Water: Water is our most urgent nutritional need and probably the one least studied in nutrition education classes. Why do you need water?
• To flex a muscle, any muscle
• To blink your eyes
• To carry oxygen and nutrients to your cells
• To cushion your joints
• To convert food into energy
• To help remove waste
A typical 60 kg adult drinks about 2 liters of water a day and gets 1 liter from food. “Water In = Water Out.” During a day you lose about 1.5 liters in urine and feces, 0.8 liters through sweat, and 0.75 liters in water vapor as you breathe out water each time you exhale.
The above research results are applicable to countries with cool climates. For warmer climates, the rule of thumb suggested is around 1 liter for every 20 kgs of body weight. Elderly and sedentary persons may need to modify closer to the initial advice. Very active persons may please adapt to 1 liter per 15 kilos of body weight.
With just a loss of three percent of water in your body, your body begins telling you that it is dehydrated.
Not drinking adequate water forces the body to conserve water by reducing certain functions. Constipation could result leading to build up of toxins in the body. The liver which processes both toxins and fats in the body would be overloaded and could result in avoiding some functions like fat elimination leading to fat deposits in unwanted areas.
Excess drinking of water could lead to rinsing out essential salts from the body leading to water retention, swelling of the body etc.
