Day 20 - Water is life

This morning, I woke up with a headache. I'm not using it as an excuse to not write, and that's one step closer to making this a daily habit. On top of that is that yesterday I did not want to work out, but I did it anyway. Won't say I went hard, because I didn't, but I burned 300 calories I otherwise wouldn't have.

Something that I haven't managed to make a habit yet, though, is drinking water. And that would explain the headache. Dehydration is a nasty business, and with the humidity yesterday, I should have probably had 3 litres. Instead, I scraped by with 1lt or so.

So that brings me to my subject today. The importance of water, or Water is Life, for those Dune fans out there. ;)

Many people discount the necessity of water, and that is what hinders progress in diets and healthy living. Now doctors will tell you to drink at least 2-3 litres of water a day, and this is true. But you can use tea and supplements for this. I have 600mL of water with a BCAA every day. Breaking the monotony can be important. If you are working out or sweating through the day, that number should go closer to 3lt minimum. This will also depend on your weight and size. I'm smallish, so I can get away with 3lt during days that I sweat a lot, but my husband would need 4 to thrive.

Water is necessary for digestion and absorption of food. If you drink a glass of water an hour before your meal, you will eat less food, thus lowering your calorie-intake. Certain times of the day this is a struggle. Especially in the morning, when it is important to kickstart your metabolism, but you also have to remember you have likely not had anything to drink for 10-12 hours. So it is important to have. If doing a workout first thing in the morning, a protein shake with water before you start will actually help give you energy and give you the hydration you need. 

Water will also help to regulate temperature, blood circulation and oxygen through your body. All of these elements are essentially water-based. The water in your body keeps your temperature down by make us our own refrigerator. Your body sweat works as a natural air conditioner. 

The most undervalued part thing is that drinking water helps with fat metabolism. When you drink more water, you burn fat more often. This is due to the liver and kidneys. Your liver is actually meant to remove all the crap in your body, but when you do not drink enough water, your kidneys aren't able to do what they need to. The liver takes over the functions of the kidney to assist, and thus cannot do its own functions. Drinking more water means that the kidneys can do their job, and therefore the liver can as well.

So drink more water! Then you might not wake up with headaches. >_>