Hydration is a Girl’s Best Friend

What do you drink with breakfast? How about lunch and dinner? Do you toss back a half gallon of coffee throughout the day, or do you reach for soda/pop, RedBull, Monster Energy drinks, etc…? How much of what you drink every day is straight up, plain old, WATER? While the general recommendation is eight 8oz glasses of FLUID per day, water is an important component of that total intake, and if you aren’t drinking enough, we need to have a talk.

The amount of water you drink everyday is JUST as important as what you eat and there are many proven benefits to drinking water, including:

• Maintains the balance of body fluids
• Helps control calories
• Helps energize muscles & helps you build muscle
• Keeps your skin looking fabulous & keeps you looking young
• Aids your kidneys
• Maintains normal bowel functions
• Its good for your joints

So with all that you stand to gain, why not work on adding more water to your diet? (Credits: WebMD , Fit Day, Mayo Clinic)

Of course, the old adage of consuming 64oz (or about 1.9 liters) of water per day isn’t an exact science, just an easy number to remember, so it makes sense to determine what the minimum amount of water for you is.

The Hydration Calculator on About.com is my favorite because it takes into consideration multiple factors including your weight, how many minutes of exercise you are doing, whether you are pregnant or nursing, whether you are at a high altitude, in an extremely dry climate, hot/cold climate (oh, and also whether you are ill or how much alcohol you are consuming). The level of detail enables you to get a more realistic idea of what your hydration needs are on any given day. If you worked out for 60 minutes or are drinking a few adult beverages, you may find your hydration needs are higher than on days when you don’t. Click here to take the quiz for yourself – I’ll wait. 🙂

On a day when I work out for 60 minutes, my results state:

104 ounces or 3.1 liters. If you eat a healthy diet, about 20 percent of your water may come from the foods you eat. If you eat a healthy diet you can drink 83.2 ounces of water today, or 2.5 liters.

So now you have your intake guidelines, but we all know there are roadblocks that can keep us from meeting our targets.

If you’re someone who isn’t a fan of the taste of water, there are many ways to make water more tolerable. Here are some of my friends’ favorite ways to meet their daily hydration goals (thanks for your input everyone!):

• Just Ice – sometimes when water is ice cold it just tastes better!
• Lemon or Lime Wedges – gently squeezed!
• Cucumber Slices
• Mio Liquid Water Enhancer lets you add flavor to your water and make it as subtle or strong as you prefer. It comes in a tiny bottle and a number of traditional and exotic flavors including Berry Pomegranate, Fruit Punch, Peach Tea, Strawberry Watermelon and more!
• Crystal Light 
• Annnd… my personal favorite (albeit the least accessible): Direct from the stream on my hands and knees the way the great Sky Spirit intended (that’s Patrick!)

You could also consider that water sometimes tastes terrible due to impurities in the water. If you’re willing to give water the old college try (and don’t want to contribute to the 50 million water bottles the US alone consumes per year), there are some products that could make your water-drinking experience more pleasant including: a Brita Filtration Pitcher ($12), a Pur Faucet-Mount Water Filter ($35), or a more portable solution, the Bobble BPA-Free Water Bottle with Filter ($8).

If you have a hard time reaching your target every day, you can try carrying a larger-capacity water (see my 1.5 liter bottle from Max Muscle?) or the Thermos Nissan Intak Hydration Bottle with Meter which holds 24oz and features a rotating meter you can slide over a notch every time you finish a bottle (I have one of these too!).

If you really, really, just hate the way water tastes…

Lets go back to the beginning and talk about how the intake includes ALL fluids. This means you really could drink milk, juice, tea, coffee, soda or other liquids, but if you are trying to live a healthier lifestyle, you’ll want to do these in moderation as they (mostly) all include calories and some include sugar and/or caffeine. The preferred water alternatives include milk, herbal teas (i.e. not really made from tea leaves at all, and containing no caffeine), low-sodium broth, or 100-percent fruit and vegetable juices.

So there you have it! Why we need water, how much YOU need, how to tolerate it and what to do if you simply can’t.

If you are water drinker, please share your favorite way to drink it in the comments below!