The essential water

It has been hot and very hot recently, we had a heat warning in place, and I believe we are all aware how important it is to keep ourselves hydrated. People use all kinds of liquids to quench their thirst. However, using soft drinks, beer, milk shakes, especially the very sweet ones, will make us thirstier than we were.

Water is the most essential substance of the body, and therefore, it needs to remain within a healthy range in order to keep our body functioning properly. Our body has many signals, we just have to listen to these signals and replace the lost amount of water when we feel thirsty. However, that will depend, as well. Diabetics will feel thirsty always when the blood sugar is too high, that is a body signal to alarm that glucose rates are running high.

How much?

Moderate use of water is good for everybody, but the type of water is definitely a very private choice. People tend to follow all kinds of strange advices; there are many wrong ones on the internet, as well. Briefly saying, one has to know his own condition and use any substance responsibly, whether that is sugar, salt, water, juice or alcoholic beverages.

I would think that people who already have too much weight are staying away from sweetened drinks and especially in hot weather because their body already functions in a stress mode. We have to pay attention to heart palpitations, dizziness, fatigue, headache and similar symptoms; therefore carrying a bottle of water with us is a good idea for anybody, but especially for people with some disorders.

Water is simple

Water has a very simple chemical composition and therefore is absorbed fast: the first portion already after 5 minutes, the main part within 15 minutes, but a complete absorption is achieved after approximately 1.5 hours. Our body uses pure water, and that explains why normal amounts of it decrease the feeling of thirst. However, we should always use water in moderate amounts. Our kidneys can only process a certain amount of fluids and water within an hour, when we are exceeding about half a liter in hour we are asking for trouble.

Moderate use

Testing brain response to drinking water, scientists found that our brain has a positive response and creates a feeling of satisfaction only during the moment when we are quenching our thirst. Pressuring oneself to use more water than advisable (woman a bit over 2.5 liters and men about 3.5 liters during 24 hour period in conditions when activity level and sweat production is fairly high) makes no sense (I am not referring to people who do sports). Our kidneys will have to work in extreme stress conditions and when the amount noticeably exceeds the amount our kidneys are able to process we will experience a situation when the electrolyte (salt and mineral) content in the blood is severely diluted, resulting in extremely low sodium levels in the blood. This condition is called hyponatremia. The outcome can be fatal. One should never ever participate in any drinking competitions, even when it is something as innocent as water. If this person stays alive, kidney failure is inevitable.

Low sodium

Many conditions including congestive heart failure, liver and kidney failure, pneumonia and drinking abnormal amounts of water in a short period of time are commonly associated with a low sodium concentration in the blood. Therefore, be aware of how much of water is healthy for your personal health condition. Too much is never good, as we know keeping everything in balance never harms.

Will people who prefer just soft drinks fall in love with water? You could certainly try serving it as fruit water and slightly fruit-flavored water. Kids especially love the multicolored fruit slices in their cups and glasses. It looks festive and attractive. I personally never use any sweeteners with fruit water or similar water based drinks.

Color and freshness

Citrus fruits add so much freshness and flavor to these simple drinks that it is impossible not to try some. We can use different ice: freeze tea or diluted juice, place a mint leaf before pouring in water for freezing. I have taken very many pictures, I will continue with one more post how we can teach children to love water and how such a great habit makes our life easy.

I prepared ice, mineral water and water and sliced some orange, lemons, limes and cucumber. I have mint and lemon balm in my backyard, so I got some leaves, as well.

Such water looks great and is delicious and refreshing

There are always things one can add to enjoy such simple natural drink

Pleasure to look at, pleasure to try

Lots of freshness

I combined cucumber slices with lime, also adding a small bit of lime juice and some mint and lemon balm leaves here and there. There was no sweetness, but this water was extremely refreshing. The newest research tells us cucumber flavor alone is calming and makes us feeling more pleasant.

Lemons, limes and oranges are simply fresh; I think this is always the brain reaction towards citrus flavors.

There are millions of options and combinations, and all of them are good!

Stay hydrated and healthy!