Hale Holiday Habits: Water

I don’t know if anyone else struggles with drinking enough water, but I am constantly battling with maintaining a healthy rate of consumption, especially being a breastfeeding mother.  One simple but healthy habit that we can all work on is drinking enough water.  Everywhere you hear about water consumption, drinking 6-8 glasses of water a day is highly touted, but for some, it seems like a challenge to reach that amount everyday.

One way that I’ve found to the best way to meet that goal is get small 9 oz cups so that you can actually measure how much you’ve drank, and tally it in a daily log.  I’ve even found a great iPhone app that you can use to check off a glass of water so that you can tally and keep up with the number of glasses you’ve drank in a day, so you don’t forget.

Actually, whenever I used to attempt to get all of my water all at once, in one massive 32 oz glass, that I planned to refill later, I would always end up falling short because I was trying to shove so much water down my tube.  In fact, I believe it really isn’t advised to drink more than 2 glasses of water at any one time.  As much as water is an awesome super nutrient, it can actually adversely affect your body if too much is consumed at any one time.  I actually had a friend that overdosed on water on a hot day from chugging a gallon of water, and ended up in the hospital.  I believe what happens is that cells become over saturated and are damaged.

I could go on and on about the amazing benefits of water, but this video will actually explain it much better than I can.

Additionally, during these holiday months, since it tends to be colder outside, we’re indoors more often and close to many people and are more prone to getting sick.  One amazing property of water is regulating body temperature, and is amazing in helping the body fight off fever and infection.  You know when the nurses tell you to drink plenty of fluids, especially with the flu, it’s because of this body temperature regulation.  Also, vitamin c is a water-soluble vitamin, so in order for your body to properly absorb and use this essential vitamin in fighting infections, plenty of water is needed on a daily basis.

Think about how just one simple thing as drinking a few glasses of water a day, on a daily basis, can help save you from the awfulness of the swine flu that is floating around right now.  With the “pandemic” status, it is especially unnerving when visiting with family members and friends in closed quarters that could potentially be harboring virus particles.

In any case, keep your whistle wet!  Here’s to being hearty and hale!

~Hale Mom

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