Water...

[Mr. Nuclear]

Only just noticed the "blackout" is over. I have gained a few pounds since, probably from the lack of support. I'm an anal Nuclear Engineer, hence the new user name....

Every diet plan I've seen calls for water, water, water... I've always followed this, but lately I've been having a few "skipped" heartbeats, especially after a workout, which I'm convinced is due to low potassium (hyperkalaemia?). I think all the water, which has to come out in some form or another, dilutes the electrolytes. I've tried reducing the water I drink (and adding K of course) and it's helping.

Why is drinking water all the time so good for you anyway? If we go back to our ancient ancestors (a PPLP trick), I'm sure they weren't walking around with water bottles to sip on all day - they would infrequently stop at streams probably. Maybe it's not such a great thing after all.

John.

[Billie]

"I'm an anal Nuclear Engineer, hence the new user name...."

Interesting job description there John!:paranoid:

I personally think water is very important in weight loss nevermind good health. I know I feel better at 3 L at day but lately have not been hitting that. And certainly if you are doing a cardio workout and working up some sweat you could feel the depletion of sodium and potassium.

How much do you drink? How much do you sweat during the workout and where do you feel at you feel at your optimum with water consumption?

In the early days of this board we had some people around who drank tons of water, I mean 8 or 9 litres a day. I thought that was excessive and since I worked with some with a water intolerance, I always was fearful for them. I think anything in excess can be harmful.

I think too it also depends on what you are consuming, do you get natural potassium or taking the supplements does that help? Are you eating 30 or less carbs--you know that really acts like a flushing agent as well.

Those are just my thoughts, glad you are here and found us, I am sure you will hear some peeps from others!

[LisaS]

I think adequate water is important - but I agree that the current emphasis on drinking water is somewhat overdone. Dehydration is bad - of course - but we want adequate hydration.

I've seen several people take the need for adequate hydration completely around the bend and drink drink drink constantly. Almost obsessively.

I think about when we were kids, we'd play outside all day in the summer, and if we got thirsty we drank out of the hose. This made it self-limiting - you quenched your thirst. Nowadays I know kids who won't/cannot walk around the block w/out carrying (and half draining) their water bottles.

I'll have to think on this some more - but I tend to agree with you. I don't think constant drinking is the natural way. It sure isn't how cats, dogs and horses do things (the 3 non-humans with which I am most familiar WRT drinking habits).

[Mitra]

John, I'm glad you found us again :). I worked for 18 years as a Reactor Physicist at a nuclear power station - until it reached the point where they were paying people more to leave than to stay :rolleyes: .

I posted this in response to the same water question from someone else recently:


I haven't been able to find a reference in PP for the recommendation to "drink till you float," so this is a personal view.

I had a look around the internet recently, and came up with this advice from Water UK. (http://www.water.org.uk/home/water-for-health/ask-about/adults)

It suggests that the water requirement for average weather is 4% of bodyweight, which includes water from the breakdown of carbs, fat and protein in food, water in food, and all drinks. Their table estimates that for an average kind of diet about half of the water requirement would need to be from drinks. If your diet is mainly shakes and soup it will be less; if your diet is jerky and dry foods, then you'll need to drink more. If the weather's hot, dry or windy, you're pregnant, or you're in the early days of eating low carb, then you'll need more.

[Belfrybat]

Janet -- good article, and I'm so glad it included juice, coffee, tea, etc. in the water requirement. It's never made sense to me that the only fluid that counted was unadultrated water. The article supports what I've always heard: 8 glasses a day (64 oz), which is easy to get if one counts other liquids as water as well.

[Kristine]

I think it's more important to get adequate water if you're just starting out and excreting ketones. I seem to recall from my clinical chemistry class that ketones are literally large molecules for your poor little kidney tubules, so the idea is to provide plenty of water to help flush them through.

In general, though, I'm a bit of a water skeptic. The eight glasses per day idea came from an average measurement that didn't include the water in your food... and there's a quite a bit, if you add it up on fitday.com some time.

I, too, disagree with the idea that if it's coffee, tea or soda, it doesn't count. Most people who drink caffeinated beverages will have built up a tolerance to it. You're not going to be in serious diuresis from drinking your normal amounts of java.

IMO, "enough" is good; "more" is not better.

[Niobe]

Why is drinking water all the time so good for you anyway? If we go back to our ancient ancestors (a PPLP trick), I'm sure they weren't walking around with water bottles to sip on all day - they would infrequently stop at streams probably. Maybe it's not such a great thing after all.

John.

Of course they didn't have water bottles to carry, but they did devise ways of transporting water. More relevant, they probably stuck close to water sources; plus their diets were composed of wholes foods containing natural amounts of moisture (as opposed to freeze-dried, packaged this-or-that).

As far as virtually all diets recommending it, there are a number of reason I can think of off the top of my head:

-If you're drinking water when you're thirty, you're less likely to drink juices, soda, etc. that can contain empty/nutritionally useless calories.

-A high water intake can supposedly keep you feeling fuller and thus decrease hunger pangs (I have some issues with this one. My first serious go-round with PP, I was drinking 4-5 litres of water a day, plus whatever diet soda I felt like. I don't recall it decreasing my hunger, but after a few months of this I developed an ulcer that still acts up if I drink too much water on an empty stomach. I think perhaps the constant influx of matter caused my stomach to over-produce acid that of course had nothing to break down except my stomach itself.).

-Specific to LC, the more water you have flushing through your system, the more ketones will be passed without being fully utilized.

-Multiple studies have shown that dehydration has all sorts of effects upon mood, concentration, and energy levels. If you're hydrated you'll be focusing better, feeling better, and have more energy ... all of which will make it easier to stick to your eating plan.

-Water is the basis for the liquid medium for millions of chemical reactions throughout the body, including fat-burning mechanisms in the cell and hormone distribution through the blood, so a proper level of hydration allows for overall smooth chemical operation of the body.

-More water flushing through your blood, lymph, and kidneys can carry more toxins out of your body, increasing general health (I don't think the effects of this by itself would be huge, but in conjunction with proper diet and weight loss, perhaps).

The trick, of course, is to find the correct balance for your body. I mentioned my ulcer; I also found that if my daily intake was steadily more than 4 litres per day, my lips started peeling and my skin started flaking (I assume because too many water-soluble B vitamins were being carried out with the water). I have the same problem if my intake is below about 2 litres. I also belong to the camp that thinks any liquid counts--your digestive system is just going to break whatever compounds are in it down and leave you with water and a collection of chemicals, so really I think it's all the same to your digestive tract. :)