Yes – Drinking Water Is Part of Good Nutrition

If there is a bigger advocate of good nutrition for the prevention of illness than your average naturopath, I’m not sure who that might be. One of the most important things we naturopaths understand is how nutrition affects every aspect of human health. Take drinking water as just one example. For most people, getting enough water barely makes it to the list of daily priorities. Yet drinking is a part of nutrition every bit as important as planning meals based on fresh fruits and vegetables.

The typical human body is 50% to 70% water. The water in the body is responsible for an extensive list of vital functions that suffer whenever a person does not drink enough. The body uses water to:

• regulate internal temperature
• promote the disposal of waste products
• provide cushioning for the joints
• protect the spinal cord and other sensitive tissues.

Without adequate water, the body would eventually suffer irreparable damage due to dehydration. If a person were to go long enough without water, death would eventually be the result. In short, water intake is critical for sustaining life. It is also a vital part of good nutrition.

Helpful Tips for Daily Water Intake

You have probably been hearing since childhood that the average adult should be consuming about eight glasses of water per day. But that standard really is outdated and meaningless given that people and their environmental conditions differ. A good way for you to know whether you are drinking enough is to simply look at your urine. The more yellow it is, the less water in your system. If you are drinking adequate amounts of water, your urine should be nearly clear most of the time.

With that said, here are some helpful tips for daily water intake:

1. Drink a full glass of water before meals. Water is known to help the body better digest food and absorb nutrients. Drinking a full glass of water just before a meal is, therefore, very good for you. If you are like most people, you will also find that a pre-meal glass of water will result in consuming less food.

2. Drink water instead of sugary drinks. Yes, sugary drinks also have water in them. But you are still far better off drinking water for one simple reason: it has zero calories. Why drink your calories by way of fruit juice and soda when you can have calorie-free water instead?

3. Keep a water bottle with you. If you are not carrying water with you, you may not drink enough simply due to lack of access. Let’s face it; there isn’t always a drinking fountain around when you need one. You can even freeze a bottle of water in the evening so that you always have an ice cold supply to take with you in the morning.

4. Choose water at restaurants. Choosing water when dining out is another great way to increase your water intake and reduce your calories. But here’s something else to consider: making water your
beverage of choice allows you to fully appreciate the flavors of the food you are eating because those flavors are not masked by sugary drinks.

Water is a vital part of good nutrition and something that is necessary for good health. If you are not drinking enough water, you should take the steps necessary to correct it. The more water you get, the better your body will be able to do what it needs to do, as it was designed to do it.