Stop the soda pop; choose water instead.
One of the best things you can do for yourself and your family's health is also one of the easiest - drink more water. Most people don't realize how important this is. Drinking the right amount of water will help you have more energy, control your weight and help you perform better.
Keep a hydration source with you during the day. Take a bottle of water with you in your backpack, gym bag, and briefcase.
Do you know how much water you need to keep your body health? The right answer is eight, 8 oz. glasses - and that is for the most part, correct. The real answer depends on your body size, activity level, and the air temperature. Fluid needs are higher when the temperature is very high or very low, higher when performing strenuous activity and higher for men because they have more muscle mass.
It is obvious fluid needs are high during the summer. Get the appropriate amount of fluid you need by starting with the minimum eight, 8 oz. glasses per day and add 1 to 3 cups per hour of activity. You can easily increase your intake by taking water breaks, carring a water bottle at all times and having water with meals.
And remember, caffeine-containing beverages can act as a diuretic, so don't include them in your daily minimum fluid requirement.
Drinking a glass of water before a meal helps fill you up. Water quenches your thirst without adding calories. Water helps remove by-products created by the breakdown of fat tissue when you diet.
Drink water:
- When you get up.
- For the morning commute or carpool.
- Before lunch.
- During your break.
- After work or school to fend off the urge to eat.
- Before dinner.
- During evening activities.
- An hour before bedtime.
According to an article by Nanci Hellmich, which appeared in USA Today, dieters who replace virtually all sweetened drinks with water lost an average of 5 pounds more in a year than dieters who didn't. Those who drank more than four cups of water a day lost an additional two pounds more than those dieters who did not.
Lead researcher Jodi Stookey of Children's Hospital and Oakland Research Institute is quoted as saying that "Drinking water can help you lose weight, partially because you are replacing some calories, and there may be additional reasons related to the total volume of water that we don't understand."
The Journal of the American Medical Association (JAMA) in the August 25, 2004 volume concludes that higher consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is associated with a greater magnitude of weight gain and an increased risk for development of type 2 of diabetes in women, possibly by providing excessive calories and large amounts of rapidly absorbable sugars.
Soda pop is America's single biggest source of refined sugars, providing the average person with one-third of that sugar. (www.cspinet.org/sodapop)
The Joint Report of the American Dental Association Council on Access, Prevention and Inter-professional Relations states that the consumption of soft drinks, including carbonated beverages, fruit juice and sports drinks has increased by 500 percent over the past 50 years with no indication that the trend is leveling off.
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