Bring on the Water!

I'm finding Alex Jamieson's The Great American Detox Diet a great, super easy read. It's broken up into eight one-week chunks, designed for you to either add or take something out of your diet. I'm extremely trepidatious about the sugar week (you remove it, obviously), but am excited about the (adding) water week, which is the first one.

I'm already a pretty good water drinker, so I'm feeling like I have this one in the bag. I drink at least 72 ounces of water a day, every day. It's not that I'm really that conscientious about it; I just really like water. I cut out sodas a few months ago and found it quite easy to drink more water. I just keep a bottle on my desk that I refill every so often, usually on the way to the bathroom from drinking so much water!

Now that I've read the chapter on water, I'm realizing just how important it is to drink. Not just the recommended amount of 8-10 glasses a day, but more if possible. That 8-10 recommendation only replaces what you've sweated and breathed out in the course of a day, so drinking 10+ is ideal. It aids digestion, keeps the kidneys and liver happily functioning (and the liver processes stored fat, so you can lose weight by drinking more!), and keeps your lovely brain nice and hydrated. We're mostly water anyway, so keeping that balance is ideal.

Not only that, but it can also help in disease prevention. "In a study conducted at the Centre for Human Nutrition at the University of Sheffield, England, researchers concluded that women who stay adequately hydrated reduce their risk of breast cancer by 79%." What?!?! 79%!?! Why don't we know this? Why isn't it being shouted from the rooftops? Why isn't it posted on the nice little breast self-exam card that's hanging in my shower? What's more: "Another study, done at the Fred Hutchinson Cancer Research Center in Seattle, found that women who drink more than five glasses of water a day have a 45% reduced risk of colon cancer compared with women who drink two or fewer glasses of water a day." I recognize that these studies have been small-scale, but the findings are very, very interesting. Definitely can't hurt to drink more water, right?

Who's thirsty now?