Water, Water, Water

I’m a purest in only really two things (I think), only two anyway! Water and being nicotine free, but that’s a whole other story… The fact is I could ramble on about this all day long but lets get to the facts

 “The human body requires adequate hydration to function properly”

so why do so many of us find it so difficult to consume as little as 1 glass a day?

How much should we drink?

It’s difficult to define what we should as individuals be consuming as there are many factors that affect an individuals need for water, such as age, gender, body mass, physical activity levels and climate. The general rule set out by the EFSA (European Food Safety Authority) however, is 2.5 litres for men and 2 litres for women daily, via food and drink consumption, with

70-80% of this coming from water as recommended by the ‘British Nutrition Foundation’. So for me, that’s pure water not tea, coffee, coke or any other beverage you prefer. I’m not saying don’t drink them, just use those as your daily top up.

During exercise  

Some of the side effects linked with poor hydration during exercise are an increase in heart rate, heat illness and a feeling of increased effort. It also has negative effects on your performance, mental function, ability to regulate your body temperature and can cause headaches, nausea.

So in short, if you want to get the best from your workouts, pack a bottle or two in your gym bag…its a must!

Sports drinks

Drinking water before, during and after exercise helps us to work out more efficiently and for longer and while sports drinks have a role to play, particularly for elite athletes, I think they are used inappropriately as recreational drinks for most of us, which only adds unnecessarily to our calorific intake. Only use them when you are doing regular high-intensity and performance exercise lasting usually more than an hour.

The only time I really use them is if I’m racing, either Criterium or Road.

Like most things in life, drinking water is a habit and if you force yourself to do it initially, it will become second nature and you will even begin to crave the ‘clear stuff’!

Trust me I promise its true! Get drinking that water…

Lisa
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