Is Water the Miracle of Life?

Up until fairly recently, the good of water has been fairly black and white. The advocates of it claimed it to be a miracle cure, healing anything from headaches to acne. But then this came from the University of Pennsylvania.

Let me try and explain, for those who are confused, what that article is trying to say:

'Being dehydrated is bad for you, but there is no evidence to suggest that being hydrated is good for you, unless you do a lot of exersise'.

So basically, the most stupid post on the topic ever (in my opinion), for the following reasons:

• If being dehydrated is bad for you, surely being hydrated is good for you?
• Not doing exercise is bad for you, and so not needing to be hydrated is also a stupid point. 
• Something humongous like 80% of Europe and North America are chronically dehydrated, and so for the BBC to post an article about how water isn't important is stupid, because 80% of the readers need to get hydrated.

On the same point: from what i can gain from the evidence in the article, there is side effects to dehydration but no benefits to hydration, so in all likelihood, the 'benifits' of hydration should just be the norm, but so many people are dehydrated it is perceived as otherwise. (Did that make sense? It makes sense in my head!)

So, How much should I be drinking?

As you can probably guess I'm an advocate of water. Generally the daily recommended amount is between 1.2 and 2l a day, however it is best you understand what this actually means. 1.2-2l a day would be the minimum for someone who also completes their government recommended half hours moderate exercise a day, on an average day in a temperate climate.

If you are properly active, doing intense exercise regularly, and/or you want to be properly hydrated so you can see for yourself what benefits it brings, 3l is a good point to aim for. The only side effect: You will need the toilet more.

If it is an especially hot day, drink more. If you are doing a huge amount of exercise, drink more. If its a lazy day of doing nothing, drink less. 3l is not a set in stone absolute. Experiment. Find what works for you.

What should I drink?

I am aware that the western world has an obsession with tea, coffee and alcohol. Me, I dislike all 3, partially because of taste, partially for other reasons. Coffee is a mild diuretic, and so some of the water will not be used by your body fully, and just go straight out again. Same with alcohol, though to a greater extent. It should also be noted that most alcohol is unbelievably calorific: If you are trying to loose a bit of weight, then that is a pointless intake of energy which you can just stop. I heard somewhere that a pint of some beers is worth the same calories as a sandwich made of white bread. In terms of tea, for me it is just a taste thing. another BBC article claims its better than water, I disagree, but that's just because I don't like the taste.

Fizzy drinks! the skum of the earth. Yes, in this one post I'm making enemies with the BBC and with massive drinks companies. Great. Did you know 'Coke' is the 2nd most recognised word in the whole world ('OK' wins). I've got to hand it to them, that is incredibly successful branding. But does the fact everyone knows it, make it good? The company isn't exactly ethical, and the content is just foul. Again, a lot of these drinks are diuretics. The caffeine content is disgusting (I don't like caffeine). The non-diet options are packed with calories, the diet options are packed with additional chemicals. There is no good that can come out of the stuff. Avoid by all means necessary! Most of them don't even taste nice.

Fruit juice is a tricky one. Because, a lot of diet websites will say to keep away from it, because it does have a lot of calories in it. I believe in something called 'good calories', Drinking a lot of fruit juice may put a lot of sugar into your body, but its good for you, 150ml is one of your '5 fruits a day' (more on that in another post). However I don't believe you should drink it exclusively. And if your main goal is to just burn fat, you should probably stick to water.

I hope this helps clear a few things up, though it probably just makes it all more confusing.