RogerFollowing on from the last two posts about Hydration for fat loss and the main causes of body water retention, here we will see why dehydration can cause fat retention. Why should we drink more clear water over soft drinks or tea/coffee?
Soft/energy drinks and tea and coffee generally contain high concentrations of caffeine, which is a diuretic (releases fluid). This makes making hydration more difficult. For this reason, you should carefully monitor your intake of these types of drinks. Soft drinks may also have very strong PH (acid) levels and of course can contain big amounts of refined sugars. When the body’s blood-acid level rises it has a profound effect on energy, general health, joint pain and fat loss.
Water plays a major role in helping the body to offset rising acid levels. High acid levels force the body – amongst other things – to store excess acid in fat stores. The body will resist releasing fat for energy if there are high concentrations of acid in the blood. A lot of obese people are not just overweight, they are overacidic, and hence may have trouble losing the pounds even after a few months of eating healthy. So to maximise your body’s ability to burn fat you need to drink adequate amounts of water.
Some of the symptoms of dehydration include: dry mouth, ‘furry’ tongue, sunken eyes, dark circles around eyes, headache, skin elasticity (if your skin is slow to bounce back after pinched, you could be dehydrated) and muscle cramps. These are symptoms to look for on a daily basis, as this will provide you with a reason to drink more water.
How does hydration assist fat loss? Every cell in your body is constantly being rebuilt. In fact, your body is almost totally rebuilt every six months – a process which results in the creation of waste products, and these waste products need to be flushed out of your system. As the body ‘rebuilds’, blood cleans away waste material. For the blood to effectively undertake this role it needs to be adequately hydrated. Without enough water the cleaning process is hampered and further waste builds up, increasing acid levels within the blood.
Therefore, without effective cleaning fat loss becomes increasingly more difficult, particularly when blood-acid levels rise. The point is, aim for at least 3 litres of clean water per day, NOT including tea’s and other non calorific drinks. Avoid as much soft or even diet energy drinks and limit the coffee intake to less than 3 per day. If you do drink the odd cup of coffee then you should be having a glass of water too replenish yourself.
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