Healthy Hydration for this Summer's Heat

Water, one of the basic 6 nutrients, is the medium within which all of our body's metabolic process occur! Body temperature regulation, neurological impulse transmission (including brain activity), and energy systems all rely on proper body hydration to function effectively! . Further, as the weather heats up, additional fluids are lost during basic daily activities, making proper fluid consumption (hydration) even more critical.

Exercise regularly, and the need for hydrating increases even more!

Water is also the body's primary means of cleansing itself by flushing toxins out the back (bottom) door. Further, proper hydration improves digestive efficiency, reduces blood pressure, and improves the appearance of skin, nails, and hair. Drinking plenty of water helps you digest food better, increases muscle and joint flexibility, and helps keep your breath fresh!

With all of these things dependent upon proper hydration levels, it's a wonder that any of us become dehydrated at all! But we do, and it seems to occur rather easily. A good rule of thumb for monitoring your hydration levels is the color of your urine. Unless you've just taken a loaded multivitamin, you should be generally passing clear fluid when you urinate. The darker it is, the more dehydrated you probably are!

Got a slight headache? Maybe you're dehydrated.

We've all heard the advise to drink 8 glasses of water each day. You know, that's a lot of water! And it actually takes conscious effort to consume that much water positioned butt down at your desk. The easiest way to encourage additional fluids intake is exercise! More on that below, but here are a few basic tips for proper daily hydration:

• Develop the habit of carrying a water bottle with you where ever you go. Sip on it every 15 or 20 minutes.
  
• Drink green iced tea if all that water is just too much water
• Plan to consume at least 8 ounces of water before and with each meal
  
• Make extra efforts for additional fluid intake with higher protein diets
  
• Avoid alcohol and caffeine, which are are technically diuretics with dehydrating effects.
• Exercise more!
  

The primary vessel we drive, our bodies, simply requires exercise induced thirst to get in enough fluids on a regular basis. A few hot cardio intervals, one of our FT HEAT programs, or a few FT Coley lunges, and you'll have 20 ounces through your body before you event think about food!

While hydration requirements for aerobic activities (cycling, running, nordic skiing) are slightly different than those required for resistance training, the basic requirements are the same, and fit into 3 basic categories: pre-exercise hydration, exercise hydration, and post-exercise hydration. Pre-exercise hydration should actually begin 2 to 3 hours before your workout with consumption of 500-600 ml (a bottle) of water, followed by an additional 100 to 200 ml of water (or sports drink) 20 minutes prior to your session.

Consumption during exercise should approximate sweat rate, though given that most people can only adsorb about a liter per hour (the rest is just passed through), extremely vigorous, extended exercise will almost always result in some dehydration.

Post exercise hydration is then simply a time to make up the difference in fluids lost during exercise ... preferably within 90 minutes, and at a rate of a liter an hour.

Extra Holiday Calories Can Improve Your Health!

Get your flavanoids! They're good for your heart. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables for that. Make sure you get enough Omega 3 fats in your diet; they're good fats and can reduce cholesterol and ease the metabolism of bad fats. Salmon, flax seeds, walnuts, and soybeans are good sources of those. Make sure you get enough dairy in your diet; protein, calcium, and Vitamin D are needed for strong bones and will help avoid degenerative disease like osteoporosis. Cottage cheese, yogurt, and milk will cover you there.

Oh, and don't forget about fiber, vitamin C, minerals, and ... the list goes on an on and on.

Has it occurred to anyone else that if we actually followed all of the nutritional guidance pumped into the media by food companies, supplement companies, and well-intentioned fitness professionals, that we'd all look like sumo wrestlers?

The missing 'ingredient', of course is exercise.

While reading a few things written by other Fitness Professionals around Holiday indulgences this morning, and the creative ways they suggested to restrict calories and abstain from some of your favorite foods during the holidays, it suddenly occurred to me ... duh ... that it's simply easier to exercise than it is to worry about all the extra calories!

Because what's the point of even attending a party or preparing a special meal if you can't fully enjoy it! So, while there are lots of great reasons for exercising, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT OF EXERCISE could very well be that it simply allows us to eat more! Most of us love to eat, and a lot of us exercise just so that we can eat more!

But without exercise, most of us would be obese within 6 months if we consumed all of the food needed for proper nutrition. Or you could pay thousands of dollars per year on organic supplements, though even the best manufactured nutrients fall far short on nutrient quality when compared to natural food sources.

It's well documented that exercise alone improves your heart health, reduces stress, increases your energy levels, and enriches your lifestyle. HOWEVER, IS IT POSSIBLE THAT THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION OF EXERCISE TO YOUR HEALTH IS THAT YOU CAN EAT AND DRINK MORE?

And don't forget about Hydration. Water is the body's primary means of cleansing itself by flushing toxins out the back (bottom) door. Further, proper hydration improves digestive efficiency, reduces blood pressure, and improves the appearance of skin, nails, and hair.

We've all heard that we should drink 8 glasses of water each day. You know what, that's a lot of water! It actually takes significant, conscious effort to consume that much water on a daily basis. But crank out a few hot cardio intervals, or knock down one of our HEAT programs, or blast through 35 sets in 45 minutes, and you'll have 20 ounces through your body before you event think about food!

The primary vessel we drive, our bodies, simply requires exercise induced thirst to get in enough fluids on a regular basis. Further, no matter how hard you scrub, you still need a good sweat to flush the body odor creating bacteria out of the pores in your skin.

So, there you have it! Never mind that exercise improves your health and reduces the risk of acquiring all types of disease and illness.

Exercise primarily gives us the privilege to eat and drink more and
be healthier for it.

With the holiday season upon us, go ahead and eat!
Just make sure you exercise too!

Healthy Eating Requires Exercise

Get your flavanoids! They're good for your heart. Eat lots of fruits and vegetables for that. Make sure you get enough Omega 3 fats in your diet; they're good fats and can reduce cholesterol and ease the metabolism of bad fats. Salmon, flax seeds, walnuts, and soybeans are good sources. Make sure you get enough dairy in your diet; it's needed for strong bones and will help avoid degenerative disease like osteoporosis. Cottage cheese, yogurt, and milk will cover you there. And don't forget about fiber, protein, vitamins, and minerals, and ...

The list goes on an on and on. So it occurred to me while making my way home after a long commute ride the other day (and thinking of what I was going to devour once I got home) that if we actually followed all of the nutritional guidance pumped into the media by food companies, supplement companies, and well-intentioned fitness professionals, we'd all look like sumo wrestlers!

The missing variable, of course is exercise. So, while there are lots of great reasons for exercising, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT BENEFIT OF EXERCISE could very well be that it simply allows us to eat more! Most of us love to eat, and a lot of us exercise just so that we can eat more!

Indeed, while it's well documented that exercise alone improves your heart health, reduces stress, and enriches your lifestyle, regular and occasionally intense exercise burns extra calories. And without exercise, most of us would be obese within 6 months if we consumed all of needed food to obtain all of the needed nutrients. Or you could pay thousands of dollars per year on organic supplements, though even the best manufactured nutrients fall far short on nutrient quality when compared to natural food sources. So, we need to eat better and eat more!

Hydration also factors in. Water is the body's primary means of cleansing itself by flushing toxins out the back (bottom) door. Further, proper hydration improves digestive efficiency, reduces blood pressure, and improves the appearance of skin, nails, and hair.

We've all heard the advise to drink 8 glasses of water each day. You know, that's a lot of water! It actually takes conscious effort to consume that much water positioned butt down at your desk. But crank out a few hot cardio intervals, or knock down one of our HEAT programs, or do a few FT Coley lunges, and you'll have 20 ounces through your body before you event think about food! The primary vessel we drive, our bodies, simply requires exercise induced thirst to get in enough fluids on a regular basis.

So, there you have it! Never mind that exercise improves your heart health and reduces the risk of acquiring all types of disease and illness, THE MOST SIGNIFICANT CONTRIBUTION OF EXERCISE IS THAT YOU CAN EAT MORE!

And getting nutrients, from trace minerals to water to protein is critical to your health. We are what we eat.

Eating Too Little Contributes to Weight Gain

That's right, eating too little at the wrong times can actually have a negative effect on your weight loss efforts. Don't get me wrong, at the end of the day weight loss is still a very basic calorie calculation: weight lost = calories out - calories in. Consume more than you burn and you gain weight. Burn more than you consume and you loose weight. Simple math.

However, eating too little at critical times of the day, like breakfast or prior to exercise can actually have a negative effect on your ability to loose fat.

Skipping breakfast, for instance can create a hormone imbalance that triggers the body to go into "starvation mode," and consequently triggers the body to store more fat than it otherwise would by reducing your metabolism. Not good.

Further, as the day progresses, this hormonal imbalance unnaturally increases appetite to the point where you're far more likely to overeat for your next couple of meals. That's even worse.

Eating too little prior to exercise is another frequently made mistake.

Whether you're heading to the club to loose body fat, add muscle tone, or just feel good about yourself, it is critical that you have a small pre-workout meal.

And here's why.

Energy for exercise always comes from a blend of protein, carbohydrate, and fat. But fat sources only work at very low intensity levels, and carbohydrates are quickly utilized and must be constantly replenished.

So, while you might hope that your body will always use fat as an energy source during exercise, stored fat is metabolized ONLY when you are either sedentary or exercising at a very, very low level of intensity. You will, indeed, burn more calories when you exercise at more rigorous levels, but you'll burn no more fat. Check out my Heart Rate Zone Training to Look and Feel Fantastic report for LOTS more detail on this.

Most exercise is aerobic in nature. The energy source that will help you work harder to burn more calories, and work more efficiently to recruit additional muscle fibers is carbohydrates. Unlike fat, which is stored as fat, carbohydrates are stored in the blood stream, muscle tissues, and organs as glycogen and glucose (and, technically ATP at the cellular level, but we'll ignore that for now).

These immediately available "sugars" are your primary energy source for exercise ... at least until they're gone, which can be in as little as 20 minutes, depending on your metabolism and the nature of your exercise. Once the supply is spent (metabolized to exercise), your body needs to replace those spent sources with new sources .. .your pre-workout meal.

So, when you're consuming your pre workout meal, you're really filling your gas tank for the second half of your workout.

If you get it right, you're in good shape for high energy levels and higher levels of intensity during the second half of your workout. If you get it wrong, you'll "hit a wall", struggle with even moderate intensities, and ask your body to metabolize less efficient sources for energy, like proteins. That's right, even if you've got 30 pounds of body fat to loose, if your body needs energy sources beyond the immediately available carbohydrate sources, it doesn't convert your stored fat, it converts proteins!

And it gets worse yet, for if those proteins aren't in your bloodstream (from a consumed meal), your body converts stored proteins ...your muscle tissue ... through a process called catabolism.

And if you are catabolising you will almost certainly gain fat because maintaining lean body mass is a key factor in loosing body fat!

So, (ahem), here's the skinny on your pre-workout meal. You don't need to have much, but be sure that you have a few hundred (200 to 400, depending on your body weight) balanced calories between 30 and 60 minutes prior to exercise. This window will vary from person to person (and your hydration levels and prior daily food intake), but 30 to 60 minutes ahead of your workout is a good place to start. A well balanced snack should consist of approximately 25% protein, 65% carbohydrate and 10% fat. One half of a peanut butter sandwich and half a banana handle this perfectly. Or a yogurt and a few crackers.

This pre-workout requirement is also well recognized, and aggressively marketed by the nutritional supplements industry (Cliff, Powerbar, Gatoraide, etc.). Products from these suppliers also nicely handles the requirement. However, just be sure that you consume the product far enough ahead of exercise for benefit: it takes most digestive systems 30 to 40 minutes to move food to the bloodstream. Consuming these products during exercise is almost always too late for any benefit for exercise shorter than 90 minutes.

Looking for more healthy tips on eating right and proper nutrition?

Ask me about our New Nutrition Together program!