Benefits of Water

In an effort to push myself toward consuming more water, I decided to search the benefits to motivate me.

 

I have always been a diet soda addict, I quit cold turkey for a year and then went right back to my bad habits. And while I did consume around the recommended intake of 1.5-2L of liquid, I am starting to worry about the effects on my body and my tooth enamel.

 

 

Here are a few things I learned that I thought are worthy of sharing:

• If you're not, you could end up with excess body fat, poor muscle tone, digestive complications, muscle soreness -- even water-retention problems.
• Without water, we'd be poisoned to death by our own waste products.  When the kidneys remove uric acid and urea, these must be dissolved in water.  If there isn't enough water, wastes are not removed as effectively and may build up as kidney stones.
• We  need water to breathe:  our lungs must be moist to take in oxygen and excrete carbon dioxide.  It is possible to lose a pint of liquid each day just exhaling.
• One of the functions of the liver is to pick up the slack for the kidneys, which need plenty of water to work properly. If the kidneys are water-deprived, the liver has to do their work along with its own, lowering its total productivity. It then cant metabolize fat as quickly or efficiently as it could when the kidneys were pulling their own weight. If you allow this to happen, not only are you being unfair to your liver, but are also setting yourself up to store fat.

Have in mind: During the first few days of drinking more water than your body is accustomed to, you will be running to the bathroom constantly. This can be very discouraging, and it can certainly interfere with an otherwise normal day at work. It seems that the water is coming out just as fast as it is going in, and many people decide that their new hydration habit is fruitless.

What is really happening is that your body is flushing itself of the water it has been storing throughout all those years! It takes a while, but this is a beautiful thing happening to you. As you continue to give your body all the water it could ask for, it gets rid of what it  doesnt need. It gets rid of the water it was holding onto in your ankles and your hips and thighs, maybe even around your belly. You are excreting much more than you realize. Your body figures it doesnt need to save these stores anymore;  trusting that the water will keep coming, and if it does, eventually, the flushing (of both the body and the potty) will cease, allowing the human to return to a normal life.

Drink up!