Staying hydrated is an important aspect to our overall well being. If we are even slightly dehydrated it can be detrimental to our health. It can also make us feel very tired and run down. If you are overweight, you are most likely to be dehydrated.

Fruits and most greens contain a high percentage of water and if our diet contained lots of these foods additional water needed would be kept to a minimum. Sadly however, this isn’t the case. The majority of the Western world consumes far too little water-dense whole foods and too much dehydrated refined junk foods.

By nature, we are not water drinkers, so getting most of our water needs from fruits and greens is important. There is no firm reason why we should drink 8 glasses of water a day and should only drink when thirsty. This shouldn’t arise very often if we are consuming the fruits and greens our body needs.

No hard and fast rules can be set down when it comes to the matter of water. You can faithfully drink 8 glasses a day and be getting too much water or too little, maybe. If you are wise, you will listen to your body’s requirements.

It is often said that our body needs minimum amount of water per day and we should attempt to drink this amount each time. This isn’t necessarily something I would agree with following. Unless you body is telling you you are thirsty then don’t drink water for the sake of drinking it. Drinking too much water can be damaging to your health as well as too little.

However that being said, for the majority of us, our thirst mechanism isn’t usually working so well and for some of us we can’t even make the distinction between being hungry or being thirsty. We become dehydrated without even realizing it.

Here are some possible signs that you could be dehydrated:

Lack of energy & fatigue
Migraine headaches
Dandruff

Apathy
Salty sweat
Irritability and mild depression
Low back pain
Dry mouth
Dry and flaky skin
Weakness
Excessive sleepiness
Constipation

 

Chronic Dehydration

Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, author of Your Body’s Many Cries For Water, claims that many of our health problems are a result of dehydration. He claims that chronic dehydration can cause many conditions including asthma, allergies, arthritis, migraines, chronic fatigue syndrome, depression etc.

I must say, having suffered from asthma and allergies once upon a time, I can see how being dehydrated may have affected those things in me. Since I upped my intake of fruits and greens (water-dense foods) my asthma and allergies have COMPLETELY disappeared. Water, or lack of, could have potentially be an irritant to my asthma/allergies.

Drinking more water will most likely not hurt you if you aren’t someone very familiar with your thirst signals and who doesn’t eat a lot of water dense fruits. In fact it can only help you. Whether you need 8 glasses is largely debateable on the premise of individual differences, so don’t worry if you aren’t consuming that many.

The best things you can to increase your water intake is:


Cut out other drinks.

Soda, Alcohol, Coffee are all dehydrating and should not be included in your add up of how much water you have consumed. Instead of drinking these, make an effort to only consume water as a drink through out the day. If you have any of the other drinks, drink twice as much water to make up for it.

 

Up your intake of fruits and greens.

This is one of the best things you can do. By getting a lot of water from the foods you eat means you have to worry less about how much water you are drinking.

 

What do you do to stay hydrated?

 

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