Water, Thirst & Dehydration

My radio show this week is on Water, Thirst and Dehydration…

I relied on a lot of great sources out there as I was learning more about this topic and I thought I would post a round-up of some of the stuff I read here.

Caffeine and Hydration
There’s still a lot of controversy on this one. I’ve tended to be in the camp that feels that the diuretic effects of caffeine are a bit overblown. Here’s a couple items that seem to support that idea.

• The Claim: Caffeine Causes Dehydration - NY Times
• Caffeine: Is it dehydrating or not? - Mayo Clinic

Sports Drinks
There’s also been on-going controversy over sport’s drinks. While yes, I do drink them once in awhile - I do not believe they have any more benefit for the average person than drinking water, and in fact they can be a deceptive source of too many additional calories.

• The BMJ’s Amazing Shock and Awe Assault on Sport Drink Science - Weighty Matters
• There are lots of recipes online for making your own sports drinks, like the ones in this article in the Chicago Tribune, my recommendation though is to use a “lite salt” that includes both sodium and potassium instead of just regular table salt.
• Try adding some chia seeds to your drink, chia seeds hold a lot of water for their size and will slowly release it in to your system as you digest them, keeping you hydrated longer than just drinking straight water.

Make Your Own
Want some ideas on flavoring your water? How about making your own sports drinks? Here’s a couple of sites I’ve found with some good ideas.

• Flavored Water: Cucumber Lemongrass and Blackberry Ginger Recipes - Sustainable Dish
• Naturally Flavored Water - The Yummy Life

Eating Your Thirst Away
You typically get about 20% of your daily water intake through the foods you eat, so why not make sure it’s something flavorful - and this time of year cold soups are a great way to go.

• Twelve Cold Soup Recipes - New York Times
• Strawberry-Orange Soup - here’s my take on one of the soups from that NYT piece.

Other Links
Here’s some links to some of the more clinical information behind today’s show.

• How Water Effects 7 Parts of Your Body - Huffington Post
• Understanding Heat Index and Hydration - Boy Scouts of America
• Dehydration - Mayo Clinic
• Hyponatremia - Mayo Clinic

If you have your favorite ideas or recipes… please feel free to share them in the comments! And if you missed the show… I’ll post a link to the podcast in the comments (since this post is going up before the show airs!).

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