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.

Water is the basis of all life, including your muscles, your brain, your lungs, your bones and your lungs. A fully hydrated body has more energy, increases it’s fat burning capabilities, has reduced hunger levels, better digestion and ages at a slower pace so you look younger while you’re feeling younger.

Most people reach for a coffee when they’re feeling low energy, when water would benefit so many other aspects of our health.

As I see it, the problem is twofold – firstly, that we must understand the need for drinking more water on a daily basis and then secondly, find ways to incorporate more water into our lifestyle. It’s often as simple as creating a new habit and sticking to it.

Here are 50 ways to create a new habit and drink more water.

1. Drink water first thing in the morning. Start every day by drinking a litre of water. If you have to sit down and finish the whole thing before you move on – do it.

2. Drink a big glass of water right before bed.

3. Every time you go to the bathroom, drink a glass of water. Replace the fluids you just lost.
Pre-fill enough bottles of water for your daily requirement in ounces. Keep them in various places around your house, office or workspace. Make sure they’re each empty before you go to bed.

4. Drink a glass of water each hour, on the hour while at work.

5. Set a countdown timer on your watch for a regular interval (such as an hour) and drink water every time it goes off.

6. Set a reminder in your electronic calendar to remind you to drink. Set your calendar or electronic organizer to remind you at noon and 3 o’clock. You should have consumed at least 1 litre of water by noon and at least two by 3 o’clock. If not, drink up right then and there.

7. Set “drink water reminders” around your house. If you spend a lot of time in the kitchen, turn over your salt shaker or other often used container. Have it remind you to drink a glass of water. Whenever you see a turned over salt shaker, drink a glass of water. Make it fun and mix it up – use something different every day so it catches you off guard. Set the reminder earlier on in the day before you even go to work.

8. Drink water while waiting in lines. If you know you’re going to be standing in line somewhere, take your water bottle with you and make it a point of drinking the entire bottle before you reach the front of the line.

9. Drink water in your car. Keep a bottle of water in your car and drink it while going TO work and coming home FROM work.

10. Drink more water while doing your skin care program. Drink, cleanse, moisturize, then drink again.

11. Take a glass of water to you when you shower. Drink half before you shower and half after you get out of the shower, but before leaving the bathroom.

12. Drink more water while you’re shaving. Drink half a glass before you shave and half a glass after you shave, but before leaving the shaving area.

Reduce or Remove Dehydrating Beverages

13. Replace coffee with water – coffee may act as a diuretic and place a larger need for water on your body. Eliminate and replace your coffee with water.

14. Replace soda pop with water – At the very least, have a big glass of water before you have the soda. If you’re going to drink something non nutritional as soda, first be pro-active and reach for the water.

15. Drink water before your meals.

16. Drink 2 or 3 ounces of water after your meals – but no more. Where water is required to digest food, too much water can dilute the digestive juices and hamper digestion. Limit your water intake after a meal to a few ounces only.

At the Gym

17. Drink a litre of water on your way TO the gym.

18. Drink a litre of water AT the gym.

19. Drink a litre of water on your way home (or to work) FROM the gym.

20. Drink enough water during your workout that you have to fill up your water bottle at least once.

Flavor Your Water

You can put some things into your water to flavor them while improving your quality of life at the same time. Where coffee and soda pop are acidic to the body, lemon and lime are alkaline forming in the body. By allowing your body to be in an alkaline state more often, you allow your body to absorb vitamins and minerals more effectively while eliminating wastes.

21. Add fresh squeezed lemon juice to your water.

22. Add a slice of lemon to your water.

23. Add cucumber slices to your water.

24. Add Apple Cider Vinegar to your water – Apple Cider Vinegar has been highly regarded throughout history. In 400 B.C. the great Hippocrates, Father of Medicine, used it for its amazing health qualities. Internally, Apple cider vinegar is rich in enzymes and potassium, supports a healthy immune system, helps control weight, promotes digestive and pH balance and can help remove toxins and lower toxicity. Dr Steven Gibb says “everyone in the world should be drinking Apple Cider Vinegar on a daily basis”

25. Add ginger to your water. Steep a little fresh ground ginger root in boiling water and then add it to your water bottles. You might also grate some fresh ginger and then simply put it into your cold water to cold steep.

26. Add salt to your water – however, use only sea salt. Dr Batmanghelidj of “The Water Cure” suggests:

It is very important you balance your sodium intake with your water consumption. Take 1/4 teaspoon of salt per quart of water – every 4-5 glasses of water. Be sure to get sea salt. The best is Celtic sea salt or Himalayan sea salt, both of which are readily available at any health food store.

Treat this flavoring with respect. Most people have too much sodium in their body as they’re getting salt from many many sources throughout the day. If you’re one of the rare individuals who does not add salt to their food, then this tip might be for you.

On the other hand, if you already add salt to any meal at all, then I would not advise adding more salt to your diet.

When heat goes up or your exercise output goes up, so must your water consumption.
If you’re more muscular, you need more water.

Track Your Water Consumption

Before you even begin the process of drinking more water, journal your water consumption for a few days or a week. Then set a goal number for ounces of water per day and continue to track it. Log how often you drink beverages that are NOT water and how much of them you drink.

It’s quite important to track that which you want to improve. Without knowing your starting point, or your progress, how will you know you’re getting results. Just as you track your body composition (body fat vs lean density) to understand your exercise and weight loss results, so should you track your water consumption.

One idea is to tape some plain paper to your favorite water bottle and track how many times you empty it each day. Put enough paper on it to last a week and then use little tick marks for each bottle you drink. Seems easy enough.

User Contributed Water Drinking Tips

Now you may have noticed that there aren’t quite 50 ways to drink more water here just yet. I’d like this to be a user contributed entry. Submit your tip of how you incorporate more water into your day and I’ll add it to the list. What have you found that works for you? What habits have you created around drinking more water?