Hey BBTC! As a follow up to staying hydrated, here is an article by Jack Medina a sports physiologist whose lectures I have attended over the past year. I hope everyone finds it helpful! Safe journeys, Rob Y. Water - it's a miracle If you don't take in an adequate amount of water, you will likely find it impossible to achieve control over your weight! What this means is 10-12 eight ounce glasses of WATER per day, plus eight more ounces for every 25 pounds you are overweight. This is the basic requirement for healthy living. Unfortunately, not many people drink as much water as they need. Many problems of weight control can be cured by increasing your water intake. Constipation, nausea, and headaches can all be helped with this, the greatest nutritional supplement in the world. WATER! First, by not drinking enough water, you can actually cause your body to retain fluid. Four or five cups of coffee in the morning, a glass of wine at lunch, another cup of coffee or a soft drink in the afternoon, a cocktail before dinner and a couple of cups of coffee after dinner isn't what I'm talking about. People who drink like this say they are always thirsty. Their body is being deprived of the water needed to keep itself healthy and it reacts by retaining almost every drop of the tiny bit it is allowed by your stopping at the water cooler once or twice each day. The body often gets puffy and swollen as a result. The extra weight you think of as fat may not be fat at all. Wine, gin, coffee, tea, fruit juices, and soft drinks are all fluids, but they don't have the same chemical properties as ordinary water. Alcohol and soda pop contains too much sugar, so to a lesser extent do fruit juices. The caffeine in coffee and tea is bad for your heart and blood pressure. Even diet soda contains sodium which contributes to water retention. Cut down on coffee, drink sugarless drinks if you like them, but most importantly, drink 10-12 eight ounce glasses of water daily. Restricting your water can promote fat deposits. Your body uses water as the major component of blood to transport nutrients and wastes. A lack of water in the system can cause fats and other toxins, that are normally disposed of, to remain in your body - including that dimpled fat commonly referred to as cellulite. Your kidneys have a difficult time processing contaminated water so your liver has to detoxify it. This means your liver can't do its main task, which is to process your blood and help break down fat. Thus, as you store water, the fat you eat can be stored in fat cells instead of being broken down in the liver. You become bloated, waterlogged, and obese. The good news is that it is easy to solve this problem. An 8 oz. glass of water isn't very large. Keep it on your desk and keep refilling it. Don't go by the water cooler without taking a sip, thirsty or not. Keep a glass on your night stand and drink when you first get up. Dieters and non-dieters alike must establish a "fluid balance" where water going into the body approximately equals the amount being excreted. When you reach this balance point, you will see what an incredible difference water can make in your weight control program. Pounds and inches begin to disappear. Trying to solve the problem of fluid retention by drinking less water only aggravates matters, because it (retention) occurs even when you drink no water. If you don't drink more water after salty food, your body pulls water from your intestines and bowel to dilute the extra sodium. If you drink more water, you force stored water out of your body through the kidneys. What about diuretics? Diuretics force stored water out of your body. The problem is that your body perceives this as a lack of necessary water and stores whatever is available. So unless you are drinking enough water, diuretics won't usually solve the problem of retention. Diuretics can also cause constipation by draining water from the colon in order to distribute it around your body, because not enough water is available. Thus, without enough water in the colon, your stools can become dry and hard. I suggest you give water a chance. Only with an adequate supply of clean, fresh, life-giving water, can your body's systems function in a way that keeps you healthy. If you are unaccustomed to drinking water, this chart will help you comfortably increase your water consumption. DAY WATER DAY WATER 1 4-8oz. glasses 8 8-8oz. glasses 2 5-8oz. glasses 9 8-8oz. glasses 3 5-8oz. glasses 10 9-8oz. glasses 4 6-8oz. glasses 11 9-8oz. glasses 5 6-8oz. glasses 12 10-8oz. glasses 6 7-8oz. glasses 13 11-8oz. glasses 7 7-8oz. glasses 14 12-8oz. glasses Author/speaker and an expert in Sports Performance Enhancement". Jack Medina is available for speaking engagements, consultation and personal training of athletes in various sports, professional and amateur. Jack has written a new book, "The Winning Edge: Fueling & Training The Body For Peak Performance" with Dr. Roy Vartabedian, an internationally known New York Times Best Selling Author of the "Nutripoints" program for optimal nutrition. Both books are available online at www.jackmedina.com. Jack also has a monthly ezine (newsletter) available free which can be subscribed to on his website. All subscriber's addresses will be confidential and not sold or given to any other organization or group. This article contains copyrighted material. Copies of this article may be reprinted without permission of the author only when this bi-line is included with each copy. Jack can be reached at <mailto:jack@jackmedina.com> jack@jackmedina.com
