How Drinking Water Can Help You Lose Weight
Is water beneficial for weight loss? You better believe it!
If you’re goal is to lose weight, then I’m sure you’ve heard people tell you to drink more water, right? But why? Sure they tell you it helps you lose weight but still many people are left in the dark as to how exactly water helps you lose weight.
Here are a few good reasons on why water is good for losing weight.
Replacing alcohol, soda, and other high-calorie drinks with water will certainly make a difference in weight loss. High-calorie drinks put the pounds on. Conversely, water has zero calories. And, unlike many beverages like Coke Zero that claim to have no calories, “good” water doesn’t contain any nasty additives or sweeteners that do more harm than good!
A 2006 study in the journal Obesity showed just how powerful replacing high-sugar drinks with water can be for losing weight. In this study, researchers analyzed weight-loss data on 240 overweight women, ages 25 to 50, who were following one of several popular diet plans, including Atkins and The Zone, programs that restrict carbohydrate consumption to variable degrees.
The women drank an average of two cans of sugary drinks before beginning the program.
* Dieters who replaced virtually all sweetened drinks with water, lost an average 5 pounds more in a year than dieters who didn’t.
* Those who drank more than four cups of water a day lost an additional 2 pounds more than dieters who did not drink that much.
* Essentially, drinking water helps you lose weight because you are replacing some calories (ie. 200 calories in a soda) with a liquid that has no calories.
One of the reasons for our “obesity epidemic” is that North Americans haven’t changed their water intake over the past decade, yet we are drinking about 20 more ounces a day of caloric beverages.
Why do some many complain that water doesn’t taste good. Come on! Get a life. Maybe it’s because their bodies are so toxic and their palettes are so messed up from all the garbage foods they are eating. Obviously, when you eat high-sugar drinks all day, water is going to taste bland in comparison. Get rid of the junk and nourish your body with what it actually craves – water.
Water-Rich Food Instead of Calorie-Dense Food
When it comes to food simply replacing high-calorie foods with high-water foods can help you lose weight.
Can you say raw foods? Raw foods are amazing because they have a high water content. Vegetables and fruit are predominantly water. And they serve up unbelievable nutrition.
Think of it this way… When you cook a hamburger, doesn’t it shrink? Yes it does.
And it does so because the cooking/heating process evaporates the water right out of the meat. Now, when your body goes to digest this burger it must draw upon its own water reserves to “liquify” the burger for easier digestion and assimilation.
I don’t advocate eating raw meat but simply by eating more raw fruits and vegetables you will lessen the burden on your digestive system and allow your body to conserve more of its own water. Doing so can help to avoid packing on pounds of undigested food.
Water has been known and shown to suppress your appetite. As little as one glass of water can suppress your appetite by up to about 25%! So if you want to avoid over eating at your next meal just drink a glass of water. You’ll even find that you weren’t even that hungry in the first place.
Drinking water is another great strategy to avoid “boredom snacking”.
You know when you reach for foods because you’re bored but not really hungry. Instead, just have a glass of water and you’ll help to dissipate those apparent hunger pains. Oh yeah, and try doing something that stimulates you so don’t feel bored!
