Water FAQs

 

Welcome to Day 5 of the Hydration Mini-Series: Sludge Experiment LIVE and FAQs


I've discussed a significant amount of information in a short time period.  If you need to catch up, you can find first 4 days of blog posts here:

Hydration Day 1: For the People in the Back

Hydration Day 2: What's All the Fuss About Water

Hydration Day 3: When Zero Isn't Really Free

Hydration Day 4: Water is the Best



Now, onto some of the questions that have popped up throughout this mini-series.


What is the best source for my eight ounces of water a day?

  • The best stuff is what's in the cheap stuff, just plain old water. That is the best source. It is clear. It has everything you need.  Nothing more, nothing less.
  • You don't need any of the additional stuff yet.  Sometimes we want a little flavor to mix things up a bit, but this should not be the norm.

What about bottled water?

  • Absolutely. That counts under the umbrella of "the cheap stuff"
  • You can even have sparkling water. Personally, I love the bubbles. We enjoy "Belle Vie Bold" from Aldi.
  • One of the hardest things for me transitioning to water was coming off my Coke habit (the cola, not the hard stuff). I used to drink a six pack of Cokes a day, and that was all I drank.  Literally.  No water, no juice, no milk, nothing else.  Just Coca-Cola straight from those enchanting red cans.  Now, I drink anywhere from 72-120oz a day and rarely have Coke.  If I can do it, you can too!  I missed the bubble from the coke, so the Bella Via fills that void perfectly! (And I feel like I'm having some kind of fancy drink, a little, you know, fancy mocktail.)
  • And like we talked about yesterday, just make sure that you're paying attention to your enhancements of what you're putting in your water. You don't want to be adding in carbs and sugars that you're not aware of. So just do your research with that.

What about distilled water? 

  • You can use distilled water and some people like to use distilled water. That's a fine way to hydrate yourself and works like charm!
  • The only caution or thing that you need to be aware of with distilled water is what happens when water is distilled.  The process of distilling takes away the natural minerals that are in water.  This doesn't mean you cannot drink it, however, be aware of this, because your body might need some of the missing minerals that are in tap water or bottled water to function. You don't want to be losing out on some of those key minerals.  Remember what we said on day 1 about body composition and the need for minerals?


What about reverse osmosis water?

  • Yes . . .  but no, that it can be kind of costly to keep up with the filters.  I'd much rather you spend your hard earned money on working with me to better your health and walk with Christ!
  • If you decide to drink reverse osmosis water, you will want to use the same guidelines as distilled water because the reverse osmosis water, it's going to be stripped of minerals.

Do I really need to drink even though I am not thirsty?

  • That's fantastic that you're not thirsty. That probably means that you're hydrated and just keep drinking, drinking, so that you can stay hydrated.
  • One of the late, late, late signs of dehydration is feeling thirsty.
  • When you're thirsty, like a true thirst, not "I ate a bunch of peanuts and now I'm thirsty" kind of thirsty, but a TRUE thirst, your body is already in the process of recycling the water that is already in your body. Gross.  You won't want to miss the experiment tomorrow to show you what that is really like for your body.
  • Once you get hydrated again, it's going to take your body several hours to stop using that recycled water.


I know there's situations that come up here, harder to get water, but do your best to prepare and stay ahead of it so that you have your water.  You don't want to be stuck without it. 


We usually keep a flat of bottled water in the back of our car for this purpose so that we're not ever stuck without having water to keep family of 6 hydrated.



How do you I know if I'm not drinking enough water?

  • If you're not drinking enough water, some of the things that you might feel are
    • fatigue
    • foggy thoughts
    • lack of mental clarity
    • headache
    • aching joints
    • swollen fingers and feet/ankles
    • dark urine

What does dark urine mean? 

  • Urine can be many different shades.  When you are hydrated, your urine should essentially be clear.
  • If your urine does not have, any color or very, very little color, unless you're taking some kind of vitamin or medication that can make your urine a different color, and that does happen sometimes, you are nice and hydrated.
  • Your urine in the morning will be darker because you have gone all night without drinking water.  This actually shows you how quickly you can become dehydrated.  And while we are on the topic of urine - if your urine has a strong odor, that also could be a clue that you are dehydrated.  Ok - enough of the gross talk!

In closing, your call to action, moving forward, is to keep using your favorite bottle/mug/cup to drink so much more of the cheap stuff to keep your body working well!  Work your way up to and sustain 80-100 oz daily.


PS - One last tip - keep it fun!


PPS - I'm not saying don't ever have a Coke or don't ever have a sports drink. Just be aware of what you're drinking and make sure that you're primarily drinking the water.


PPPS - Anything else you have to drink outside of water. It needs to be in addition to your 80 to 100 ounces a day.

Stay tuned for Day 6 for a LIVE sludge experiment.  You don't want to miss this!  You can find it here.

*If you are interested in learning how to become more hydrated and are ready to finally shed that last 30-60 pounds for good, send me a PM and I can get you on my early bird list for a program launching in July!*







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