Can Drinking Water Help You Lose Weight?

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I've worked with many people over the years who have been trying to get healthier and lose weight.  One question that often comes up is, "How much water should I drink?"  Every weight loss program seems to require a certain amount of water.  Some people have been told that drinking water helps them lose weight and some believe that water flushes the fat out of the body. The big question: Does drinking water really help you lose weight? 


Unfortunately, water is not this magical fluid that zips through your body like PacMan chewing up fat cells and flushing them away! If only that were true... Water does, however, help flush out the by products of fat metabolism after your body burns off stored fat for energy. And that's a good thing.

That being said, water may in fact help with weight loss. Many people know from personal experience that drinking water helps them lose weight, but research on this was lacking. In 2010,  Dr. Brenda Davy, a Virginia Tech associate professor of nutrition, provided the first research on this subject.  She found that people who drank 2 glasses of water 20-30 minutes before each meal lost more initial weight and had a significantly higher total loss when compared to people who did not drink water pre-meal. It may be that water offers a way to fill up with a zero calorie price tag. In earlier research, Davy found that water drinkers ate 75 calories less at lunch and at dinner. That may not seems like much, but if you did that every day for a year and made no other changes to your calories in or out, you would lose 15.5 pounds in one year!


Dehydration reduces the rate at which you burn calories. Even if your body is just 1% dehydrated, your metabolic rate goes down, and you burn fewer calories. Staying well hydrated is very important both for weight loss and for overall health.

Some experts think that many of us mix up our body's thirst and hunger signals.  Yep. This was certainly true for me.  I used to think that any message my body was sending me said, "Eat Peanut M&M's." That was over 50 pounds ago! After I was drinking water regularly, I began recognizing when I was actually thirsty and not hungry---amazing.  Filling up on foods high in water content can also help.  Try reaching for soups, fresh fruits, vegetables, milk, yogurt, and other water-rich foods.

Why water and not any beverage?  Water is perfect: at zero calories it quenches thirst and gives your stomach a sense of fullness. For most of us, water comes to us clean and ready-to-drink right from our taps, very environmentally friendly.  All those benefits for absolutely zero calories. The all too popular soda, lemonade, "foo-foo" coffee drinks and smoothies, among others, offer way too many sugar calories and not much in the way of good nutrition.

Can drinking water help you lose weight? It certainly won't do all the work for you by off-setting an overdose of chips and dip. But, it's starting to look like drinking water may just help!

Cheers!

I Can't Believe I Ate the Whole Thing!

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We've all been there. 
You were doing so well with your healthy eating plan.  
And then, you just lost it. 
You ate way too much.  
You can't believe you ate like that.... again. 

Though no one can go back and

 make a brand new start,

Anyone can start from now and 

make a brand new ending.

           -author unknown

Drinking Enough Water? Part II

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Exercise much? Of course you do, right?

So, you work out.  Your body heats up.  Then it needs to be cooled down to keep your body at a safe temperature.  After all, you don't want to get overheated and end up with heat related illnesses, and certainly not heat stroke. To cool down, your body sweats, and its evaporation creates cooling. The harder and longer you work out, the the more fluids you need to produce sweat.  Higher temperatures, humidity, and altitudes all increase the amount you need.

The American College of Sports Medicine recommends that you consume plenty of fluids and stay well hydrated at least 24 hours before exercise (which means all the time, right?) Two hours before exercise, drink about 2 cups of water.  Replenish fluids at regular intervals if your exercise lasts longer than 30 minutes, ideally enough to replace water lost. Long distance runners are encouraged to drink 1 cup for every 20 minutes. After the workout, drink 1-2 glasses of fluid, or as much as needed to fully rehydrate.

Water is the best choice for most of us: it's calorie free and absorbed quickly. On that note, icy cold water is actually absorbed faster, so keep that in mind as the weather and your workouts warm up.

Sports drinks aren't needed unless your work out is at least an hour. With longer workouts, sports drinks replenish some of the electrolytes (sodium and potassium) lost along with all that sweat. The carbohydrates in sports drinks supply quick energy to delay fatigue during endurance exercise.

Chugging way,way too much plain water can induce hyponatremia, or water intoxication. In this condition, your electrolytes are extremely diluted, wreaking havoc with muscles and nerves. Water intoxication is fairly rare, but is being seen more often as more and more rookie exercisers try endurance events. If they don't know how to safely hydrate and the need to up the sodium, they can be at risk. Hey, if you're drinking 8 glasses of water a day, don't panic, as that's not even close to the amount to put you in danger.

Now you can find all sorts of interesting sports and fitness drinks out there---enough to make your head spin! Some of these fitness drinks are adding vitamins, caffeine, and herbal supplements that suggest benefits.  Are they worth it?

• Get your vitamins from food and not in your sports drink. Just eat a variety of fruits, vegetables, lean protein, low fat dairy, dry beans, nuts, seeds, and whole grains. If you get too many of some vitamins, toxicity can develop.  This may be a problem for people who drink many of these vitamin-fortified drinks and/or who are taking multiple vitamin supplements. 
• Caffeine is a non-harmful stimulant and has actually been shown to enhance increase endurance, alertness and motor skill, but too much caffeine can cause jitters. The NCAA bans caffeine at levels higher than the equivalent of 5 cups of Starbucks coffee.
• Taurine, ginkgo biloba, and ginseng have not been proven to have any effect and are simply a waste.  
• Guarana is an herbal supplement that like to act like caffeine, but more mild.

The bottom line: Be sure to increase fluids before, during and after exercise.  Bottoms Up!!

Drinking Enough Water? Part I

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Water. It's essential for life and the single most important nutrient in the human body. Every system in your body relies on water. Water provides fluid to transport nutrients to cells, flushes away waste and toxins, and helps with cell metabolism.  It ensures a moist environment for ears, nose, and mouth, and is vital to the cooling system of the body by enabling sweat and evaporation to occur. Adequate water intake has even been associated with a decrease risk of some chronic diseases, including prevention of kidney stones. On the average, 60% of your body's weight comes from water.

Dehydration occurs when too little water or fluids are consumed.  Symptoms include feeling tired, weak, dizzy, and head achy. Energy levels decrease as does stamina for any activity you may try to perform.

Over the years, there have been all sorts of recommendations about how much water we should be consuming including formulas that make you calculate what you need---something like an ounce for every pound you weigh times some number, divided by something else. Ya, right. Just ignore these formulas, since individual needs vary too much and can be influenced by health, activity and even where that person is living.

The National Academy of Sciences, Foods and Nutrition Board recommends that men consume about 13 cups of fluid each day, and women should get 9 cups.  These recommendations include total fluid intake not just water:  milk, juices, tea, coffee, alcohol, and even the water in foods contribute to fluid needs. Food actually provides about 20% of daily fluid needs. Some fruits supply more than others, as watermelon and tomatoes are 90% water!

The daily 8 glasses of fluids each day is supported by this calculation:
The average adult produce 1.5 liters of urine each day,
             and 1.0 liter is lost in breath, sweat and bowel function
             which equals 2.5 liters lost daily

 Food provides 20% of water = 0.5 liter taken in
               that leaves fluid needs of 2.0 liters, or 8 cups
               for a total of 2.5 liters


But, who is that average individual?  Some experts still recommend the guide of 8-8 oz of fluid each day; it's easy way to remember to drink fluids, but it's really not supported by scientific evidence.

An individual's needs have to be considered.  Acute illness (fever, diarrhea, vomiting, bladder or urinary tract infection,)  living at higher altitudes (over 8200 feet) or in hot, humid, or heated environments,  Increase the body's water needs. Exercising certainly increases the need for fluids, and is influenced by the intensity and duration of activity.  Even he health and age of a person alter fluid needs.

The Mayo Clinic recommends that we have one glass of water with each meal and between each meal. I like this idea as a starting point, as it's quite simple. Other experts recommend drinking enough fluids to rarely feel thirsty. The problem with that is that as people get older, their ability to sense thirst diminishes.

One of the best rules of thumb is to drink plenty of fluids throughout the day, keeping thirst at bay and to keep your urine clear or very pale yellow. How about: Be sure to see paler pee?  When urine is dark yellow or gold colored dehydration is often present. Not good for any cell in your body.

Water is a great choice to drink. It's what every cell in your body really wants and needs.  The big bonus is that it's inexpensive and calorie free.

Stay tuned for Part II, where we'll talk about how exercise changes your fluid requirements and how to choose the best fluids for exercise performance and recovery.  In Part III, we'll investigate whether or not water helps with weight loss.

Easy Roasted Vegetables

                        
                                                               I've been making this colorful roasted vegetable dish for years and have fun using variations on the theme almost every time I make it. I simply start with one potato (white, sweet, or a combination) and 1 teaspoon of olive oil per person.  After that, I just add any amount of other non-starchy veggies I have around and roast away!

Easy Roasted Vegetables
Makes 4 servings

Preheat oven to 400 degrees or fire up grill.
Coat a large jelly roll (11x15") with cooking spray.
      (Line with parchment paper for easy clean up)
      Or, use large non-grated grill pan.
Cut into 1" chunks and place in pan:
      3 medium red skinned potatoes
      1 sweet potato
      1 sweet bell pepper, green or red
      2 large carrots, peeled (or 1/2 bag baby carrots)
      2 medium sweet onions
Add and toss well:
      2 cloves of garlic, minced
      1/4 - 1/2 tsp fresh ground black pepper
      1/4 tsp salt
      4 tsp olive oil
Bake for 30 minutes. Add:
      1/2 bunch fresh asparagus*, snapped in half
Bake for another 10 minutes or until golden brown.

Nutritional Data (1/4 recipe)
238 calories, 5 g fat, 0 g cholesterol, 87 mg sodium, 44 g carbohydrate, 8 g fiber, 7 g protein
Exchanges: 1 starch, 1 fat, 3 non-starchy vegetables


Other vegetables to try:
      snow peas, fresh green beans, zucchini, summer squash (add later in baking time)
      celery, turnip, kohlrabi (add at the beginning)

*Add any vegetable you are using that needs less cooking time at this point

Try these Easy Roasted Vegetables this week, and let me know what you think!