An essential molecule... A universial cure

I personally think that there is nothing better than an ice cold glass of water! However, I know that many people think differently. As Americans, we are so used to drinking sweet iced lattes for breakfast, pop with our popcorn at a movie, and surgery sports drinks while we exercise. The calories in drinks add up FAST! And I think that most people don't realize that. I understand that surgery drinks taste good, but instead of always going for pop or lemonade or any of the other countless drink options when thirsty, people need to reach for the water! And, even better, water is FREE!

I get free fountain drinks at work, and I used to always drink pop. Now I only drink water at work, and try only to drink pop on rare occasions. I feel like my skin is healthier, and I have lost weight (but that could be because I am getting so sick of the dorm food too). Whenever I drink pop I feel like its eating away at my teeth, its so gross!

I could not agree with this entry more! I beleive one misconception that people have is sports drinks are good for them or are a healthy alternative to pop. The reality is that these drinks are loaded with sugar and can really add on the calories. If people are looking for a quick way to shed a couple extra pounds all they have to is switch their normal sugary drinks with water. They don't have to change their eating habits at all.

I had not heard of drinking water before a meal in order to eat less but I guess it makes sense. Water will fill you up, if only long enough to eat a lighter meal and walk away.

You are probably correct that we don't drink enough water, but there has been some controversy about how much water to drink. Some research shows that a person can drink too much water and start to flush out necessary nutrients and electrolytes too soon.

I try to drink water with every meal and almost always ask for it instead of soda at a restaurant. Selling sugar water has been a great way to make money and it can be hard to resist all the tempting flavors out there. But people don't realize how many calories they are consuming when chugging a soda or a couple of glasses of juice. Cutting out sugar sweetened drinks from a diet should go far to reducing calories and increasing nutrition.

I LOVED THIS BLOG!! It's VERY true that staying well hydrated (drinking your weight in ounces of water/day) will actually make you eat less and stifle fake hunger.
Plus, proper water hydration does amazing things for your mental function! I've listed some startling statistics below that many people aren't aware of:

"Up to 60% of the human body is water, the brain is composed of 70% water, and the lungs are nearly 90% water. Lean muscle tissue contains about 75% water by weight, as is the brain; body fat contains 10% water and bone has 22% water. About 83% of our blood is water, which helps digest our food, transport waste, and control body temperature. Each day humans must replace 2.4 litres of water, some through drinking and the rest taken by the body from the foods eaten."--http://ga.water.usgs.gov/edu/propertyyou.html

The reason why most people choose soda over water is due to the addictive receptors your body has for the sugary beverage. Fast food and sugary beverages have actually been found to show the same strength of addiction as opioids. Crazy, huh?!?!

Finally, water is still a better choice over tea, because tea is actually a diuretic and causes water loss. So just be careful with what kind of tea you choose to consume.