How To Increase Water Absorption
December 22, 2008 by Rob
For years we’ve been told to drink 8 glasses of water per day for optimum hydration, but that has since been proven to be an unreliable number. Natural health experts now recommend drinking half your body weight in ounces of water per day. If you’re 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100 ounces of water per day! That’s almost 3 litres or the better part of a gallon of water. I’ve told friends and clients for years that it’s not the amount of water you drink that matters, but rather the amount of water that actually makes it to your cells that matters.
What that means is that if the conditions are not right inside your body, any water you drink may simply pass right through. Want to improve your water absorption? read this article.
What? Me? Dehydrated?
I make it a point to be very conscious about the amount of water I drink. Water is critical to so very many functions in the human body, and given the amount of training I do, I’m drinking even more water to account for water lost during sweat and other exertion. I’ve always thought that I’ve been very aware of how much I’ve been drinking, but a recent body composition analysis told me that I was dehydrated.
You’ve GOT to be kidding me. I tend to piss people off because I keep talking about water all the time and encouraging them to drink more, and now I’ve found that I’m not drinking enough water.
That got my attention very quickly.
I made some changes to my daily routine and actually began keeping accurate water logs. I also decided to look at some science behind water absorption and how to increase water absorption. I took a three fold approach:
1. Drink more water
2. Measure the amount of water I’m drinking
3. Increase water absorption
Increasing Water Absorption
So what are the right conditions then, and how do we improve them and increase the absorption rate of the water we’re drinking? Great question.
Without getting into a huge amount of detail about it, lets just say that there are a lot of minerals involved in an ideal balanced blood chemistry for human health. Our hunter gather ancestors got on average, 11,000 mg of potassium per day and 700 mg of sodium. That’s a a ratio of almost 16:1. They acheived that by consuming a diet super rich in plants, fruits, nuts and seeds. Compare that to today’s average intakes of 2500mg and 7000mg or a ratio of (nearly) 1:3 potassium to sodium.
So, based on our origins, the natural approach to increasing water absorption is based on our diet and that being, a diet rich in vegetables, fruits, nuts and seeds and completely excluding any additional salt.
Step by step, here’s how to increase your water absorption
1. Eliminate all additional salt in your diet – DO NOT add salt to anything.
2. Increase your vegetables, nuts and seed consumption – with an emphasis on dark leafy greens such as Swiss chard, collards, mustard greens, spinach. This will increase potassium in your diet as well as amounts of fiber.
3. Eat Chia Seeds – Chia seeds absorb 12 times their weight in water. In addition to being a fantastic source of fiber and Omega 3’s, Chia absorbs water and carries it into the colon where it can be passed along into the body at a slower rate. Instead of drinking water and hoping some of it is absorbed, eating your water can be a way to slow the process down and allow it a timed release. Much like timed release of vitamins, you can time release your water. Chia seeds are an amazing food and part of my Desert Island Foods.
4. Supplement with Glutamine – Glutamine is one of the most over looked and under used weight loss supplements I’ve ever seen. It’s used by every cell of the body for energy, immune system function and as craving control for both carbohydrates and alcohol. Where water intake is concerned, glutamine improves water uptake into the cells because it depends on sodium for transport. Glutamine is one of the amino acids that controls the volume of water in the cells and osmotic pressure in other tissues.
In layman terms, what that means is that glutamine plays a role in the ability of water to cross from the bloodstream into the cells and vice versa. The side bonus of this is that glutamine also plays a role in the cells ability to release toxins and molecular garbage. Glutamine plays a role in detoxification (in which water plays a highly important part as well).
Added Benefits of This Approach
Water is used in many ways in the body. We retain water if we don’t drink enough and if our sodium potassium ratio is off. If we’re not allowing water into the cell, we’re not allowing wastes out of the cell either and that most certainly is not healthy.
The additional benefits of the four approaches above is that we should release some retained water, allow our body to clean itself, improve our energy levels, improve our mood and become more regular at the same time.
Water is critical to health. By improving the quality of our water as well as our ability to improve the absorption of the water we do drink, we improve how we look and how we feel.
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Rob Cooper, also known as the Former Fat Guy once weighed 475 pounds. Through a system of natural health, whole foods and a basic walking program of 20 minutes a day, lost nearly 300 pounds of fat over 2 and a half years. Weekly weight training added over 50 pounds of muscle and has lowered his body fat even further. He’s the author of How To Lose 10 Pounds a Month, Every Month, a free report given to subscribers of his natural health and weight loss newsletter as well as the transformational... 
July 14th, 2009 at 6:37 am
Thanks for this great info, so now I should seek for supplement packed with chia seeds and glutamine… but I think that’s impossible. So in ur opinion, which one is better, chia seeds or glutamine? I’m sick of this water absorption issue, how many I drink its gona be wastage. Now I be used to avoid drink water on long driving.
July 14th, 2009 at 9:34 am
Both Chia and Glutamine have their place. Glutamine, at least in Canada, is about $15 to $20 a month and the benefit is enormous. Chia seed is available just about everywhere now and can also be ordered online and shipped worldwide. It’s about $10 US for a pound. If you’re ordering online, you probably want to invest in 3 to 5 pounds and make it last 5 or 6 months.
Making chia gel by mixing 2 Tbsp of chia seeds into 24 ounces of water is one of the best and most affordable health improvements anyone can make.
So, to answer your question, it depends on your goals and your finances.
August 8th, 2009 at 9:21 am
Great info! Water is too often neglected by people. Most people make the mistake of waiting to feel thirsty before drinking.
September 13th, 2009 at 12:59 am
Great post. Your’re absolutely right. Water does make a huge difference.
October 3rd, 2009 at 10:10 pm
There is a water in the market where the molecules of H2O are restructured. Normally H2O clusters together in 9-13 H2O molecules which means its harder to get through your system. Because it is restructured, its in 3-7 H2O molecules which means it passes through your cell walls faster.
October 8th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I’m always for those promoting adequate water intake (and absorption). It seems to always come up with clients and patients. They just don’t drink enough water!
October 9th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
100 ounces of water is a lot of water to drink in one day. Between the diuretic that I take and the water I would be living in the bathroom.
October 28th, 2009 at 5:39 pm
Its funny I’ve written about water for weight loss before but I’d never paid much attention to how much I’d actually been absorbing. Thanks for the head up it something I’ll be taking a look at.
November 5th, 2009 at 6:10 am
I drink a lot of water and fluids.
Started drinking water due to meds. Now I have a large intake but always peeing …… So want to try the Glutamine…. and Chia seeds
wonder if it will work for me.
I eat bananas every morning for the potassium. I know water is the secret but has to be other things to get the body to rid the fat.
November 5th, 2009 at 2:31 pm
Well first @Louis, the banana is hampering your weight loss efforts. Ditch the banana. Second, the chia has more potassium than the banana so not to worry about that. Third, not sure what meds you’re taking, but they can certainly slow down (or stall) weight loss.
What sort of exercise are you doing?
Do you have my free report “How I lost 300 pounds and 7 principles you can use to lose 10 pounds a month, every month, until you reach your goal weight” ?
December 6th, 2009 at 9:00 am
Hi Rob, just lost 13lbs due to the swine flu. Now that I lived to tell about it, going to follow your advice in loosing weight. I hate drinking water, but guess that is the way to go. Great advice, and looks like water is the stuff to help loose weight along with the other advice. Also cut out salting my food. Was pounding salt on my food prior to the S. flu. Realizing how important health is as it can be lost very quickly.
December 29th, 2009 at 3:07 pm
Hey thanks for this article, I will definitely have to give the chia seeds and the glutamine a try. I had never heard either of those suggestions before.
January 1st, 2010 at 8:40 pm
Thanks for the information.. now I must cut back on salt haha, I think i drink enough… I just woke up a while a go and I’ve already drank almost a litre!
January 3rd, 2010 at 6:30 pm
Thanks for the advice. The Chia seed idea is kind of intriguing, I’ll have to research that a little more. The prospective of slow, steady water absorption is hopeful though. I tend to run hot, and sweat quite a bit, yet when I drink lots of water I tend to expel most of it rather than absorbing it. Slowing down absorption only makes sense. Thanks Rob, interesting perspective.
Regarding water absorption, years ago I tried Creatine but had to stop because I was almost chronically dehydrated due to the way Creatine locks water into the muscles. I know that is what Creatine was designed to do but it did not seem to agree with my body. No matter how much water I drank it did not seem to help. Do you think Chia seeds would help this?
January 7th, 2010 at 4:58 pm
Hi Rob, I just came across your site. Does the Chia and Glutamine apply for women as well? Because I’ve read it easier for women to retain water and that causes in increase in weight. Thank you
January 8th, 2010 at 12:42 pm
Hi Rob
I just would like to say about our ancestors’ diet. There is not many reliable data about their diet but we know that they ate lots of meat and fat as well, if meat was available it was their first choice. Modern fruits and even vegetables aren’t similar at all to those from 40000BC, mineral and vitamin content was much different than is today.
We can take a lot of first-class information about our native diet from “Nutrition and Physical Degeneration” by Weston A. Price. Maybe in some tropical parts of the world our ancestors had possibility to get some “sweet” fruits, but we should keep in mind that their fruits and our modern fruits are two different things.
Green leafy vegetables, roots, berries fruits, some kind of wild apples and cherries, mushrooms and few more, these were their primary eatable plants.
Regarding water case I fully agree and even know one good trick to enhance absorption. To make water more digestible we should keep it in mouth for few seconds before we gulp down (saliva and bacteria form mouth will prepare water for fast and easy digestion).
Cheers
Andrew (http://www.your-healthy-foods.com)
P.S great Web site
January 24th, 2010 at 4:30 am
Hi, after reading this, I am wondering if this is what my 7 year old daughter’s problem is.. water absorbtion.. she goes to the pee every 15 min. No pain, no infection (urine and blood tested, urinary tract checked in ultrasound). She gets tired easily or grumpy. I watch her diet – not much sugar or refined carbohydrates or gluten or lactose.. It is extremely uncomfortable for her and interferes with long activities. Do you know if it is safe for children to have Chia seed and Glutamine?
Thanks, Natasha
January 24th, 2010 at 11:44 pm
Bravo. Good solid information. Chia seeds and their benefits is generally overlooked in favor of products such as Glutamine.
Personally I would recommend keeping Glutamine intake to a minimum unless everything else fails. I also agree with you about bananas, there is 105 calories in a average size banana, for the benefits that you receive with a little potassium boost I would say they do more harm than good when trying to control weight.
Cheers
January 30th, 2010 at 10:03 pm
I’m not sure why a lot of people hate to drink water. We all need to drink enough water to support our body systems but for some reason, it is a tall order for a lot of us.
Even my kids have fallen into this trap. I virtually have to “bribe” them to drink water in place of juice or soda.
Water is essential for metabolism as well as flushing out wastes from the body.
I should also add that increasing the fiber content of your diet also helps to eliminate wastes from your body. The foods Rob mentioned above help with that in addition to foods like legumes, oats and barley.
Thanks for a great tip, Rob.
Joe
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:21 pm
@Colin, I recommend keeping Glutamine intake to a MAXIMUM. The health benefits of L-Glutamine are seriously overlooked. Glutamine plays a foundational role in overcoming addictions and restoring colon health. It’s critical stuff. I actually recommend 5 grams 4x a day
February 3rd, 2010 at 3:23 pm
@Natasha, not only is chia seed safe for kids, it would improve their health immensely. It’s a seed, plain and simple. Perfectly safe. As for your daughter peeing that often, it could be absorption issues for sure. Balancing the electrolytes is a key part to balancing water intake. It’s not about MORE water necessarily, but rather, having that water actually WORK!
February 5th, 2010 at 8:11 am
This was an interesting post. I know water is very important, and I’m constantly encouraging people to drink a gallon of water a day. Now I’ll switch to 1/2 your bodyweight in ounces. I’m going to highlight this post in my own blog today. Thanks.
February 23rd, 2010 at 10:23 am
Very interesting piece Rob. I am currently on a calorie deficient diet trying to lose some weight. I am currently 195 and my goal weight is 175. I am on about a 1500 calorie a day diet and i exercise six times a week varying from weight training to conditioning to light cardio. Will the chia seeds help my weight loss diet? GNC had a chia seed (link below) that i am looking to purchase based on what you think it will do for me rob. And should i use whey protein with my diet?
http://www.gnc.com/product/index.jsp?productId=3968464
March 1st, 2010 at 9:24 pm
Good article. Drinking water at room temp with Celtic sea salt is the start for good absorption yet many people are severely dehyrdrated and their cells won’t allow access of water, so people will continue to drink more water and still be dehydrated. It takes time and healing before you can absorb all that water.