[Froufy]

Food for Thought Getting enough water is easier than you think All liquids, including what's in your food, coffee and soft drinks, count toward staying well hydrated

LESLIE BECK It's the time of year when many of us move our exercise outdoors.
But as the temperature rises, so does your body's demand for fluids.
If you work or exercise outdoors, it's easier than you think to become dehydrated. If you don't replenish the water you lose sweating, urinating, and breathing, you risk fatigue, headache, nausea, even severe health hazards.
Even if you don't exercise in warm weather, you still need to pay attention to your fluid intake. But here's the good news -- it's easier than you think to meet your daily water quota. New research has debunked the commonly accepted standard of drinking eight glasses a day. Even the experts don't know where that advice originated.
In February of 2004, the U.S.-based National Academy of Sciences released the first-ever recommended intakes for water. Healthy, sedentary women who live in temperate climates need 2.7 litres of water each day to stay adequately hydrated; men need 3.7 litres.
If these new guidelines sound like a lot, it's because they include the water we consume from foods. Roughly 19 per cent of our water needs are met by high-water-content foods. Fruits and vegetables owe at least three-quarters of their weight to water. Milk is 90-per-cent water by weight. Even cooked pasta is 66-per-cent water.
The remaining 81 per cent of our water requirements must come from drinking water and other beverages, including juice, milk, soft drinks, tea and coffee (more good news for people who don't like to drink plain water). With the exception of alcoholic beverages, all beverages count toward your daily water recommendations. (Alcoholic beverages cause your kidneys to excrete more water and can contribute to dehydration.) No longer are we advised to gulp eight glasses of plain water on top of everything else we drink. The new guidelines recommend that women consume 2.2 litres (nine cups) of total beverages ; three litres (13 cups) for men.
The new guidelines also throw cold water on the notion that caffeinated beverages contribute to dehydration. If you're not used to caffeine, drinking one cup of coffee can increase urine output for a short time afterward. But people quickly build up a tolerance to the effects of caffeine. Studies show that habitual coffee drinkers do not experience increased urination or any other sign of dehydration after drinking caffeinated beverages. The bottom line -- coffee, tea and colas all count toward your daily water.
Water is essential. You can survive only a few days without it, but a deficiency of other nutrients can take weeks, months or even years to develop.
Water makes up 50 to 80 per cent of our body weight. The body needs water for transporting nutrients and wastes, regulating its temperature, and cushioning joints and tissues. Water may keep you healthy in other ways too. Research suggests that drinking adequate water might guard against kidney stones, constipation, colon cancer, bladder cancer, and possibly even heart disease.
If you lose too much fluid (e.g. sweating, vomiting, diarrhea), don't drink enough fluids, or both, dehydration will follow. Infants and children are more vulnerable to dehydration than adults. Warning signs of dehydration include fatigue, loss of appetite, flushed skin, heat intolerance, light-headedness, dry mouth and dark urine with a strong odour.
Under normal circumstances, most of us can trust our sense of thirst to prevent becoming dehydrated. Research shows that most people meet their hydration needs simply by drinking fluids with meals and when thirsty.
It's important to emphasize that these new water guidelines apply to healthy people in moderate climates who engage in mild activity, such as walking. They don't apply to kids and adults who engage in moderate or vigorous exercise. And they don't account for hot weather.
Exercise, heat and humidity increase the body's need for water.
But by how much, no one knows exactly.
There is no "one-size-fits-all" water recommendation for exercise since each person's body handles fluid and electrolytes (sodium, potassium and chloride) differently.
Because dehydration reduces physical performance and increases heat strain, it's imperative that people adequately replace their fluid losses before, during and after exercise. And if you work out in the heat, you need to drink even more. Active people who are exposed to hot weather can have daily water requirements of six to eight litres per day or higher.
To replace the fluid you sweat out (and to prevent life-threatening heat stroke), drink 500 ml (2 cups) of water or a sports drink two hours before exercising. Drink 125 to 175 ml ( 1/2 to 3/4 cup) of cool fluid every 10 to 15 minutes during exercise. After exercise, replenish lost fluids by drinking more water. A general rule is to consume 500 ml of fluid for every pound you lose working out.
Sports drinks (e.g. Gatorade, PowerAde, All Sport) are recommended for exercise that lasts longer than one hour. The addition of sodium to sports drinks stimulates fluid absorption, maintains the desire to drink and helps prevent low blood sodium (hyponatremia) in prolonged exercise. Most sports drinks also contain 6 to 9 per cent carbohydrate, which provides energy for working muscles.
Leslie Beck, a Toronto-based dietitian at the Medcan Clinic, is on CTV's Canada AM every Wednesday. Visit her website at lesliebeck.com.

[Vickie]

Very interesting and timely. I was just about to ask you guys if I could count my Crystal lite that I drink once in a blue moon as a water. I only use it when I can't swallow another drop of plain water. This sound like a yes!

[Froufy]

Definitely - and I do the same thing - once in a while I just need that extra flavor when I just can't seem to stomach drinking plain water!

Go for it!