Sunday, February 8, 2009

Water and Weight Loss - The Best Way to Lose Extra Pounds

By Ricardo d Argence

Did you know that all of those times that you thought that you were hungry, your body simply needed more water? Because of our culture, we have become accustomed to not getting the recommended daily amount of water. Sometimes, this lack of water is hindering weight loss goals.

Many high calorie snacks could be avoided by proper hydration, because the body sees no difference between its need for water and need for food. There are other reasons besides this one for drinking water. Water has a lot of tasks in the body, you are 60% made of water. Just think about it.

The main job of water in the body is to flush toxins through the kidneys. This removes all the harmful stuff from our bodies that we come in contact with everyday. When you don't get enough water the kidneys cannot function as they should, this leaves the bulk of their job to the liver.

The main function of the liver is to metabolize fat, but it has other jobs as well. When kidneys are not functioning properly it will help the body maintain health. You can see where this is headed, the lack of fluids depletes the effectiveness of the kidneys, which makes the liver step up limiting the amount of fat it can metabolize.

In addition to all these jobs, water has a host of other functions in the body like: Assist digestion, lack of water leads to poor nutrition; water regulates body temperature; it is a large part of the blood, 92%, which is the body's transport system for vitamins, minerals, nutrients.

Most people are aware of water's ability to help fill you up during a meal, but were you aware that water can increase your metabolic rate? The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism reports a study in which fourteen healthy people increased their metabolic rate in 30%, just drinking water.

This process responsible for the jump in metabolism is warming the water to the body temperature. Drinking ice water can burn more than 70 additional calories a day, simply by increasing metabolism. That in and of itself doesn't sound like much but over time, it can really add up.

Additionally water will boost skin flexibility, reduce headaches, provide you extra energy, and on the whole make you sense better to a large extent. Ingesting the appropriate amount of water each day has even been associated with healthy eyesight.

You should drink eight glasses of water a day, but more is always better than none. At least shoot for five to eight glasses in a 24-hour period. A sudden onslaught of eight glasses water at one time will likely run straight through and not give you the benefits mentioned above, this is best done by slowly sipping on water throughout the day. - 15252

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