How to Conquer Hydration

Staying hydrated is so important. Dehydration occurs when you lose more fluid than you take in, and your body doesn’t have enough water and other fluids to carry out its normal functions. If you don’t replace lost fluids, you can get dehydrated. It can effect anyone from an infant to the elderly.

When I had cancer 10 years ago, I had to take a hard look at the alkalinity in my body. Since cancer thrives in an acidic body, I had to make sure that I was keeping my body as alkaline as possible. When I was diagnosed, my body was very acidic. Cancer and sickness thrives in an acidic body, so I started to quickly change my diet and drink choices to make sure they were helping my body’s pH to stay in balance and to help by body stay slightly more alkaline than acidic.

Most of us know that vomiting, fever, sweating and excessive urination are major causes of dehydration. But, what you may not be aware of is there are certain foods and drinks that can cause severe dehydration as well.

Symptoms of Dehydration:

Dry, sticky mouth
Tiredness or lethargy
Thirst
Muscle weakness
Headache
Dizziness or lightheadedness
Severe dehydration can lead to heat injuries ranging from mild heat cramps to heat exhaustion or even heatstroke.

There are foods that dehydrate our bodies because they are full of salt and sodium: fast, fried and fake foods, as well as foods high in sugar. Coffee dehydrates your body and increases acidity, too. It depletes our body’s pH. Too many cups of coffee could end up leaving you light-headed due to coffee’s natural diuretic and caffeine properties. Do you ever feel hungry at night, even though you ate a good dinner? You could very well be dehydrated. When you do not drink enough water, your body may receive confusing signals for hunger. Dehydration can cause you to believe you need to eat when you really need more hydration.

Dehydrating Foods:

Coffee
Alcohol
Fried Foods
Sugar Drinks
Soy Sauce
White Asparagus
Cured Meats
Bouillon Cubes
Popcorn

For more information on how to keep your body balanced, click here.

Exercise and Dehydration

With every hour of exercise, you become more and more dehydrated. The longer you exercise, the more difficult it is to stay hydrated. Your body can lose more water during exercise that it can absorb. We’ve all heard of athletes passing out during practices or games, especially in summertime, and sadly, some have even died from overexertion and dehydration. Dehydration adds up over a period of days, so even moderate exercise can result in dehydration if you don’t drink enough water to replace what you lose during those days.

Sugar Dehydration: Sugar can also lead to dehydration. Your body has to dilute sugar to keep it from harming your body by pulling water from all parts of your body to balance the sugar in your blood stream. Often times, it is your head that is affected the most. Also, your body dumps sugar into your urine to get rid of it, and that can lead to frequent bathroom trips. Stay away from hydration drinks that contain lots of sugar that actually defeat hydration.

How can you get hydrated quickly? Alkaline Water like Diamond Creek is a simple way to re-hydrate. This ionized water helps to balance pH levels and is up to 6 times more hydrating than regular water. It is a powerful antioxidant, is full of oxygen, is detoxifying and helps balance your body’s pH. A typical diet of cooked, pasteurized and processed foods leads to acidic pH. This acidic condition creates an ideal environment for sickness to thrive. Diamond Creek Water helps bring your body’s pH back into balance. When I had cancer, I had to take a hard look at the alkalinity in my body. Since cancer thrives in an acidic body, I had to make sure that I was keeping my body as alkaline as possible.

Hydrating Foods: 15 hydrating foods, all of which are at least 90% water by weight.

Cucumbers: Water content: 96.7%. It has the highest water content of any solid food.
Iceberg Lettuce: Water content: 95.6%. It has the highest water content of any lettuce.
Celery: Water content: 95.4%. Plus, the fiber in celery helps you to feel full.
Radishes: Water content: 95.3%
Tomatoes: Water content: 94.5%
Green Peppers: Water content: 93.9%
Cauliflower: Water content: 92.1%
Watermelon: Water content: 91.5%. Plus, it is a great source of lycopene for heart health.
Spinach: Water content: 91.4%. It may be lower in water content than iceberg lettuce, but it provides lutein, potassium, fiber, folate and vitamin E.
Star Fruit: Water content: 91.4%
Strawberries: Water content: 91.0%
Broccoli: Water content: 90.7%
Grapefruit: Water content: 90.5%
Baby Carrots: Water content: 90.4%
Cantaloupe: Water content: 90.2%