As you may have read, several years ago a study came out which claimed that people who eat in response to hunger tend to have a lower body mass index (i.e. less fat) than those who eat according to a schedule. When you think about it, this makes sense. I mean, let's say I'm hungry at 5pm. I grab a salad, or worse, a donut. By 7pm, I'm no longer hungry, but after all, it's my scheduled dinner time. So, I eat. As you can see, if you add up this unnecessary excess for a few weeks, it will start to amount to visible pounds.
I conjecture that a similar principal relates to hydration. Namely, if we hydrate "because it's time to take my vitamin pill" or "because it's time for my morning shake" -- or worse, if we refuse to hydrate because "it's not lunch time yet" -- then we are just begging for electrolyte imbalances in our systems. It's never fun, or healthy, to have too little or too much of a critical nutrient floating around. And when we correct the balance, we may overshoot, leading to a dangerous oscillation in homeostasis.
So I'm starting to think that I should hydrate when I feel thirsty, and until I feel satisfied. Never more or less often. I might fudge a bit before a meal or a long hike, when I know that I'll soon need extra water in preparation for digestion or perspiration. But generally, I will try to drink -- and eat water-soluble supplements -- purely in response to hormonal queues. I think our bodies, having evolved over billions of years, are much better at determining when we need key infusions of electrolytes, than is the clock on the wall.
Yes, there is Dr. Scordo's admonition that thirst always comes late, i.e. we're already in debt by the time we feel thirsty. Still, I'd prefer to be slightly late, than to base my fluid intake on the time of day.
As a result, I've started to move my habitual morning half-vitamin-pill into the afternoon or evening. I try to eat an entire pill everyday, or slighlty more if I'm seriously dehydrated. (Watch out for iron poisoning.) But I'm making more of an effort to eat a nibble here, and a nibble there. I find consistently that I can hydrate myself all day long on a single pill if I do this. But if I swallow the whole thing with my veggie-rich breakfast, my body seems uninterested, and probably excretes most of it, leaving me with powerful thirst later in the day.
Since I'm not thrilled with the idea of drinking sugar in order to improve hydration (even though it does work quite well), I try to practice "dry hydration", in which I nibble a tiny piece of vitamin pill, and wash it down with sufficient distilled water. (The great thing about distilled water is that it's much safer than tap, or even bottled water. But if you drink too much of it without added trace minerals, you'll dehydrate.) The trick with dry hydration is that, in my case, it takes about 20 minutes to feel hydrated, after drinking. Whereas, with milk, the effect occurs within seconds.
Ironic, isn't it, that a dairy product which causes PVCs (albeit less than with cheese), would be such a fabulous and immediate source of hydration? It also contains the likely-carcinogenic protein, casein. But I must admit, when nothing else works, milk does. Just get the organic whole fat stuff (4%), as opposed to skim. This way, you'll get fewer pesticides, and, if you're male, the higher fat milk also lacks the prostate cancer risk recently associated with skim milk. Perhaps this lower risk applies to other cancers too, but it has yet to be demonstrated. That's right: less saturated fat, implying a higher cancer risk, in this particular case. However, this study from the American Journal of Epidemiology seems to suggest an only moderately elevated risk due to skim (23% higher, for aggressive prostate cancer, with at least 2 servings per day). This Harvard study talks more broadly about dairy, calcium, and vitamin D in general, and seems to point to a similar conclusion. Still, I'd rather slightly increase my cancer risk, but stay hydrated and avoid more serious and immediate hazards.
I hope to find a substitute, but so far, milk "just works". Soy milk causes me shortterm memory problems, likely due to the high manganese content. It also contains phytic acid, which upsets the stomach, and isoflavones, estrogen-like substances which could therefore be carcinogenic. Unsweetened almond milk works almost as well, and isn't quite as unhealthy, but it's hard on the bank account.
I should add that raw milk is probably the healthiest form of this substance, and might actually be beneficial to drink, all things considered. But it's not cheap, and comes with the risk (although remote) of bacterial infection.
Finally, while we're on the topic, please test your vitamin D level. This can be done through your doctor with a cheap blood test. As you may know, there is mounting evidence that it has a significant role in cancer suppression. Indeed, the anticancer benefits of resveratrol consumption may in part be due to its upregulation of vitamin D receptors. And please note the mention in the Harvard study linked above, which claims that frequent milk drinkers tend to have lower levels of the protective form of vitamin D, despite the fact that milk is a rich source of the vitamin (although this might simply imply that people who drink a lot of milk tend to stay out of the sun).
Now for some fun. Do you like sorbet, or sherbert, or whatever they call frozen sweet stuff? Here's a tasty way to hydrate, get some wonderful plant chemicals into your blood, and avoid the all-day-long elevated blood sugar levels associated with complex carbohydrate consumption.
I live in a tropical region, where we have lots of fabulous fruit. Last week, I bought some wonderful dragon fruit. But in my haste, I accidentally threw it into the freezer instead of the fridge. The next morning, I was dismayed to find that I'd ruined one of my favorite fruits! But I so love the taste, that I decided to eat it anyway after a 30-second thaw in the microwave. It was still frozen, but more like a thick sorbet or sherbert at this point, than a block of ice.
To my delight, it turned out to be highly refreshing, especially given the hot days we've had lately. It also takes much longer to enjoy, given its firm consistency. I discovered that I enjoy it more when it's impossible to gobble it down. Every bite is sort of like cold candy. But there's so much fiber (not to mention frozen water) in it that, for 15 minutes of eating, I only get about 80 calories! Directly afterward, I hit the gym, and burn it all off, leaving nothing left to elevate my blood sugar. (By contrast, when I have oats in the morning, I get very hot a few hours later, and its lasts for many more. No doubt, this is my body temperature rising as the result of excessive glucose metabolism.)On the plus side, I get a few good plant chemicals to keep in shape. I won't sell dragon fruit as a superfruit (although the Malaysian variety, which is deep red on the inside, might be). But it does help me to hydrate, and tastes very refreshing.
Notice that the fruit is cut in half. I strongly recommend doing so before freezing, as it's impossible afterward. Since this fortuitous accident, I now make a habit of slicing fruit in half, and dumping into a freezer-safe container before going to bed. By breakfast time, it's ready to eat.
I've since tried the same with papaya, although it's less rich in fiber, and therefore hits me too hard with sugar. If you aren't blessed with a cheap source of dragon fruit, then I recommend trying this with your favorite fiber-rich, thick-rinded fruit, for example, water melon. And if you feel the need, you can always nibble a piece of vitamin pill after consumption, in order to jam micronutrients into your cells when they open in response to insulin. Better still, dust your fruit in 1 gram of cinnamon, which will help prevent a dangerous insulin surge, and jam more energy into your cells sooner. (Just hit the gym within 20 minutes, or you'll overheat.) Bon appetit, and don't forget to floss!
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