Hydration: Beyond “Drink More Water”

Most of us cover the importance of drinking more water early on in our client or patient education efforts.  After clients have gotten rid of the soda and are choosing natural beverages and are drinking more water, however, don’t miss out on the opportunity to take the topic of hydration to another level.  Clients who are making strong progress love to keep learning.  Presenting them with more esoteric and advanced topics can galvanize their enthusiasm for working with you and fuel their self-care effort even higher.  This video gives you a number of areas to focus on.

My clients are often surprised to learn that optimal “hydration” is not just about getting water into the body.  Simply chugging a giant glass of water a couple times a day is likely going to drive a lot of urination.  Water in; water out.  Absolutely, it’s better than not drinking enough water at all.  But sipping throughout the day allows more opportunity for cellular hydration – the most important goal of drinking water.   The potential negative impact on digestion (due to stomach acid dilution – and perhaps causing acid reflux) from chugging too much water during a meal is particularly important.    Most importantly, adequate electrolyte balance is critical for the osmotic dynamics that drive water into our cells (vs. outside of them).  Yes, mineral status has a lot to do with how much hydration our cells are able to experience.  In particular, potassium is critical, as is magnesium which directly mediates how much potassium a cell can absorb.

To boost trace minerals, especially in those who may need to help with estrogen dominance, here is the kelp granules product I often recommend; it’s easy to find in the “healthy section” of grocery stores.  Iodine is a nutrient I recommend boosting for nearly all of my clients struggling with breast or uterine fibroids.  For those who may be sensitive to this level of iodine, another option is ConcenTrace which can be added to each glass of water, especially if reverse osmosis or distillation is used as a method of cleaning the water (both of which will remove toxins but also nutrient minerals).

I hope this video tip is helpful to you!