The importance of drinking water while Fasting

Everyone knows they need to drink water but why is it important that we do so? Water is very important for maintaining good health and even more important when you're doing Intermittent Fasting(IF). Those who practice IF absolutely need to consume the all too familiar recommendation of 8 - 10 glasses per day. Fasting can be very stressful on the body. Drinking water helps the body cope with this stress as well as with helping to eliminate toxins and  reduces cravings.

Water is the body's most essential nutrient second only to air. Our bodies are made up of roughly 60% water and every process our body is involved in requires water. Not drinking enough water can lead to dehydration which can lead to fever, low blood pressure, rapid heartbeat, unconsciousness and even hallucinations. Mild dehydration has risks too  and can lead to tiredness, headaches, confusion, dry skin, muscle weakness, dizziness, irritability and lightheadedness. People often experience one or more of these symptoms on a daily basis and many do not know that they can be easily cured, not by any doctor or medication, but simply by drinking more water.

So how much water should you drink? Experts have made recommendations that vary vastly but some of the most common ones include:

• 8 to 10 glasses per day

• 2 to 3 litres per day

• half your bodyweight(in pounds) in ounces of water. This means that if you weigh 100 pounds, you should drink 50 ounces of water each day.)

If you live in a hot climate(which we do here in Trinidad), are involved in strenuous exercise(like you will be doing at the gym) or you're fasting(we're Intermittent Fasters!), you will require more water than the averages recommended by these experts.  Athletes lose more water through sweat than the average person. You also sweat a lot when you're at the gym working out too so its important to up your water intake to match your body's increased needs. I usually drink between 1 and 2 litres of water during my workout alone.

Many people go about their lives in a dehydrated state. They experience many of the symptoms mentioned above but never think that the cure is as easy as drinking a bit more water. When you don't drink enough water your body tries to extract some from the food you eat. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables have a lot of water. Fasting removes even this source of water. This isn't an excuse to not drink water. Just getting some water from other sources does not mean you can skip out on your daily requirements 

If you're like me and you are a coffee drinker, caffeine found in coffee is a diuretic. This means that if you're having more than one cup of coffee per day, you can't count that as water intake but rather need to balance it out with an additional glass of water.

I have one of the worst but also the easiest to treat symptoms of dehydration. during the day I start developing headaches from not drinking enough water. Thats my signal to go get some right away. once I keep my water intake high, no more headaches. I also get very dry skin and peeling in the area just above the fingernail where the skin is very thin. Once I drink adequate water each day I can avoid any of these issues.