Five Quick Vital Points on Hydration (2 of 5)

2.    Caffeinated and sugary drinks can add to dehydration

Ahhh, nothing says “summertime” quite like the refreshing taste of lemonade, iced tea, water ice and, of course, that red Kool-aid. Yet, even though these may be high on thirst quenching and taste, they are not so great on actual hydration,

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especially if they are made like my family made them, which spared not the table sugar.  And caffeinated drinks, like coffee or soda, and alcoholic beverages are even worse.

Caffeine and sugar steal water from our bodies. Caffeine increases the kidney functions and acts as a diuretic. Sugar draws water and can causes your internal body temperature to rise (not so good on a hot day to make yourself even hotter internally).

Hey, some people just don’t like to drink plain water for various reasons. If it is a taste thing, try squeezing a little lemon in it but it is important to add water daily. The key here is not cutting out coffee, soda, and soft drinks, but it is understanding that these drinks don’t count when you consider your water intake for the day, and if you are going to have them, plan for the extra water on top to compensate.

Last note, someone may be thinking, “What about the sugar in fruit?” Well, without going into the depth of fructose, sucrose, glucose, etc., it seems that the two biggest differences are, one, the speed in which our bodies break the sugars down (more slowly in fruit which causes less insulin spikes), and, two, the specific balance of each fruit’s ratio of sugar, fiber, protein, enzymes, etc., which make fruit more evenly absorbed. By the way, this does not include bottled, store-bought, processed, fruit juices which are heated, neutralized, and taken out of that natural balance.

Part 3 of 5 coming soon (Let’s go deeper into this…)

(Full list of sources will be given in part 5)