The Overlooked Superpower for Your Body and Mind 💧

When we talk about nutrition, sometimes we forget the most basic thing: Water. Fundamental for life. We survive for up to 40 days without food. We die in 5 without water. Critical for communication, water is how everything, from nerve messages to nutrients, is transported.

But it’s easy to get cynical about it all when it seems every second business is trying to sell you a fancy water, or tell you to drink more…

Find your sweet spot

The question is how much do YOU need? You can’t be reduced to a calculation. It depends on what you do, what you eat, and what’s happening in your life.

  • Observe your lifestyle: Are you highly active, experiencing significant sweat loss? Do you consume a lot of bread, which can dehydrate? Are you under stress or ill? These factors can increase your water requirements.
  • Monitor your urine: Pale urine generally indicates adequate hydration, while dark urine suggests the need for more fluids. However, excessively clear urine might signal overhydration, potentially leading to mineral imbalances.
  • Consider mineral supplementation: If your body struggles to absorb and utilize water effectively, adding minerals like magnesium or potassium can enhance hydration. Consulting your holistic nutritionist can help determine the best approach.

Yes -it’s possible to drink too much water, flush too much out, and become depleted of minerals. This is one reason athletes drink electrolyte solutions- they replenish minerals and water.

Enough vs optimal

Your body triages everything. If it isn’t getting all the water it wants, it’ll prioritise.

  • Your kidneys need water because their job is to filter the blood, so they want lots of fluid to flush things through.
  • Joints and muscles need water to lubricate them, and to carry away the metabolic wastes that form from daily movement. Aches and pains can come from insufficient fluids.
  • Cells and nerves need water because that’s the medium through which everything communicates. Energy can dip without good cellular function. Pain can seem greater when dehydrated.
  • The brain needs water…brain fog can occur because of dehydration. The brain has a lot of communication to get through!
  • Your skin! To be glowing and clear and healthy, it needs fluids to stay plump, and to carry away metabolic wastes.
  • Your digestive tract uses water not only to process and transport nutrients through the intestinal wall into the bloodstream, but also to bulk and move the waste. If you don’t hydrate enough, your stool will sit in the bowel while as much water as possible is sucked back into the body. While that happens…wastes get absorbed back in as well.
  • Your blood is a key transport medium, carrying nutrients and oxygen to cells, moving immune cells, taking out the garbage… it relies on water to support the right consistency and volume to function effectively.

With all this going on in the unique being that is you…checking in with yourself is the holistic way to work out what you need.

#aspire2 #healthandwellness #nutrition