WHAT ARE YOU DRINKING?

With heat waves upon so many of us, I thought it a good time to talk about hydration. Did you know that not all water is equal? I suspect you know that not all beverages are equal in terms of health value, but I’m going to break this all down so you know your hydration choices better for the sake of overall health.

When I wake up, I make a superfood green powder drink by Athletic Greens to get my daily basic nutrition and to get some hydration. I don’t have coffee til after that. Apparently, it’s best to wait a bit before coffee so cortisol levels drop and to drink it with food.

There are so many types of coffee  - light, dark, fair trade, organic, mushroom-infused, Sumatran, Ethiopian, Colombian and so on. There are also plenty of benefits like antioxidants and support for brain health, but it’s also important to monitor your own reaction to it as some people don’t react well whether they get the jitters, anxiety, high blood pressure, increased heart rate or can’t fall asleep. Regardless, coffee isn’t what you drink for hydration.

Nor is soda or diet soda what we should be grabbing for hydration. Some choose diet soda to avoid the sugar in regular soda, which should be avoided for multiple reasons. However, diet soda is also full of chemicals and can confuse the body, affecting cravings in a bad way. So you may wind up craving ice cream, cake and bread more with diet soda and end the day with too much sugar anyway. Sugar causes all sorts of problems like inflammation at the root of all chronic disease.

For similar reasons, we want to avoid juice, especially juice that isn’t fresh-squeezed. It takes several oranges to make a cup of juice. You wouldn’t eat that much fruit in one sitting.  It’s too much sugar and has none of the fiber that’s beneficial for many things including blood sugar management. 

That brings us to water. Drinking water is necessary for our well-being from our cells and fascia to our organs and systems, and all the way to our mood, energy level, cravings and whether we get headaches or not. There are lots of ways to get water. Eating green, leafy vegetables does count toward hydration. Fruit counts, too.

Many say they don’t like the taste or lack of taste in water. Different water systems taste different, but water is safest with filtration even if a municipality is known for relatively safe water. Check ewg.org to see what’s in your zip code’s water. Pesticides, heavy metals, ‘forever chemicals’, people’s pharmaceuticals like birth control and anti-depressants are just some of the invisible compounds that manage to permeate water supplies. Scary. Investing in a good water filter is starting to look worth the money, isn’t it?

And please do filter your dog’s water, too. They’re more fragile than we are and most certainly need and deserve to have clean and safe drinking water. I often hear clients say they filter their own water, but not their dog’s. It just didn’t occur to them that it actually mattered for longevity. They thought it was just about taste.

Now about that unappealing taste of water, here are some tips to make water more palatable. Instead of opting for a drink laden with sugars or chemicals you can’t pronounce, pour a glass of water and infuse it with a natural flavor - a squeeze of lemon or lime, a slice of cucumber, a few raspberries, some basil, thyme or mint. You can even throw in an herbal tea bag. Some of my favorites are rose, hibiscus, lavender or mint. 

Chia seeds in water structure it, and structured water is all the rage now – way better hydration down to the cells and fascia. Hydration isn’t just about whether you feel thirsty, remember. Structured (or hexagonal) water is the water that's found in nature and in our cells. It's the most bioavailable state of water. Unfortunately, aging causes the water in our bodies to lose this structure.  Dr. Gerald Pollack of the University of Washington has led much of the research on this front. Structured water seems to have an optimal pH that is crucial to health and hydration. Structured water is said to benefit the immune system, energy, detox, cartilage, discs and more. Hydrogen water – tablets or systems – is also beneficial because it reduces oxidative stress and inflammation for both people and dogs. It’s not very expensive, either.

Did you know that our bodies stop signaling thirst with age? That doesn’t mean we can avoid hydrating. It just means we should make more of an effort to grab a drink… and I don’t mean a pint at the pub. It’s not common to over-hydrate, but some people like athletes need to make sure they’re getting enough minerals, enough electrolytes like sodium, magnesium and potassium with their water intake.

You may also want to look into the controversy over fluoride. It has long been touted beneficial for preventing tooth decay and advertised in toothpaste as well as present in water systems. However, its efficacy in that regard is debated and there’s also a downside to it. It comes with risks of neurotoxicity and possible links to cancer. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6923889/

https://www.cancer.org/healthy/cancer-causes/chemicals/water-fluoridation-and-cancer-risk.html

Now to some water filter options. There’s a wide range of options and prices.

There are simple carbon filters like Brita’s. There are RO systems – reverse osmosis. Just know they take all the beneficial minerals out of the water, too. There are hydrogen water systems. There’s Kangen alkaline ionized water. Quinton® Hypertonic and Isotonic seawater liquid mineral supplements are said to gently detoxify, support cellular and electrolyte balance, sleep and relaxation, alertness and the immune system. There’s Hydroviv that customizes the filtering they give you based on a report of the water contaminants in your zip code.

Staying well hydrated serves many important functions for your dog—like keeping their joints lubricated, regulating their temperature, and keeping their digestion moving. When filtering your dog’s water, just be careful with water too alkaline when dogs are digesting meals since their acidic stomachs serve a purpose.

There are tons of potential causes of dehydration in dogs, but here are a few to keep in mind: 

·       Bacteria, viruses, and parasites

·       Eating poison like anti-freeze

·       Health conditions like diabetes where blood sugar isn’t regulated

Symptoms of dehydration in dogs:

  • Loss of skin elasticity

  • Sunken eyes

  • Dry gums

  • Lethargy

  • Weakness and/or collapse

And a note about overheating - Dogs with short snouts can be especially susceptible to overheating, as their facial structure makes it more difficult for them to cool down.‍

Back to filters to wrap this up. The most comprehensive filters may be beyond your budget, so just do your best. There’s also no point in spending time regretting past mistakes. Water filtration is just one piece of the health puzzle. But it counts. Now let’s all go grab that drink….of water. Cheers. 

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