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Monday, August 8, 2011

Are you thirsty?..Then you are already dehydrated...


The first, most ignored sign of an under hydrated body is thirst. If you are thirsty, you are already there.

The bible talks a lot about thirst and water. John 4:14 but whoever drinks the water I give him will never thirst. Indeed, the water I give him will become in him a spring of water welling up to eternal life."  Why? Well one of the reasons ... as humans, we can relate to what it means to be thirsty and to drink water.  After all 75% of our body is made of water.

Eat Clean Diet Principle #3- Drink 2-3 liters of Water a day

You have heard it, I know your have.. "drink 8, 8oz glasses of water a day"...  But really that depends on you. Each of your cells contain water, which supports proper cellular functioning, and your body relies on the fluids you consume to replenish water your cells use through out the day. The amount of water you require depends on a number of factors, including your weight and the climate in which you reside, how much you are doing, what you are eating.. Most people adults require about 2-3 liters a day.  Water is absolutely essential because it assists in removing toxins and wastes.  If you are constantly tired, have headaches, or general feeling of unwellness (if that's a word) then you are probably not drinking enough water.  Try it..you will feel better!

This is gross, but I'm a nurse and this is just the plain truth about body functions, so here it goes...the best judge of your hydration level is your urine color... Pale yellow to clear urine...you are hydrated.  Dark yellow, orange, or brownish urine is concentrated urine and you are dehydrated.


If you see us out..you have seen us with these..our bpa free water bottles

Lets not forget our children here! Lots of us forget that our children need water. Children forget to drink because they are too busy playing and by the time they are thirsty...they are already dehydrated too. I try to fix us all water bottles in the morning to carry and refill throughout the day.  We all have our favorites and I try to match them to my clothing like accessories.  We don't buy bottled water. We use it filtered from a filtering system in our fridge.  Kingsport has a very clean water report and who wants to drink chemicals from the plastic that seeps in to already packaged bottles of water.


I often add these to my water to help me get it all in

One little story from our summer..We are at the beach and it was hot.  The kids swam and played in the beach and pool water all day. We kept reminding them when they got out, get something to drink, it's hot.  Jacob, my 7 year old, would sip a little and run off to play. That night he acted very tired at dinner. We thought he was just all played out.  He drank at dinner, but not much.  Back at the condo that night, he used the bathroom..his urine was brown. I felt of his head and he had a fever, he even vomited once.  I didn't know if he was sick or dehydrated. I would have normally thought at home, virus. But it was so hot that day and his urine was brown, so I began to wonder if the fever and vomiting go along with dehydration and heat exhaustion in children.  So I did what any good nurse would do and called the children's ER at the Destin hospital and chatted with a pediatric nurse.  Yes, you can just call the hospital and talk to people you don't know if you need to :)  She informed me that, yes, it does go along with heat exhaustion and dehydration.  The body gets so over heated it can't control it's own temperature.  That's scary, that's how you have a heat stroke. She informed us to strip him down, give him Gatorade and Popsicles and if lethargy got worse to bring him in.  After a few hours, some fluid pushing, and Motrin, he was better.  So remember, sometimes our children need us to keep them hydrated.  I send them to school with water bottles everyday.

I try to get up in the morning and drink a glass of water before I eat breakfast, while I am fixing the kids breakfast and getting them ready for school.  I challenge you to drink 2-3 liters of water a day and just see how good you will feel :)


2 comments:

  1. In the last two weeks I have been trying to eat healthy, I feel SO MUCH BETTER! I think it has a lot to do with drinking at least 8-8oz glasses of water a day. And now I want to know, did you write this post after my pee question? LOL

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  2. Your are too funny :) I posted it after the pee question, but because it was #3 in the little eat clean principle section :) But just think, you may have helped a lot of others :) My neighbor is doing the clean eating and all that too and she and her husband feel better and have both lost weight (they don't even really need to) SO it does work :) I feel sooo much better doing it too :) love ya!!!!

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