If you spent time with a holistic nutritionist or read any number of health and diet books/blogs you are probably aware of the advice that you should not be drinking water with meals, or 40 mins prior or after. The advice varies but it's along those lines in some way.
Does drinking water with meals impede your body's ability to digest food? Should you be drinking water with your meals? Listen to today's episode to find out more.
Research for this episode:
https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/life-style/health-fitness/diet/Say-no-to-water-between-meals/articleshow/10841125.cms
https://www.mayoclinic.org/healthy-lifestyle/nutrition-and-healthy-eating/expert-answers/digestion/faq-20058348
https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/drinking-with-meals#at-risk-populations
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hi guys today we're gonna be answering the questions. Should you be drinking water with meals? If you've spent any time with the holistic, nutritionists are a reader of health and wellness, blog's or books. You have probably heard the advice somewhere along the lines that you shouldn't be drinking water with meals 40 minutes prior to meals. The vice kind of varies, but it's somewhere within that line. Well, in today's episode, we're gonna find out if this is advice. We should be following all the nutrition information out there today. Everything's conflicting, completely confusing. How are we supposed to be healthy if even the experts can't agree? This is outspoken nutrition. I'm your host, Lord Timber, and we're gonna break it all. My guys happy Friday, today we're gonna be discussing should you be drinking water with meals. Now, this is something that kind of starting my career in the holistic nutrition industry was really kind of something we talked about all the time. And I know I used to talk even about this quite often, But as I kind of grew in my profession, I started realizing some of this advice we are giving is really difficult for people to follow. And is it really worth our time to be trying to maneuver water in between meals and waiting and all this additional stress? Is it worth it now? One of the biggest issues that people do say that you shouldn't be drinking water with meals is because the additional water floods your digestive system, and it doesn't allow your digestive juices to be as potent to properly digest your food. So is this advice we should be following? Well, if you look through the research, the research is somewhat conflicting. There isn't a ton of research done to actually show if there are any benefits to this now. A lot of us do feel that sometimes the additional water does have some effect on our digestion. So here is some advice that I have found. So through the Myo clinic, they have found that there has been no research that says that drinking water actually affects your digestive juices. Now, when I looked through an Indian Times article, there was a health professional that said it did but only to a large amount. So if you were drinking a glass or two with a meal that's when it caused some issues, but sipping water throughout the meal didn't. Now I know some people, they are big water drinkers with a meal, you know. Some of us work jobs where meal-time is the only time we can drink. So if we don't have the ability to drink our water during our lunch hour, it's gonna be really difficult for us to fill our water requirements throughout the day. So with this kind of advice, I really kind of leave it up to you. If you find that you feel better, not drinking water with meals, don't drink water with meals. If you find that you drinking water with your meals is the only way, you can get through your meal, drink the water with your meal. Now What we did find is that a lot of times we were drinking more water with meals when meals were very salty. Now we all know we should be monitoring our salt intake anyway. We shouldn't be eating a diet high in sodium, so that just seems to be helpful. Basic advice to not overly salt our food because that will trigger us to drink more water. I think it's really important to spend some time throughout the day trying to drink water other than certain times of meals. Now with that, I do understand there are a lot of professions that don't have the ability to have water with them at all times. And from there, you know, you have to do what you have the ability to do; do not stress over water. I had a client one time that came to me from a holistic nutritionist, and she had this whole list of rules that she had to follow. When she laid out all the rules, the rules actually overwrote each other, and one of the ones that overrode each other was the issue with water. She had to drink over 100 ounces of water a day, and on top of all that water, she couldn't drink 40 minutes before or 40 minutes after a meal and she had to eat every two hours, she as she laid it out. It was completely impossible for her to drink that amount of water, given those rules set forth. When something doesn't work, you have to advocate for yourself. You have to speak up and from there, really follow what your gut is telling you. Listen, I know for me personally, I can drink water with breakfast and lunch. No problem. If I drink water with dinner, it does seem to kind of affect my body's digestion. Now, could it be that, naturally, our digestive systems as the evening comes in, our digestive juices are getting a little bit lower because we're getting ready to sleep? Is it because my meal is too big? It could be because of a number of different things. Personally, I tried not to drink water with my dinner. Now, of course, if I am thirsty or anything like that, I'm going to have a sip of water. And actually, that's one of the things that the India Times article recommended with sipping water throughout the meal, not guzzling 16 to 24 ounces of water as you're trying to eat. That's just a lot of stuff down your system all at once. So, guys, this recommendation for drinking water with meals. You know it doesn't really have the research behind it to say it's going to affect you, but like anything, if you're doing it and you don't feel good, don't do it. Listen to your body. Find out what feels best for you. But don't go stressing out trying to get your water in and not drinking around meals because you think that's healthy. The research just isn't there to say that it's not healthy to drink water with meals. So I hope you guys enjoyed today's episode and I'll talk to you next week. And don't forget to eat your effing veggies and guys. This is a really difficult time right now. Make sure you are taking time to relax, breathe and thank the heroes of this time our medical staff, the people stocking our food shelves. Make sure you take a moment and thank them. I'll talk to you next week