Water for the Win
When doing your best to maintain a healthy balanced diet, a key, and often overlooked part of what we consume is what and how much we drink.
Why Hydration is Important
Water accounts for about 50-80% of our body composition, depending on lean body mass. It is found in our organs, cells and blood vessels and is vital to:
- Deliver oxygen throughout the body
- Support cell growth & reproduction
- Digest food
- Produce saliva for chewing and swallowing
- Absorb nutrients
- Lubricate joints to move our bodies well
- Move waste throughout our body
- Regulate our body temperature
- Moisten the eyes and nose as well as mouth
- Assist hormone production, transportation, and function
- Maintain healthy bowel function
- Protect our organs and tissue
- Maintain mouth and dental health
As you can see, that is no short list, so drinking a sufficient amount of water is essential for good health. But, how many of us get it right?
How Much Water is Enough?
There is, in fact, no one rule that applies for everyone, as there are individual factors to consider including:
- Age
- Gender
- Metabolism
- Weather
- Individual medical factors
- Exercise
The generic rule of 8 glasses of water is a good place to start, but you can see below that recommended daily water intake can vary.
- Men: 2.6 litres
- Women: 2.1 litres (an additional 250mls is advised if pregnant or breastfeeding)
- Children 1-9 years: between 1 – 1.2 litres
- Children 9-18 years: between 1.4 – 1.6 litres
For a more individual approach, there are hydration calculators online.
Dehydration
What happens when you aren’t hydrated enough? It’s not great.
General signs of dehydration that you may not realise can simply be corrected with a few glasses of Earth juice are:
- You feel thirsty (👀)
- You have a headache
- Fatigue or light headedness
- Dryness of skin and mouth
- You pass urine that is dark in colour
Use this urine colour chart to check how hydrated you actually are. Suffice to say, if it’s resembling the colour of beer or apple juice, you need to top up on the clear stuff.
Getting Water In
Often the one thing holding you back from proper hydration is that you don’t actually love drinking water. Fair. It’s not very exciting and depending on your local water reserve, the taste can vary. There are ways you can up your intake that don’t include just drinking more water.
Water-Rich Foods
Cucumbers (96%), zucchini (95%), watermelon (92%) and grapefruit (91%) are all rich in water content and are tasty options that can accompany meals, get mixed in with salads or be eaten at your desk.
Add a Little Zing
And make your water sing! Avoid sugary syrups and add some healthy flavour by adding a slice of lemon, chopped cucumber, a few mint leaves or some berries. Try freezing some chopped fruit and use it as a substitute for ice cubes for a cool, refreshing sip.
Alternatively, if fruit juice is something you enjoy, you could try adding water to dilute the sweetness – it still tastes great. After a while, you will get used to the subtler flavouring and may even prefer it.
Get Tea on the Team
Here’s the tea. Whether your preference is black, white, green or herbal, including tea in your day is a great way to keep hydrated. Tea is a source of polyphenols, making it rich in antioxidants, which have health-promoting properties. Additionally, drinking hot water, even in the form of tea, can assist with digestion, reduce stress, and enhance hydration.
Tea contains less caffeine than coffee, so is considered a better choice of hot beverage, but fret not, coffee still counts when you’re adding up your fluids for the day. Moderate consumption of caffeine is not shown to not have a significant effect on hydration, even though some teas may have a diuretic affect.
Bring on the Bubbles
If you’re over-consuming sugar, it’s time to look at what you drink as much as what you eat. It is no secret that soft drinks are full of sweeteners and syrups, and this can be counterproductive to good hydration. If you do enjoy a bit of a bubbly refresher, replace it with a sparkling mineral water. Even a lightly flavoured version is a better choice than most of the sweeter flavoured options.
Go One for One at Social Events
If you’re a social drinker and marvel at how many drinks you can consume when there’s an open bar, mindful drinking is key. Keep hydrated (and upright) at Friday night drinks, or any social event, by alternating each alcoholic beverage with a glass of water. You will create more space between drinks, so you drink more responsibly. Plus, tomorrow you will thank you when you don’t wake up with the dreaded dries… A great way to blend your party self seamlessly with your healthy, hydrated self is to opt for soda water as a mixer, even better in a tall glass.
These are great tips if you don’t have a filled water bottle at your desk that you are sipping on constantly throughout the day. However, keeping a container close by that holds at least 1 litre is the best way to get most of your recommended intake. One before lunch, one after – done.
