by Fern Shaw | Jul 15, 2013 | Health and Hydration
I know I’m always blathering on about drink water, keep hydrated, drink water, hydration, drink water, but honest-to-goodness, when you do the type of research that I do, trust me (no, I’m not a doctor, but a humble blogista with some common sense) there are monster-sized reasons for this advice.
But, just for today, I’m going to reverse the blather and look at it from another perspective. *look up at the heading*
Not Drinking Water Means:
- Even mild dehydration will slow down one’s metabolism by as much as three percent.
- One glass of water shut down midnight hunger pangs for almost one hundred percent of dieters investigated in a University of Washington study.
- Lack of water is the number one trigger of daytime fatigue.
- A mere two percent drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
- Preliminary research has shown that up to eighty percent of people suffering from back and joint pain could have these pains significantly reduced by drinking between eight to ten glasses of water a day.
- Our digestive systems need a good amount of water to digest food properly. Not drinking water leads to too much stomach acidity and constipation.
- By not drinking water, the thirst mechanism becomes so weak it is often mistaken for hunger. We all know where that leads.
Reason enough I would say to begin to understand why I am turning into a bit of a water warrior (I was going to say an H2O agony aunt, but that’s just rather unappealing).
Keep in mind that I am one of the turn-up-my (rather pretty) nose at water type of people, but the evidence continues to mount up, that by not drinking sufficient water, we are actually doing ourselves the greatest disservice and this, in an age where we have cool drinking water available to us at the turn of a tap or a press of a button, is just quite illogical.
Water is Life! Drink Up and Enjoy.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 5, 2013 | Health and Hydration
Cereal. I personally have never been a fan. Bo-ringggg. The name itself conjures up an image of sleepy-eyed morning zombies sitting at the kitchen counter cud chewing their way through their morning repast.
I’ve always been more of the ‘Breakfast? Pah! Breakfast is for sissies’ type of roller. Me, I chug-a-lug 2 mugs of industrial strength coffee, come ten o’clock, I’m invincible. We won’t mention that come two thirty-ish, you’d invariably find me in a little heap draped around the water cooler, sobbing piteously without enough energy to raise my Despicable Me water bottle to the spigot.
Anyhow, I digress. Consequently, as with most bad eating habits, there came a point when my poor digestive system rebelled. Quite painfully. So I realised I had to woman up and start eating breakfast. But not the full Monty type of breakfast; bacon, eggs, tomatoes, toast, etceteraa, but … cereal type of breakfast.
I remembered in the mists of time that I had once tried muesli. Not the sugar coated, candy type of muesli, but rolled oats, dry as the desert and enough seeds and nuts to keep an aviary of seed cracking birds happy for a week type of muesli.
Apparently, the muesli I was after is called Bircher’s Muesli:
Etymology (fancy term for the origin of a word and the historical development of its meaning.)
Originally known in Swiss German as Birchermüesli or simply Müesli, the word is an Alemannic diminutive of Mues which means “puree” or “mash-up.” See, enuff said – “mash-up” says it all!
History
Muesli was introduced around 1900 by the Swiss physician Maximilian Bircher-Benner for patients in his hospital, where a diet rich in fresh fruit and vegetables was an essential part of therapy. It was inspired by a similar “strange dish” that he and his wife had been served on a hike in the Swiss Alps. Bircher-Benner himself referred to the dish simply as “d’Spys” (Swiss German for “the dish”, in German “die Speise”). Muesli in its modern form became popular in Western countries starting in the 1960’s as part of increased interest in health food and vegetarian diets. Traditional muesli was eaten with lemon juice and not milk. Goodness gracious, lemon?
Packaged muesli is a loose mixture of mainly rolled oats together with various pieces of dried fruit, nuts, and seeds. It commonly contains other rolled cereal grains such as wheat or rye flakes as well. There are many varieties. This dry packaged muesli can be stored for many months. It can be served quickly after mixing it with milk, yogurt, coffee, hot chocolate, fruit juice, or water.
So, if you, like me, have been given a serious health slap by your very own body, take a page out of my book. Skip the caffeine charging coffees on an empty stomach; pack your moo-oo-sli into your ‘lunchbox’ every morning and meet your workmates around the water cooler, (so that you have company while you cud chew your way through your brekkie), pour water into your breakfast of champions and you’re set for the day.
by Fern Shaw | Jul 5, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
In short, no.
But the following all contain water (clever that), so is it a conundrum? Water is found in most liquids, antioxidants are found in some of those liquids so whereas an antioxidant can be water, water can’t be an antioxidant. Excuse me, I have to sit down, my brain is hurting. (Clearly, not enough water). Okay. So, not a conundrum, it’s something else. Moving swiftly along!
What are antioxidants?
Antioxidants are phytochemicals, chemicals found in plant foods. In our bodies, antioxidants protect healthy tissues from “oxidants,” also called free radicals. Over time, free radicals can damage cells and cause disease. Antioxidants are like microscopic police officers who seize these bad guys that plan to harm our cells.
Which do you crave in the morning—a cup of java or a spot of tea? Popular belief labels tea as a health drink and coffee as bad. Not so! Mounting evidence suggests that both are good for you because they’re brimming with antioxidants.
All teas contain a group of antioxidants called flavonoids.
Tea is the second most consumed beverage in the world, next to water. Green tea is especially popular in Japan and China.
According to studies carried out tea drinkers take in 20 times more flavonoid antioxidants per day than tea non-drinkers.
Experts say tea provides as many disease-fighting flavonoids as fruits or vegetables. Many brands of tea list antioxidant and caffeine content (in milligrams per serving) right on the box.
What about fruits and veggies?
Since coffee and tea are high in antioxidants, can they replace fruits and vegetables in our diets? Absolutely not! Fruits and veggies supply fibre, essential vitamins and minerals, plus a variety of different antioxidants that promote good health.
A word of caution
Plain coffee and tea are healthful, calorie-free beverages. Be careful how much cream, sugar, and flavourings you dump into your cup. Just 1 tablespoon of cream and 2 teaspoons of sugar can add up to 80 calories and 6 grams of fat. Squirt in flavoured syrup, pile on whipped cream, and your once-healthful drink becomes a rich dessert.
Which is better—coffee or tea?
Science can’t really say one is superior to the other, so fill your mug with whichever brew you like. To benefit from both sets of antioxidants, try this: drink one or two cups of coffee in the morning, then enjoy tea throughout the day.
For all your cool and hot water requirements for said antioxidant drinks, remember that AquAid have all that you need. We supply bottled water coolers; mains-fed water coolers; desktop coolers; water boilers and in-cup drinks.
If what you require isn’t listed here, drop us a mail, we’ll be more than happy to provide you with a solution.
by Fern Shaw | Jun 28, 2013 | Health and Hydration
This week I thought I’d take my foot off the proverbial history; good-for-you, bad-for-you, beat you with the facts and dates accelerator and trip the light irreverent with some more trivia:
Channel Tunnel
To dig the Channel Tunnel, 11 tunnel boring machines were used to extract 8 million cubic meters of chalk, clay and soil. At the end of the drill one of the boring machines was buried in the side of the tunnel. (I wonder if our water coolers were installed down there during construction? I’ll have to ask!)
The tunnel has over 100 miles of railway lines, 1200 telephones and 20,000 lighting fixtures over its length. The building of the channel tunnel involved 15,000 workers.
Scaremongering
Thanatos is a term widely used in psychoanalytic theory to represent the encouraging to destruction, or an apparent pleasure in seeing the worst outcome. It seems that much of the UK press knows this term all too well with headlines like ‘House Market Throttled as Loans Fall 56%’ – the article then explained that mortgage issues were down by 56%.
What the press is failing to explain in the headlines or the articles (in many cases) is that measures such as this only use part of the total loans i.e. new loans and do not account for all the mortgage market – and especially remortgages.
Agatha Christie
The only statue in the world of the prolific crime writer Agatha Christie is a bronze bust on the seafront at Torquay (her birthplace) opposite the Grand Pavilion. It is believed that the Grand Pavilion is where her first husband proposed to her.
The Guinness Book of Records lists Agatha Christie as the best-selling fiction author of all time estimating 2-billion of her books have been sold in 103 languages worldwide. Her first novel, published in 1920, was “The Mysterious Affair at Styles” and she received £26 for it.
Champagne Bubbles
Britain pops the cork on champagne bottles to the tune of 40 million times a year, which is pretty impressive, and something to celebrate particularly when you consider that is twice as many as the next biggest market – the USA. In fact the only people to drink more champagne than the Brits are The French, but then, they do make it. (As delicious as bubbly is, remember to keep hydrated with water in between all that bubbles quaffing – your body will thank you).
And finally …
Steeple chasing
Steeple chasing began in 1750’s when two riders in Ireland decided to test their horses’ speed by racing across country between two churches – steeple to steeple. (No, no, AquAid did not provide the refreshments, the first water cooler was a hundred years or so away!)
by Fern Shaw | Jun 24, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
As a blogista, one would imagine that I love the internet, or the worldwide web. You’d be right. It’s packed to capacity with the most incredible information and makes research interesting, amusing, at times alarming and can turn one into a sniffer dog that any contraband sniffing beagle would envy – (all those leads!)
A few years ago I read one of what I call, Snopes-worthy-at-a-glance chain *shudder* mails. Today, while researching, I came across another take on the ice cold water debate, one that I hadn’t heard of before.
The First Drinking Ice Water Theory I read is that if you are all hot and bothered and need to cool down, instead of chug-a-lugging litres of brain freezingly cold water, you should rather drink room temperature water (which in itself is disingenuous, because what if your ‘room’ at the time is an Arctic wasteland? Hmf!). The reason for this is that your body works hard to regulate your ‘core’ temperature. Picture the scene:
You’ve just pranced up two flights of stairs wearing your spencer and Ugg boots. You get to the landing, leopard crawl down the hallway, roll onto your back underneath the water cooler and open the tap, a steady stream of water from source pouring refreshingly down your gullet. Now your body is hot. The water is cold. So, whereas you are hydrating your body, which is what your body is asking for – waaaaaaaaterrrrrrr – your body now has to work double time to ‘heat up’ the water to your core temperature, which is baaad.
Or so the chain mail said. I am, (of course), paraphrasing (a lot).
I think, for this next one, I don’t have to draw a scenario for you.
The Second Drinking Ice Water Theory is just plain funny – ha ha and peculiar. According to this zinger and I’m quoting, ‘Drinking Ice Water after a meal … will solidify the oily stuff that you have just consumed. Once this “sludge” reacts with the acid, it will break down and be absorbed by the intestine faster than the solid food.’
Anyhow, so of the two, which is absolute Hogwarts (sorry!) hogwash and which, if any, of the two, have an element of truth in them?
I believe the answer to both is a ‘what’s good for you coupled with common sense’ sort of idea.
Personally I tend to believe the first theory – if our bodies are ‘normally’ at about 37C° and you’ve exerted yourself which means that your body temperature us higher; then with ice water being around 0C°, it would make sense that your body has to work harder to regulate the temperature of the cold water to, rather ironically, cool you down.
So, on this, I’d suggest that if you do decide to Rocky it up the stairs, dressed like Bradley Cooper in The Silver Linings Playbook, for reasons known only to you; by all means perch next to the water cooler, just don’t guzzle. Pour yourself a cup of cool water and drink it slowly.
As for the “sludge” that ice water turns “the oily stuff” into theory, I truly, for once, don’t have a comeback for this marvel of silly.
by Fern Shaw | Jun 14, 2013 | Health and Hydration, water cooler, Water Coolers
Staying properly hydrated ensures that all of your bodily functions are … well … functioning. You can only go three days or so without water, and as your body loses its hydration, you will experience all kinds of awful side effects. Dehydration can cause irritability, lethargy, dangerously low blood pressure, rapid heart rate, headaches, shock, and even death.
The average adult can usually maintain proper levels of hydration by drinking enough water. That being said, extreme heat or exertion can be draining on even a healthy adult. Kids and the elderly are more susceptible to extreme dehydration than the average adult … so if you have kids or older adults in your life that are important to you, the tips outlined below can be especially important for them (and for you!)
1. Pick the right water.
As a general rule, try to avoid hydrating beverages that have added sugar. In addition to having fewer calories, it’s important to choose hydrating beverages that don’t have sugar in order to prevent spikes in insulin levels. Going into a sugar crash compounded with the already-unpleasant sensation of dehydration is not the way to go. Plus, if you happen to be sick with diarrhoea during a hot summer day, sugary beverages can actually worsen your symptoms.
2. Snack on the right foods.
Fresh veggies and fruits are good snacks this time of year, and not just for dieters. Fresh produce has a very high water content, so it’s a great way to hydrate without having to drink a ton of water. For example, an apple is up to 85% of water by volume.
Pickles (and pickle juice) are higher in electrolytes than beverages like Liquid Power or Powerade, and have been shown to reduce cramping cause by exertion in high temperatures. The acetic acid in pickles and pickle juice are considered superior to the citric acid found in commercial sports drinks, at least when it comes to rehydration properties.
Another food you should add into your diet when staying properly hydrated is a concern are chia seeds. In addition to being high in protein, the seeds themselves help you to retain water by absorbing many times their own weight in water. If you can’t find the actual seeds, you may be able to find a chia seed gel at runner’s/sporting goods or health food shops.
3. Drink constantly, not occasionally.
You should be constantly drinking fluids, rather than guzzling multiple litres of water all at once.
Another way to explain this (in a rather radical comparison) is when you go to the hospital and get an IV drip, it’s a DRIP … meaning that you get a slow but steady introduction of fluids. You never see anyone getting an IV drip at the speed of a gushing fire hose.
It is better to have frequent, small amounts of fluid … especially if the dehydration is severe. Too many fluids at once can induce stomach upset or vomiting.
The amount of water you need in a given day depends on the environment, your activity level, and what other food and drink you have consumed.
Break up that amount of water into a cup or so every hour, and you’ll have a good, healthy intake of water. Drinking too much water in a very short period of time can put too much strain on your eliminatory processes, so finding the right balance is important.
4. Avoid diuretic behaviours.
Don’t do anything that you know will dehydrate you. In addition to exercise, also watch out for alcohol and caffeine. You might feel groggy when you get to the office … avoid your usual The Hulk sized mugs of coffee and go for a large glass of water. You might be surprised at how much more effectively the water perks you up.
5. Make it easy on yourself.
It’s hard to stay hydrated when you don’t have water nearby. At the office it should be easier – and practically impossible to avoid if you have a water cooler on the premises.
If you don’t, speak to the powers-that-be and ask them to drop AquAid a line, so that you get your water cooler tout suite.
Chia!
