Drink Water for Weight Loss

Few may know this, but drinking water is one effective way to weight loss. How? Quite simple really, just drink one or two glasses of water an hour before your next meal. Water not only acts as a cleaning agent which helps in flushing out body toxins and waste, but also gives one a natural feeling of being full. This feeling of fullness will prevent one from the likelihood of overeating during the meal itself.

Another important reason is that water contains zero calories, and a glass or two before any meal will not add anything to your caloric intake for the day. If done regularly, a person will lose weight in time.

Study supports that drinking water aids weight loss

Dr. Brenda Davy of Virginia Tech was one of the senior authors of a study with subjects from 55 to 75 years old. It was found that people who drank a cup or two of water before any meal were found to consume 75 to 90 fewer calories than their non-water drinker counterparts. After 12 weeks, the water drinkers were found to have lost an average of 15.5 pounds compared to only 11 pounds of the non-water drinkers.

Proper way to do it

It is important to drink the water at least an hour before the meal to give time for it to be absorb by the intestines. Otherwise, water in the stomach can hinder the proper digestion of food. Moreover, to further aid digestion, too much water should not be taken during eating the meal itself for the same reasons. If you can't help it, then small sips may do.

Proper digestion of the food in the stomach is important so that nutrients are absorbed into the blood stream and utilized by the body. Now when one drinks water during a meal, this will serve to dilute the digestive juices being secreted by the stomach. These digestive juices are supposed to help break down the food into something that will be absorbed by the body. The presence of water will hinder the stomach from properly digesting the food. It is advisable to drink water two hours after your meal. Practice makes perfect. One way to prevent too much reliance on water to wash down food is to chew each bite slowly because doing so, the mouth secretes more saliva to help bring down the food to the stomach. Further, the stomach also secrets more digestive juices which works both to proper digestion.

But too much water is also not good

On the other had, as a word of caution, drinking too much may also lead to water intoxication. To find out what is the proper water intake, the age old advice of eight (8) glasses of water per day may still hold true, and a little less or more of this will still be okay. Use your own thirst threshold to determine you own water needs.

On the other had, as a word of caution, drinking too much may also lead to water intoxication, also known as water poisoning. To find out about the proper amount of water intake, the age old advice of eight (8) glasses of water per day may still hold true, and a little less or more of this will still be okay. Use your own thirst threshold to determine you own water needs.