Staying Hydrated Challenge

It can seem like a daily activity we don’t even need to talk about, but the importance of staying hydrated can be significant with benefits including health, weight, and beauty.

So do you think you pay attention to how hydrated you are throughout each day? Would a challenge help as a reminder to drink water every day?

Staying Hydrated

Do you struggle with headaches or fuzzy thinking, have acid reflux or other digestive challenges? What about joint pain, low energy, or constipation?

Choosing to stay hydrated and reaching for that glass of clean, pure water can help diminish all of those challenges. Actually, staying at a healthy level of hydration on a daily basis helps with almost all body functions including:

• skin health
• nose, eyes, and mouth moisturization
• joint lubrication
• metabolism
• brain and heart function
• body temperature management
• blood flow
• digestion and waste elimination
• fluid retention
• weight management

In Dr. Kelly Brogan’s book, A Mind of Your Own, she advises those that are working to improve their mental and overall health to get adequate hydration for proper cellular and energy function. Authors Alissa Segersten and Tom Malterre, MS, CN in their book, The Elimination Diet, remind us that every cell in our body “functions better when it is well hydrated – you have more energy, better detoxification, and improved digestion when your cells have enough water in them.” In Dr. Peter Osborne’s book, No Grain No Pain, he advises that “being dehydrated can contribute to pain in the form of chronic muscle spasms; it also makes your blood thicker. Both leave you more prone to inflammation and can interfere with healing”.

That’s just 3 resources. I have more, but I think you get the picture.

Why not give your body what it needs to function well?

Benefits of Replacing Those Not-So-Healthy Drinks

I talk a lot about drinking water. Hydration was even the focus of my first Just One video (a series of very short videos that featured one tip each). I’ll link it here:

Maybe you already drink a lot everyday…specialty coffees, sweet tea, sodas, and energy drinks.  Some of those might be great.

Hey…I drink herbal tea every day!

But have you thought about the effects of the not-so-great ingredients that might be in some beverages, like sugar and artificial sweeteners, preservatives, and don’t forget what’s Not on the ingredient list?

What you drink or don’t drink doesn’t work alone in your overall health, but making truly good choices in what hydrates you can have a significant impact.

It doesn’t have to Always be water and nothing else but water, but I would like to encourage you to consider:

1. Pure, clean water as your #1 choice throughout the day, every day
2. Health-supporting options when not choosing water (herbal tea, fresh juices, real broth, fresh produce, etc.)

Have you ever tried infused water? While writing this post, I finished my glass of water and decided to enjoy an 8-ounce glass of water infused with a good squeeze of lime and one sliced strawberry with just a touch of stevia that you can check out in an image above. It was so tasty.

Importance of Staying Hydrated

There’s a variety of recommendations from experts regarding the amount of water to drink each day:

• NIH – 6-12 cups per day for adequate health,
• Harvard Med – 4-6 cups for general health,
• Institute of Medicine – 9-13 cups per day for adults

In my training, experts often guided to drink approximately 1/2 of our body weight in ounces gradually throughout each day. So, for example, if you weigh 140 pounds, that would be 70 ounces of water. Also be aware that other factors, such as real food intake, exercise, overall health, age, and weather can impact the optimum amount for you each day.

Also, your body is great at communicating. Some common signs of dehydration include:

• Thirst
• Dark-colored urine
• Small amounts or infrequent urination
• Headaches
• Fatigue, dizziness, and/or light-headedness
• Dry eyes
• Dry lips and mouth

Did you notice that “gradually throughout each day” part? Believe it or not, you can actually flood your body with too much fluid at one time, called hyponatremia. It can be dangerous, so be sure to spread out your water drinking across the whole day.

Tools

Not drinking enough? What about what you’re drinking? Are your current choices supporting good health, or are they holding you back?

That’s okay. Just start making changes today!

Wherever you are in your health journey, decide to accept the challenge to drink more pure water each day and stay hydrated! Here are a few suggestions for you to consider as you decide what you would like to do:

• Add pure water to your daily fluid choices. Ideas include:
  • add one 16 ounce glass of pure water per day
  • drink one 16 ounce glass of pure water 30 minutes before each meal
  • pour the amount of pure water you want to drink throughout the day into a pitcher to drink throughout the day
• Use either stainless steel or glass water bottle and such whenever possible
  • pick your favorite size and design. Our current favorites are:
    • This Mira stainless steel fits perfectly in my car or purse
    • This 20 ounce glass bottle
    • This 64 ounce stainless steel is my husband’s favorite when working outside all day
• Exchange/adjust one of your existing drink choices (if not health-supporting) to something that is one-step healthier. Ideas include:
  • replace sugar or artificial sweetener with stevia, honey, etc.
  • reduce, in order to replace the sugar or artificial sweetener amount you currently use
  • reduce the number you take in daily of a beverage that doesn’t support your health

Accept the Staying Hydrated Challenge

So….what do you think? Will you accept the challenge, start hydrating yourself, and reaping the benefits of supporting your overall health? Maybe you know you need to drink more water but haven’t been successful in the past. I can definitely be difficult to make changes without support.

That’s where I can help!

Sign up for the Staying Hydrated Challenge, and I’ll send you a helpful Hydration worksheet + weekly encouragement messages for 1 month to help you start and establish a healthy hydration habit.