Drinking Water: The Ultimate Health Drink

By Julianne Koritz

Have you considered the actual role fluids play in your overall well-being? What you drink effects how you feel the rest of the day. Are you the person who needs caffeine in the morning to get started? You may have two cups of coffee before you leave for work in the morning and then after you get to work you may have another cup or two. Then to combat the afternoon drags, do you have a diet soda with caffeine or another cup of coffee to get you through the rest of the day?

Coffee, Soda, Water with Caffeine, Ice Tea… Plain Drinking Water?

Consider what you had to drink yesterday and jot it down. Now, how much water did you have? Most of us are aware that the health experts state we need 8 fluid cups daily to prevent dehydration symptoms but that can include other beverages. However, if you are thirsty right now, that means you are already at a dehydrated state. Being dehydrated causes your metabolism to malfunction and leads to dehydration symptoms, such as being lethargic and not motivated to work, play or workout.

Dehydration Symptoms include:

• Headache
• Constipation
• Fatigue
• Irritability
• Depression
• Weight gain
• Water retention
• Dry skin
• Skin blemishes
• Toxicity (in blood)
• Bladder infections

Caffeine: Robbing Body of Fluids

Beverages with caffeine such as coffee, ice tea, and soda are not going to help our body with hydration. Caffeine is a diuretic, which means it makes your body flush out fluids. Yes, you go to the bathroom soon after drinking beverages with caffeine. While it is "okay" to drink these beverages, remember they do not help keep you hydrated. To hydrate yourself, it takes 24 hours. Just to drink 16 oz of water when you are thirsty does not bring your body to a state of proper hydration.

Tired? Try Drinking Water!

If you are thirsty, that means you have lost about 2-3% of your body fluids. Remember your body is 70% water. If your weight is 150 pounds and you are thirsty, that means you lost 3 pound of fluids. Just losing 1- 3% of your body weight causes such symptom such as chronic tiredness, headaches, grouchy and hunger that leads us into another area of concern. What do you do when you are tired? Many people eat when they are tired as taught by their mother while very young. If you have children, you may find yourself feeding your cranky child and noticing that they become more reasonable after being feed. Food does provide some needed fluid but not enough. Eating when you are tire may also contribute to unwanted weight gain. So next time you are feeling tired, try drinking water instead.

Water: A Most Important Nutrient for the Body

Now go back and recall how much water you drank yesterday. Congratulations, if you did drink 2 liters of water. For those of you who did not drink enough water, commit to honoring this most important nutrient for your body. Keep a LARGE cup or bottle of water on your desk, take bottled water on your commute, to the gym… and make it a habit of drinking 20 ounces of water 4 times a day. During periods of extreme heat and humidity, drink more of nature's greatest health drink.

Copyright © 2003 Julianne Koritz. All rights reserved. If you are interested in publishing this article, please email .


About Julianne Koritz

Julianne Koritz is a registered, licensed dietitian in private practice in Chapel Hill, N.C. She presents programs in low-fat cooking, diabetic and cardiac diets, weight management and nutrition. In her practice, she counsels corporate and private clients in developing personalized nutritional programs. As a clinical dietitian at the University of North Carolina, she helped athletes and students to reach their nutritional goals. She is a member of the American Dietetic Association. She developed the Self-Healing Expressions e-course The Healing Power of Food: The Energized Body Plan. Her web site is nutritioncoach.usana.com.


About Julianne's Nutrition Information Course

Learn to support and boost your body's immune system using advance nutrition information through this nutrition information email course. Lessons address common health complaints and remedies for issues such as Chronic Fatigue Syndrome, memory loss, joint pain, depression, and weigh loss.

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Be guided to a new eating and exercise plan based on your body's shape - a plan that will provide lasting health for your mind, body and spirit for years to come.