Weight Loss And The Relationship Between Hunger And Thirst
In order to achieve long-term healthy and natural weight loss, it is vital that you understand the helpful role that water can play. Our bodies require a steady supply of water more than any other compound save oxygen. A healthy person can only survive for about three days without water. For a person in poor health, that length of time might be a day. In developing countries, one of the leading causes of death for children is intestinal diseases from bacterial infection that result in diarrhea. What causes death is not the bacteria, however, but dehydration. Without water, our bodies cannot function for very long, which is why the thirst mechanism is so powerful. So, how does this knowledge affect us and our goal for natural and healthy weight loss? Let me explain.
When our bodies need water, we start to get thirsty. The problem though, is that this thirst is often misinterpreted by our brains as hunger. We are aware of an oral uneasiness in our mouths, and we think we need food to fix this. However, if we would just stop for a second and really mediate on this uneasiness, you will find that it is really the call of thirst, and not hunger at all. This is a vital point to understand.
In a way, however, our brains are not misinterpreting the thirst signal that much. The fact of the matter is that most food, including our favorite sweets, are mostly made up of water. For example, chocolate cake is 25 percent water, whereas apple pie is 48 percent. Beef is 60 percent water, and chocolate pudding is 65. So, in a way, you are satiating your thirst when you eat. Still, if your goal is to lose weight, isn't it obvious you are better off satiating your thirst with pure, calorie free water, rather than chocolate cake?
So, the next time you feel what you think are pangs of hungry try this. Wait for 7 minutes and see if the pangs don't just go away. If they don't, try drinking a glass of water. At best, you may find that your hunger pains go away completely, as water is exactly what you body needed. At worst, you may find that you still need food, but that you will have to eat much less of it. Either way, you will be that much closer to achieving you weight loss goals.
In closing, I feel I just need to add one more point on the whole drinking water thing. There is an idea out there that you need to drink X number of glasses of water per day, regardless of whether you are thirsty or not. I think this is a bunch of baloney. From what I understand, there was a study done 50 years ago that found that human beings need a certain amount of water per day. So far, so good. However, this study was subsequently misinterpreted to mean that we need 8 glasses of pure water every day. The water in Juice, Coffee, Tea, and in food, doesn't count. This is apparently not true at all.
What does a bear do in the wild? If he's thirsty, he drinks. Period. This is the example I think you should follow. There's no need to become some kind of mechanical water drinking robot if natural weight loss is your goal.
