Să vorbim mai multe despre APĂ… - Lavinia Dinca Nutrition

Water is the driving force of all nature.
Leonardo da Vinci

Why is it so important to hydrate our bodies?

I think we all know that water represents about 60-70% of the composition of the human body. But what else do we know? Well, among other things:

- water helps us to eliminate toxins, thus contributing to a normal digestion;

- it helps with the absorption of nutrients, as it is their main transporter to cells;

- it improves blood circulation, carrying, in addition to nutrients, oxygen to cells;

- it helps you lose weight (ha, I got you!), by activating your metabolism;

- it prevents you from other diseases: kidney stones, hypertension, constipation, urinary tract infections (notice to the girls). And the list can go on...

... so how many liquids should we drink each day?

Nutritionists recommend between 38-40ml / kg body weight of daily liquid intake, so a person weighing 60kg should drink somewhere between 2.2-2.4l of liquids per day (of which at least half water). My advice is to start the day with a large glass of slightly warm water (300ml minimum) immediately after waking up, in order to activate the body after sleep and to quickly clean it on the inside (just like you do with washing your face). Also, during the day I recommend using the same amount of water with 15-30 minutes before any meal (be it a snack or main meal) to hydrate the organs before ingesting food and to stop feeling thirsty during or after a meal. It is preferable to avoid water consumption during and up to one or two hours after a meal, in order not to slow down digestion.

But water quality is just as important as its quantity..

Tap water, filtered or bottled?

Because not all of us live in Switzerland, where tap water can be confidently drunk due to high quality filtration systems that do not use disinfectants, I do not recommend its consumption (at least in Romanian cities). Due to the mostly outdated water distribution systems, different parasites, microbes and different minerals can be squeezed through pipes, which further come with water disinfection products, such as chlorines. That's why, depending on your home country, check how safe it is to drink tap water.

Bottled water contains minerals that are beneficial to health, but may also contain microplastics. In a US study, 92% of all bottled water contained microplastics, by testing 250 bottles from 11 brands. In a bottle, on average, were found 10,000 plastic particles per liter. It was also found that bottled water contained 2 times more pieces of microplastic per liter than tap water.

In my opinion, the best option is filtered water , even though it retains very few minerals (also known as electrolytes). But no worries, even though we lose some minerals through filtering the water, they can be easily replaced by food. Few examples below:

- Sodium - pickles, salt, tomato juice

- Chlorine - salt, tomato juice, olives

- Magnesium - black beans, spinach, banana

- Calcium - sesame seeds, broccoli, almonds, kale and green leaves

- Potassium - banana, potato, broccoli, pumpkin

- Sulphate - eggs, garlic, broccoli, kale

- Iron - spinach, broccoli, dried fruits, nuts

An easy (but valuable) tip is to try drinking filtered water, in which you can add slices of fruits or vegetables. Thus, water takes over all the properties of that living food, being charged with electrolytes and thus becoming able to better hydrate our cells.

Alkaline water. Fraud or not?

As you may already know, pH is a value that indicates how acid or alkaline a substance is. Well, human blood has a neutral pH value of about 7.3 , and the water we drink follows its direction. Alkaline water has become a new trend, with a pH between 8-9, it is said that it can cure many diseases, especially cancer, which cannot survive in acidic environment. However, this water has become known mainly to the sellers of sophisticated and extremely expensive appliances, hence the skepticism ...
Despite the many health claims made by the drinkers and sellers of alkaline water, only a few scientific articles have concluded that alkaline water can cure diseases such as gastric reflux and diabetes, or lower blood pressure and cholesterol . It also helps with hydration, after intense physical activity, but we expect more evidence from the researchers.

To save a few thousands of euros on such alkaline water appliance, we can use baking soda: 3/4 teaspoon to 1 liter of water, which can be drunk several times a day as needed, but not around meal times, so as not to alkalize the stomach before eating, when it must have normal acid pH in order to break down the food and neutralize the microbes found in it.

My conclusion:

I highly recommend a frequent consumption of raw fruits and vegetables, eaten as whole and / or put in water to help with its mineralization. This is a life changing habbit which escapes us from a strong body acidification, without having to look for other solutions, which can be both unpleasant and expensive.

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