A little over two years ago I wrote a post about how much water we should be drinking. You can find it here.
Recently NPR posted a myth-busting article about water myths and human bodies. The five myths they tackle include:
- Myth #1: You need to drink at least eight glasses of water a day.
- Myth #2: Caffeine makes you dehydrated.
- Myth #3: We need sports drinks to replace salt and other electrolytes.
- Myth #4: Drinking water can help you lose weight.
- Myth #5: Dark-colored pee means you’re dehydrated.
I knew about the first one and the third, and had held suspicions about the second. The rest however surprised me. In fact, I thought I had heard all the tropes about weight loss but drinking water to lose weight was one I had not heard of.
The article does a nice job explaining some of the latest research findings and evidence to debunk the myths, always a useful approach given the misinformation we can encounter in health, fitness, wellness, and nutrition.
MarhaFitat55 is always interested in reliable health information we can use.
I typically hear #4 one of two ways: 1) drinking water before eating can help you feel full faster, which allows you to consume less food/calories, and 2) some people have a hard time differentiating between thirst and hunger cues, so if you think you feel hungry drink water instead (to avoid consuming more calories).
I actually agree that some of us are bad at understanding our body cues around thirst, hunger, tired/low energy, etc but that is a byproduct of fatphobia and diet culture.