Water, Water, Everywhere

"Water, water, everywhere... Nor any drop to drink."

From Coleridge’s Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Water or hydration is very important. Experts all agree on this. You may be able to live up to two months without food, but you aren't likely to last three days without water. The experts also believe that we as a society are most likely under hydrated most of the time.

We are constantly losing hydration through sweat, urine and even breath. So how much is enough and can you drink too much? The answer to both is "It depends". Which I admit isn't helpful.

There is good news. Dehydration, so little water you could die is rare. Even rarer still is Hyponatremia, when you drink too much too fast that your kidneys can't keep up and causes water intoxication of your brain. Yeah, that's right, ☠ toxic as in dying. Who'd of thought you could get to much of a good thing.

Drinking fluids can help with hydration. This includes milk, juice, coffee, tea, ect.... along with good old  H₂O. 

However, being an unrepentant soda drinker, as I am,  I would love to say that soda counts toward good hydration, but that is not the case. Although soda pop's bad rap has been perpetuated for decades, it isn't altogether deserved.

When I was a kid we were told that carbonated drinks would cause dehydration because you would pee out 1½ times as much as you'd take in. There are many reasons not to drink pop but this is not one of them. 

A soft drink can hydrate you in extreme circumstances, but on a regular bases the harm to benifit ratio of the carbonation plus chemicals,dyes, and other additives far out weighs any advantage from the drink. So because of this sum-zero-gain soda pop should be avoided and only consumed for its "entertainment value."

Check out this article from Care2.com

8 Common Myths About Dehydration

How much water should you drink?

The popular answer is eight 8 ounce glasses a day but as sited in the Care2 article above, this isn't supported by hard evidence. Drinking a half gallon of water each day can be daunting, so some experts suggest that thirst should guide your intake. While others believe your urine color is the best indication of a healthy amount. There are even some health gurus that believe you could and maybe should get all the water you need from water-rich foods such as cucumbers, celery and other vegetables. They believe plain water robs your body of minerals, enzymes and other good stuff that veggies provide.

I like the idea of spliting the difference with a two prong attack. The strategy is to drink a prescibed amount water while simultaneously adding more water-rich vegetables to my diet. Instead of concentrating on replacing water for soda (which has never worked).  Putting my energy into addition not subtraction.

So, if like me, drinking your recommended 2.7 liters (3.7 for guys) of water per day is an albatross around your neck, consider the alternatives.

Because water... water is everywhere.

So here's the plan

Use my handy dandy Bullet Journal to track water intake by:

4 cups (24 oz) or 1 sports bottle of water 

6 stalks of celery

5 servings of water-rich vegetables 

Step 2 of Plan W -  Water intake