Why Hydration Matters
Water is an often-overlooked nutrient. Yet getting enough water is crucial if you’re trying to lose weight, according to Dr. Wayne Askew, director of the University of Utah’s foods and nutrition division.
In an article in the Deseret News, Askew said that not having enough fluids in your body can reduce your resting metabolic rate. This is the amount of calories your body burns while at rest, in order to maintain life. Your resting metabolism rate accounts for roughly 60 percent of the calories burned in the body. Dehydration reduces the efficiency of your resting metabolism by a very small, but consistent amount.
Getting enough fluids is also crucial if you’re stepping up your exercise program. Askew has said that being dehydrated reduces your muscular endurance, your physical work capacity, your anaerobic capacity and your aerobic power. This is why athletes are always striving to get enough fluids and stay hydrated during competition.
Benefits of Staying Hydrated
Water helps with many functions of the human body. It regulates body temperature, carries nutrients and oxygen to cells, carries waste out of the body and cushions and protects joints and organs.
Water is lost though urine, sweat and respiration. The brain’s thirst center lags behind water loss. By the time you feel thirsty, you’re already a bit dehydrated.
Some people say that that when they’re feeling hungry, they have a big glass of water first. Often they realize they were really thirsty, not hungry.
How Hydration Supports Weight Loss
Drinking some water before a meal is a good idea, according to a study done at Virginia Tech. When middle-aged and older adults drank two cups of water before each meal, they consumed between 75-90 fewer calories at the meal, and eventually lost more weight than those who skipped drinking water.
Many popular herbal weight-loss products, as well as caffeine, contain diuretics. It may seem that you’re losing weight, but it comes back fast once you are hydrated again.
Tips to Stay Hydrated
I have a strategy to make sure I’m getting enough water. When I get up in the morning, I fill four glasses of water and set them on the counter. I try to drink them by noon. Then I figure I can easily drink another 4 glasses during the rest of the day.
I take a 1-quart water bottle of water in my car whenever I’m running errands, and I also keep one in my cooler that goes in my car. I find that I can drink a pint of water while I’m out running errands.
Sometimes I’ll drink warm water before eating dinner, to fill myself up. In China, they don’t drink cold drinks, because it is believed that it cools your system down, and then it has to be warmed up again. For breakfast, they drink warm soymilk or warm water.
When I travel in foreign countries, I will drink bottled water, but I don’t do that here. I have a filter on my tap to filter the chlorine, so I don’t worry about buying bottled water
A general guideline: If you’re well hydrated, your skin should snap back when you pinch yourself and your urine should be a light yellow.
The most efficient way to get fluid in the body is by drinking water, said Askew. However, milk (88 percent water), juices and soups help, too. Flavored sports drinks containing sodium aren’t necessary if you’re exercising less than three hours, and most of them contain calories. If you’re trying to lose weight, plain water is a better choice.
Coffee, tea and “energy drinks” are not good beverages for rehydration, because they contain caffeine, which is a diuretic. In fact, most “energy drinks” contain as much caffeine as a cup of coffee, and they also contain large amounts of sugar. Caffeine-containing diet sodas also have a diuretic effect.
The Pitfalls of Sugary and Caffeinated Beverages
One culprit in the obesity epidemic is that Americans consume 300 more calories a day in sugary beverages than they did 30 years ago, according to Barry Popkin, director of the University of North Carolina Nutrition Obesity Research Center. Soda pop, fruit punch, juice drinks with added sugar, sports drinks and so-called “New Age” beverages all pack on unnecessary calories. His research has shown that people who drink lots of water drink fewer sugary beverages eat more fruits and vegetables and consume fewer calories throughout the day.
Best Beverage Choices
He examined dietary patterns of 9,500 American adults in a federal study from 1999 to 2002. Those who drank more-healthful beverages – water, low-fat milk, unsweetened coffee or tea – were more likely to eat vegetables and less likely to eat fast food.
Depending on the brand, a 12-ounce can of sweetened soda contains 140-170 calories. Even drinks that say, “made with real juice,” are just as high in calories, and may actually contain only 5-10 percent real juice.
The juice content of a drink usually appears with the “Nutrition Facts,” which are generally on the back or side of the product label.
Beware of healthy-sounding juice drinks, which are mostly water and sweetener. Look for the term, “100 percent fruit juice.” Any beverage that is less than 100 percent fruit juice must include a term, such as “juice drink,” “juice beverage,” “juice cocktail” or “cooler.” These terms are clues that the drink isn’t all juice.
Why is it important? If you consume fruit-flavored drinks instead of juice, you’re missing out on important nutrients that come from fruit. A lot of the flavored-water drinks have been fortified with vitamin C, but real juice also contains other vitamins, minerals and micronutrients that help the body ward off disease.
An eight-ounce glass of fresh-squeezed orange juice naturally provides 120 percent of the daily value for vitamin C, plus some folate, thiamin, potassium, vitamin B-6, magnesium, niacin and phosphorus. Also, by drinking a vitamin C-rich juice while you’re eating other foods, the iron in the food is better absorbed by the body.
Even so, real juice is high in calories as well. You’re better off eating that whole orange if you can, because you can get all the above nutrients plus fiber, which will help you feel more satisfied.
