Leading a healthy lifestyle takes education, understanding and awareness. If any of these parts are missing you could be doing most of the right things but still have difficulty in your health. Most people know to eat healthy, exercise, drink water and lead a positive stress free life but one principle that’s often ignored is nutritional timing.
When I say nutritional timing what do you think of? It’s quite self-explanatory really. The timing of nutrition delivery into your cells. The most common example would be a good dose of protein after an intense workout. You take protein after your workout to rebuild muscle fibers. This is really the most commonly understood form of nutritional timing. It makes sense right?
What you eat is extremely important for your health but also when you eat. We’ll cover these topics in more depth and detail in future articles and videos but today we’re just talking about water specifically. Water is best consumed during certain periods of the day to enhance your health and vitality. Using timing effectively when it comes to hydrating with water allows your digestive system to work more effectively and for you to be dehydrated less often as well.
Water works the same way! We are often told “Drink more water” and we’ve all heard this before, but what i’m sharing with you today helps you understand when you should and should NOT drink water to hydrate your body and internal organs (including digestive organs) best.
If you follow these principles you will reduce the effects of dehydration because you’ll be hydrated more often. You’ll also have an improved digestive system because with proper hydrated water consumption you can improve digestive health. Which means that applying these principles can help you to have healthier and more frequent bowel movements and even lose a few pounds of belly fat potentially.
When Should You Drink Water?
-
First Thing in The Morning:
During rest you are not hydrating any internal organs for 8 hours or so. This is quite a while so your body is dependent on the water you have during rest to recover. Drinking water first thing in the morning awakes your internal organs, hydrates them and lubricates your digestive system to be able to digest breakfast more effectively.
-
30 Minutes Before Each Meal:
Similar to drinking water first thing in the morning drinking water prior to each meal allows your internal digestive organs to be properly hydrated. Water is like a lubricant and helps to remove toxicity and also enhance nutrient delivery. Being hydrated before your meal helps your digestive system work better, and work easier in order to digest your food and get the most value. Drinking 30 minutes before your meal causes your digestive system to not have to stress (work) as much. If you have bloating, gas, indigestion or any other digestive abnormality simply drinking water before your meal can help to remedy these issues.
-
Drink Before Sleep:
Drinking water before bed is a great way to replenish and nourish internal organs with water which will help to detoxify, deliver nutrients and repair while you sleep. Many people are dehydrated and don’t even know it. By drinking water before bed and first thing in the morning you can begin to give your body hydration for a larger portion of the day which will begin to replenish your internal water reserves slowly but surely which will help digestive health, skin, hair, and nail health, joint health and brain function. The majority of the brain is water, about 75%, so being properly hydrated helps you think more clearly and have more cognitive resources at any given time.
-
Before Your Workout:
If you go to the gym and lift, go for a walk, run, swim or bike ride or do yoga once a week in your community it’s very important to hydrate before and during your workout. You’re expelling more energy and most likely perspiring so you’re losing water. Proper hydration helps to lubricate your joints, ligaments and tendons to help your body be more flexible and less prone to injury but also keeps your nerves and muscles healthy and responsive to your workout to develop and grow stronger. One great tip to keep in mind is to add a pinch of Himalayan salt or drink coconut water before/during your workout. This gets important electrolyte levels higher in your body to enhance the nerve and muscles to respond positively from your workout as well.
Drinking water first thing in the morning starts your day off right and hydrated! before each meal (about 30 minutes before) hydrates your large and small intestine to keep them clean and healthy to absorb nutrients from food properly. Drinking before your workout gives you the most energy and best nerve and muscle response from what you put into your workout. These all help you stay healthier, fitter, thinner, have more energy, a more active and engaged brain as well as sleep better.
But when shouldn’t you drink water? Like I previously mentioned drinking more water is a beneficial thing to do because most of us don’t hydrate enough but there is one time during the day when I would advise not drinking water. That’s when you’re eating, during the meal or snacking.
Drinking water during your meal actually dilutes digestive enzymes and acids in your stomach which make it harder to breakdown and digest food. Stomach acids are dissipated in your gut when you drink water (or any liquid) with a solid food because water is excreted faster than the solid food. If you are chewing enough you also create saliva. The naturally occurring water content in your food along with saliva allows you to digest effectively, especially if you are eating whole foods such as fruits and vegetables which naturally have a higher water content than any other food. This topic of when to drink water and when to not drink water is rarely discussed so please spread the word!
An additional recommendation I would make is to drink pure spring water (if you have a local spring) if not get a berkey water filter to remove chlorine, heavy metals and other chemicals you don’t want to drink.
Image: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ocean
Recent Comments