So, I drink water all the time. I’ve been carrying around a water bottle for years—drinking water before it became trendy. My classmates used to tease me, saying, “Can’t you sit through a 45 minute class without getting thirsty?”
I thought I was so water savvy: Pick water over any other beverage. Drink at least 8 glasses a day. Drink water to replenish fluids after a workout—one glass for every 15-20 minutes of exercise. I mean, it’s water. I’ve been drinking it my whole life, minus the first six months. Should be pretty basic, right?
Well, this summer I taught Zumba 2-3 times a week, and on top of that my husband and I have been taking a cross training class every week, and I’ve been chasing my kids around—and to be honest, I’ve been feeling pretty haggard. One of my friends told me I wasn’t refueling properly, especially my fluids. How is that possible? I thought. I drink enough water to choke a linebacker! According to the internet, it’s completely possible. Here are some things I’ve learned after Googling water, hydration, and related topics:
Going #1
If your pee is dark, you are either taking too many vitamins or you are dehydrated. You need some water, buddy.
If you pee is completely clear all the time, you are drinking too much water and the water is not flushing your system properly. You need some electrolytes.
Dehydration
Dehydration is when you don’t have enough water in your system for proper cell function. If you wait until you feel thirsty to drink something, you are already dehydrated. So, on the light end, dehydration can result in feeling thirsty—on the serious end, dehydration can result in, well, death. There are, of course, steps in between such as constipation and cramping, but don’t wait until you experience those middle steps before you get a drink.
Diuretics
Diuretics are foods and drinks that make you pee. Some diuretics are obvious: asparagus, coffee, and green tea. Others are not as obvious: carrots, tomatoes, lettuce, oats, dandelion (though I don’t know how much dandelion the average person eats). So it is possible to drink all the time and still be dehydrated; also, if you drink water and then have coffee, you’re going to need to drink more water to replenish what the coffee, um, flushes out.
Proper refueling
I super hate sports drinks. Not only is it a lot of wasteful packaging (I’m one of those weirdos who hate bottled beverages because of eco/hippie-dippy sensibilities), but also $3 for slightly salty, watered down juice? That’s ridiculous!
Until I read up about electrolytes, which are ions that help conduct electrical currents. In your body, nerve and muscle functions are actually controlled by electric impulses sent throughout the body, and electrolytes help with the movement of these impulses (ok, it’s a really long, technical explanation that I only understand murkily, so I’m, um, watering it down quite a bit). So what was happening when I would feel grouchy, fuzzy-headed, and crampy after working out is that I had lost electrolytes through sweating and not replaced them.
So, do you need to drink a sports drink?
You need to refuel on electrolytes (some combo of sodium, potassium, calcium, and other minerals) if you’ve been exercising an hour or more, but some people take them every day, depending on how active they are and what’s in their diets. I have started taking an electrolyte supplement (1 teaspoon/day of Trace Minerals 40,000 Volts! Electrolyte Concentrate) that I got at the health food store and I’m feeling a lot better. However, it tastes awful—like Epson salt. They also have electrolyte powders that you can dissolve in water, and pill form. I’m going to pick up some of those, and I’ll let you know how it goes.
Or you can drink V-8. Or you can eat potato chips. Or take potassium pills and mini pretzels, if you can find potassium pills. And apparently, Jelly Belly has “sport beans” with electrolytes (link below). All salts are electrolytes, but a good nutrient replacement formula will also include other nutrients. And all this has to be mediated with having a low-sodium diet, or whatever your doctor says.
I hope all my Googling and summarizing was informative. I guess the long and short of it is to drink up. So, raise your water glasses in a toast: to your health!
Have a great week,
Meredith
P.S. If you want to read up, here are some of the best/most interesting articles I found (I feel it’s important to cite my sources—after all, I’m not a fitness or nutrition expert. Also, I could be dead wrong about all of this stuff but you can read the info and come to your own conclusions):
thanks for sharing. i read this when you originally posted it, but feeling crappy today after my workout, i wondered again about electrolytes. ive tried a couple of different things, most recently safeway's awful-tasting electrolyte water. did you ever try those pills or powders?
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