At the beginning of the year, many people make a point of realigning their goals. This often takes the form of a New Year’s resolution.
You may have a resolution to save money, exercise more, read more, eat healthy, or cut down on alcohol. These are all great goals, but it is important to include the basics alongside them.
One of the basics is remembering to stay hydrated while you are working towards your other goals. In fact, staying hydrated can help you achieve many of your other goals and feel good in the process.
Staying properly hydrated is more involved than simply drinking eight glasses of water. Let’s look at some of the nuances surrounding hydration and learn one trick to make it happen.
Beyond Water
You need water, but you also need all sorts of minerals. Your current water processing and filtering systems have probably stripped away most of those minerals from your water.
If you are drinking just plain water (especially if you have a lot of it), you can dilute the mineral-rich fluids in your body. This makes your kidneys work way harder than they need to, and you may find yourself running to the bathroom constantly to pee off all of that excess fluid.
Adrenal cocktails are a great way to counter these concerns. These are mineral-rich drinks that particularly focus on supporting sodium and potassium levels. This allows your body to replace the minerals lost and keep the liquid from diluting them. It also contains Vitamin C which helps in the utilization of these vitamins and provides bio-available copper.
Adrenal Cocktails
There are several ways to make an Adrenal Cocktail. My favorite recipe consists of 1 cup of coconut water, the juice of 1 lime, and 1/4 tsp. salt. You can find more adrenal cocktail recipes here.
After you try some of these recipes, you can experiment with some of your own. It’s easy to make one. Just include a source of sodium, potassium, and vitamin C.
Gel Water
When I'm not drinking my Adrenal Cocktails, I make sure all of my water is some form of gel water.
In their book Quench, authors Cohen and Bria describe gel water, or living water, as a “newly identified phase of water that’s not quite liquid, vapor, or ice. (It is) identified by an extra hydrogen and oxygen atom, so the molecular structure is H3O2.” Gel water exists in many plants and can also be found in fruits, vegetables, & seeds.
Most often, I add the juice of a lemon or lime to my water and sometimes add a little salt to make my gel water. Another form of gel water is bone broth. To get the wonderful benefits of broth in your life you can drink it plain or enjoy it in soups and stews.
Tips for Hydration
- Have an Adrenal Cocktail (or 3) each day.
- Start your day with 16 oz. of gel water before you put anything else (including coffee) in your system.
- Encourage the production of gel water by adding citrus fruits like grapefruit, oranges, or limes to your water throughout the day.
- Eat lots of fruits and vegetables. Not only are they full of gel water, but they also contain naturally occurring electrolytes and are high in fiber which helps the body’s ability to absorb gel water.
- Drink and cook with bone broth. It is full of both collagen and gel water.
- Cook with coconut and ghee. Both are full of gel water and electrolytes.
- Try boosting the mineral content of your water by adding 1/16 teaspoon of table salt to every eight ounces of regular water you drink.
- Add 5 drops of Trace Minerals to each cup of your water.
*ConcenTrace is my favorite brand of trace minerals.
How to tell if you are properly Hydrated?
The color of your urine is important. It should be not too light, but not too dark. While some people might aim for having super light almost clear pee, I think if your urine is too light you are likely drinking way too much plain water. This may dilute the minerals in your system.
Another thing to pay attention to is how often you need to urinate. While there are lots of factors at play here (pregnancy, prostate size, etc.), once you start hydrating better you may actually need to use the bathroom much less. Four to five trips to the bathroom per day can actually get to be pretty standard. Needing to wake up to use the bathroom at night can also be a sign that something with your hydration might be off.
Is hydration a challenge for you? If so, I encourage you to try some of the suggestions listed above. You will feel better, and your body will thank you!
Dr. Jamie