options for every lifestyle.
We take time to think about the gas we are putting in our cars and the fluid levels in our engines, because we don’t want to ruin these high priced machines. What about our most precious machine, our bodies and the life blood running through every cell in your body? Let’s keep our internal system running clean and efficient.
Bottom line, if you want to feel sexy and confident and to increase your health make sure you drink your water.
Michelle Dunston
240-232-6482
Food & Fitness Coach
“Love yourself enough to Live a healthy lifestyle”