11/17/2020
Water! We all know its important and necessary for life, but chances are we are not getting enough.
Personally, I know I don't get enough and its a habit I'm personally working on for myself, so lets talk about how much and where you can get more.
To start, several factors help determine water needs like physical activity (exertion, time, type), diet, gender, caloric intake, fiber intake and environment (temperature, humidity, altitude).
While optimizing fluid intake is important, majority of individuals don't need to get as specific compared to athletes, which is why water intake is recommended in Adequate Intake, meeting majority of the population's needs.
A few ways to easily determine your fluid needs include:
- Follow current recommendations for men (19 years and older) to consume 3 liters (101 oz or ~13 cups of fluids)
- Follow current recommendations for women 19 (years and older) consume 2.2 liters (74 oz or ~9 cups of fluids)
- 1/2 you body weight in ounces (Recommend for those of ideal body weight)
- Consume 1 ml of water per calorie ingested (240mL in 8 ounces FYI)
Now that we know our needs, several sources we can count towards our fluid intake include:
- High quality H20
- Milk
- Coffee
- Teas
- Juices/Sports Drinks
- Sodas
As you may be able to guess, some of these examples are more ideal than others as we need to moderate sodas, high calorie juices, milks and sports drinks, but all contribute to fluid intake and can be optimized at certain times.
Hoped this helped and cheers to staying hydrated!
*Disclaimer, this is strictly for daily needs, we are not calculating in the other factors mentioned as that is another post I'll address in the future.
nutrition