Why we need to drink enough water

I’ve struggled to reach my required water targets but in getting it to 2-2.5 litres a day it helped me to understand why I need it. Here is a list of the top seven:

• Moistens the tissues such as the eyes, nose and mouth
• Maintains body temperature
• Protects body organs and tissue
• Lubricates joints
• Lessens the burden on the kidney and liver by flushing out waste
• Carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells
• Helps dissolve minerals and other nutrients so they can be used by the body

 

What can I add to my diet?

Often when we think about diet, or our nutrition plan which seems to have become the accepted euphemism for what we consume, the focus is on what can be reduced or eliminated. For weight loss and health that is definitely important but can be a negative mind set to start a new regime with.

Instead when you are gearing up to focus on improving your health think about what you can add into your diet that is going to make the difference:

• Water is top of the list. Every organ in your body needs water to function correctly and most of the population are not drinking enough or consistently enough to keep their bodies healthy. For fat loss it is important to increase your fluid intake for two reasons, firstly your body can’t metabolise the fat as efficiently without a good supply of it and secondly it is very easy to confuse thirst and hunger.  Between meals if you think you are hungry try drinking a glass of water and waiting half an hour before you eat.

• Fruit and vegetables. To improve health and lose surplus body fat you need your body to be functioning optimally which means providing it with the essential vitamins and minerals. Eating a selection of fruit and vegetables of a range of colours will help ensure you are getting the variety you need. If you still aren’t sure then a single good quality multi-vitamin is a good option. With the extra fruit and vegetables comes additional fibre which while it is technically a carbohydrate is not able to be absorbed by your body so it helps keep your digestive tract healthy and gives you a sustained feeling of fullness reducing the risk of overeating.

• Make your meal an event. We are all busy these day and sometime if almost feels necessary to eat on the run but it isn’t good for your digestion and it is really easy to eat too much and make the wrong choices when we are in a hurry. Try to make time to sit at the table and eat your meal, where possible make it a social event and enjoy your meal with another person. Not only is the interaction mentally and emotionally healthy but you will eat slower which gives your body time to react and tell you when it is full.

 

Are all calories created equal?

This was really an important aspect for me to understand, it makes a big difference to my choices, it is why my eating plan needs to be more than counting the calories (or kilojoules) in and out.

As a base mathematical fact then yes all calories are the same, it is a unit of heat, or to the human body the ‘credits’ it has to spend on keeping itself running through the day. If one day it gets more credits than it spends it saves them, storing them as fat to be broken down and spent the next day. This is really efficient, unless of course you keep putting in more than you need on a day by day basis.

Even at that base level though there are differences between eating for example 100 calories of sugar vs 100 calories of spinach. When you consume the sugar it is a very efficient way of consuming the calories, they are available to use by the body virtually immediately and take virtually no effort or energy for the body to utilise from their original form. The spinach on the other hand is a much larger serve, consuming it will take longer and because it is fibrous the body needs to work quite hard to extract the energy and other nutrients from it. Of the 100 calories some will be used just getting it to a usable state within the body, so its net value in calories is a little less. This distinction is important, sometimes your body needs instant energy, for example endurance athletes spend a lot of time planning this, in everyday life for most people though the opposite is true, we want fuel that will be broken down and available evenly over an extended period of time.

The other important difference is the value of the nutrition coming from the calorie. The sugar, along with many processed and treat foods, are sometimes referred to as empty calories. This term is perhaps not entirely correct, their calories are fine they provide the energy they promise but not much more, they often lack significant degrees of vitamins, minerals and proteins that the body requires to function at its optimum and keep doing so into the future.

The upshot is that all calories do not have equal advantage or disadvantage to our bodies, therefore we need to be clear what we are trying to achieve at a particular point in time. Personally in my life there is no genuine requirement for high glycemic or quick release calories on most days of the year – which is why I am now focusing on finding an eating plan for feeding my body what it needs to be strong and healthy.