July Masterclass:

ALL ABOUT HYDRATION

 Introduction
Which one do you think is most important for your body - water or food?

When it comes to your survival, the prize goes to water.

Even mild dehydration (1% of your body’s water) can cause irritability and brain fog, and many
people live in this state of mild dehydration. Experimenting with hydration and really working at
spending a few days well hydrated will let you see how your body feels when it’s happily water-
filled.

Funny story, many years ago an acquaintance tried to sell me a very expensive ($5000+)
alkaline water system (my unfiltered opinion on alkaline water is in Part 3). They tried really
hard, spouting all of the amazing benefits they had felt since getting their machine.

They had better energy, clearer skin, better sleep, fewer sugar cravings in the afternoon, it was
amazing! Yes, those are great benefits! …but they’re all the benefits from being fully hydrated,
NOT from drinking alkaline water.

I assume many people who buy these machines feel the same way, and they connect their
feelings to the magic of this expensive machine. But, I see it a little differently. I think that
spending big bucks on a water machine had motivated them to drink more water, and that’s why
they felt so great.

It was the hydration, not the machine :)

Even I struggle with hydration sometimes and I’m a MEGA water drinker. The amount of water
you need each day varies and this masterclass is full of ideas and tips to help keep those cells of
yours happy and water-filled.
This masterclass is in three parts:

Part 1: Hydration Basics – this is a quick guide to why your body needs water.
Part 2: How to stay hydrated – these are some tips and tricks to hydrate quickly and get into the
habit of drinking water each day.
Part 3: Hydration Qs – common questions and the questions you’ve submitted

If you have any questions whatsoever, send them to me by email or post them below. Now let’s
dive in!

Part 1: Hydration Basics

Your body is about 60% water and the balance of water in your body and your cells plays a key
role in your health. Your body can only survive for 3 days without water.

Strangely, in this age of modern medicine, how much water we need to drink each day is still
unknown. There’s very little science behind the “8 glasses of water a day” recommendation, and
I think we’ll find that the amount we need each day varies and each person absorbs and utilizes
water differently. 8 glasses of water isn’t a bad starting point though, it’s super important to
stay hydrated!

Benefits of being hydrated:

Better energy
Clear thinking
Better mood
Fewer headaches (esp if headaches are triggered by water loss, 40% of people suffer from
dehydration headaches)
 Better physical performance (athletes or just for a hike) – losing 2% of body’s water = lower
performance
Better colon health (dehydration can trigger constipation)
Supports the kidneys and reduces the risk of kidney stones
Increases metabolism
Happier joints & less joint pain

Signs of dehydration (other than thirst):

Bad breath – your production of saliva slows down, causing bacteria to overgrow
Constipation – your colon will hold onto fecal matter longer so it can suck all of the moisture
out of it. Dry, hard, pellet poops are a sign of dehydration-induced constipation
Sweet cravings – your energy dips and your body taps into your glycogen stores (stored
sugar). Your body sends a signal to have sugar to replenish your glycogen stores, instead of
water which is what it really needs.
Dizziness – dehydration drops your blood volume and blood pressure, making it harder for
your body to push the blood up to your head. Feeling light-headed or woozy encourages you
to lay down to allow your brain to get more blood/oxygen. This is more common with people
who have low blood pressure normally.
Dry skin – your skin isn’t getting hydrated and the drop in blood volume causes dry skin
Dry irritated eyes – your eyes need water to stay moisturized. This is one of my first signs of
dehydration
Feeling cold – your blood flow lessens when you’re dehydrated, lowering the circulation to
your hands and feet, making you cold even on a hot day!
Headache – your brain sits inside a sac of fluid to protect it as you move around in your day.
Dehydration lowers the volume of liquid in this sac, causing a headache
Irritability – research has found that even minor dehydration (a 1% decrease in water
levels) can cause irritability
https://www.livescience.com/36106-mild-dehydration-triggers-moodiness-fatigue-
women.html
 Muscle cramping – dehydration affects the electrolyte balance in your muscles, causing
cramping. (low magnesium levels can also cause cramping)
Sleepiness – your brain needs water to work properly! Staying hydrated can reduce
dehydration-induced brain fog and sleepiness (low adrenals and digestive issues can also
cause brain fog, but see if water helps :)

Can I be too hydrated???

Yes and if it can be deadly (but you’ve gotta drink ENORMOUS amounts of water for that to
happen).

Like this woman who died after drinking 11 litres (2 gallons) of water in 3 hours to win a
contest:
https://abcnews.go.com/GMA/jury-rules-radio-station-jennifer-strange-water-drinking/story?
id=8970712

In general, over-hydration can be a minor problem, especially if you’re like me and has a water-
lovin’ body (my body prefers 6+ litres a day). Your electrolytes get flushed out with the water
and if it’s too extreme (like the woman in that contest), it can lead to death. But mostly, it just
flushes out important minerals that need to be replaced.

Completely colourless urine is a good sign that you may have overhydrated, pale yellow (or
lemonade coloured) is the goal.

If you feel like you may have overhydrated, but this isn’t a common occurrence, then just cut
back on your liquid intake and make sure you’re getting some extra minerals (aka veggies) in
your next meal.
If you’re a chronic over-hydrator (like me…), there are a few things you can do to make sure
your water gets into your body better instead of just flushing out:

use unsweetened electrolytes or a pinch of salt in your water 1x or 2x per day

-I find this works really well for me and I can feel good with ½ to 2/3 of the water I
normally drink
Enjoy some watery fruit and veggies, like watermelon and cucumbers. They’re so nutrient-
dense that the water absorbs really easily
squeeze some lemon or lime into your water, it provides some electrolytes to help with
hydration (and it’s yummy :)

Part 2: How to Stay Hydrated

Your thirst mechanism isn’t always accurate, especially on a hot day or if you’re not a regular
water drinker. Your “hey, I could use some water” signal from your body might be so quiet that
it’s easy to ignore and the first sign you get is “I’M THIRSTY!!! GET ME WATER!”, and by then it
can be hard to rehydrate.

Every day your hydration needs to change because your lifestyle is a bit different. You might
have more dehydrators and less natural hydrators and so you need to drink more water.
Knowing the basic amount you need can be a good starting point.

Let’s look and what can dehydrate and hydrate our lovely bodies:

Dehydrators:
1. Talking
Talking is a HUGE dehydrator. You may have noticed that I’m always sipping on something
during my videos and consultations. The water I’m drinking only balances out the water I’m
loosing while talking. It prevents dehydration but doesn’t add to my hydration.
Any day you spend talking a lot is a day that you’ll need extra water to compensate. Exactly how
much depends on the person, but aim for at least ½ litre for every 2 hours of talking. You may
need much more (I need ½ litre for every hour or so)

2. Alcohol
Have you ever looked in the mirror after a few drinks and wondered where all of those wrinkles
came from? Ya…me too. That’s because alcohol is a major dehydrator/diuretic. It flushes out
water really REALLY fast.

(all of those commercials that sell the concept of a refreshing cold beer on a hot day are lying)

Drinking a glass of water for every alcoholic drink can help save you from a hangover and help
your body stay a bit more hydrated. Also, make sure you’re pretty darn hydrated before you
start drinking, otherwise, it’s darn near impossible to catch up.

3. Caffeine in High Amounts

Caffeine only becomes dehydrating in doses around 250–300 mg. This is the equivalent of two
to three 240-ml cups of coffee or five to eight 240-ml cups of tea. So, it takes A LOT of caffeine
to be a dehydrator.

This means, that first cup of tea or coffee in the morning is adding to your water intake, but the
3rd cup is starting to drain the water out of you.

BUT! Many coffee shops have very high-octane coffee. A 240ml Starbucks coffee (short) can
have as much as 180mg of caffeine! So one “tall” Starbucks order will tip you over that 250mg
mark.

Espresso has much less caffeine, generally closer to 75mg and darker roasts have less caffeine.
4. Exercise
Movement warms you up from the inside out and you sweat to cool yourself off. The more you
sweat the more water you lose (but even non-sweaters can dehydrate with exercise).

Leg cramps and restless legs after exercise can be due to both dehydration and low levels of
minerals (like magnesium, an electrolyte). If you get this symptom often you might be
chronically dehydrated!

5. Diarrhea
This is a much more deadly issue in third-world countries than it is where most of you live, but it
still can be a concern.

When our body has an intestinal infection, it tries to flush it out as quickly as possible by pulling
as much water as possible into the colon, hence the watery poops. Over time, this can cause
serious dehydration because very little water is being absorbed.

Electrolytes can be helpful, but if it continues for more than a few days or if you’re feeling
dangerously dehydrated (dizzy, lightheaded, etc), seek medical attention promptly.

Now for the good stuff – let’s get hydrated!!

I’m going to share with you many different ways to hydrate your body, but the most effective
one is also the simplest – get in the habit of drinking water.

I know, I know, it can be really difficult to remember and it’s a very VERY common struggle with
my clients.
Tips to remember to drink water:

Drink a large glass of water when you first wake up in the morning. Put it by your bed or on
the kitchen counter so you don’t forget. It helps to get your colon moving too.
Buy a water bottle that you love and add a few hair elastics around the bottom. Each time
you fill it up move one of the hair elastics up. It’ll give you a visual of how much water you’ve
had.
Make homemade iced tea with a yummy flavoured herbal tea (I’m drinking chilled raspberry
tea right now). The flavour can make it easier to guzzle it down.
Set reminders on your phone or use a water reminder app (yes, those exist…have apps
solved all of our problems? ☺)
Bring water with you when you head out the door for more than an hour. Being in close
quarters with a bottle of water will encourage you to grab it and drink it :)
Refill your glass or bottle of water as soon as you notice it’s empty.
Keep an eye on your urine colour – dark urine means get some water!

How to Hydrate Fast!

Even with your best intentions, there’s a very good chance that you’ll be dehydrated at some
point. It happens to the best of us.

When that happens, here are some ways to pull the water into your system fast!

1. Sea Salt - add a pinch of sea salt to your water. Water follows salt and works wonders at
increasing your hydration. But, if it tastes salty, your body doesn’t want it so dump it out and
refill with regular water. Enjoy it if it tastes wonderfully refreshing to you :).
2. Electrolytes or Coconut Water – if your body doesn’t like salt then it could be that it
needs some potassium instead. Coconut water and most electrolytes are super high in
potassium (steer clear of Gatorade and other sugary electrolyte drinks)
 3. Fruit – a piece of fruit is a great way to hydrate because it’s full of water and all of the
electrolytes. It can even help the water you drink absorb better!
4. Lemon or Lime – squeeze some lemon or lime into your water to make it taste better and
to help with absorption.
5. Eat lots of fruits and veggies - they contain 80 – 99% water!! Watermelon and cucumber
are particularly full of water :)

Do an experiment -
It’s hard to get into habit of drinking more water when your body is used to being chronically
dehydrated (remember, slight dehydration causes lots of problems).

Commit to 2 - 3 days of drinking lots of water and see how your body feels.

Notice your symptoms - energy, clear thinking, clear skin, happy joints, change in pain.
Then, when you fall back into your old habits, how do you feel? When you really notice and feel
the change, new habits become easier ❤.

In the next section I’ve answered all of the questions you’ve submitted. If you have any other
questions, send them to me and I’ll add them to the list!

Part 3: Hydration Qs
What do I do if water goes straight through me?

Do you feel like water just flushes through you? Your bladder is very full AND you’re thirsty? If
so, there are some ways to help it absorb a bit better.
Enjoy some watery food can increase your absorption by slowing down the liquid in your
digestive system. Vitamins, minerals, fat, protein, and a bit of sugar are really helpful. Here are a
few high-water foods with these nutrients
fruit and veggies (low in fat, but contain the other important ones :)
yogurt (it’s surprisingly high in water)
soup
watered down fruit juice (straight juice has too much sugar, which affects the water’s
absorption)

Or, try adding a pinch of sea salt to your water. Water follows salt and it makes it easier for the
water to be absorbed through your intestinal tract instead of just flushed out.

I’m not drinking water with meals…but now I’m struggling to stay hydrated!

I had the same problem when I first moved my water intake away from meals. It helped my
digestion but man! It was hard to drink enough!

Drinking at different times does become a secured habit eventually, but here are a few things to
try while you’re still in the new habit limbo zone.

First, drink a big glass of water when you first wake up. Your body loses water as you sleep so
it’s a great time to rehydrate and it tends to get the digestive system moving (this is extra
helpful if you deal with constipation).

Put some water where you can see it between meals. It can be hard to remember to drink when
you’re not used to drinking and visual cues are helpful. Reminders on your phone to fill a glass
or water bottle might also be helpful.
Drink out of a bigger glass. This is surprisingly effective and helped me a lot one summer. I’m a
good water drinker in general (I have a VERY strong thirst signal), but one hot summer I found
myself dehydrated a lot (with unpleasant bloodshot eyes and irritated sinuses). I spend most of
my workday on my deck and I realized that I wasn’t walking into the house to fill my water glass
enough.

That’s when I switched to the 1 litre mason jar I’m sure you’ve seen me drink out of in Q&A
videos. It worked like a charm :)

Does putting ‘good salt’ in water help with hydration?

Yes! It does!

Water follows salt and it allows the water to pass through your intestinal wall easier. Also,
sodium is an electrolyte and that also helps with hydration. Low sodium levels can be very
dangerous which is why athletes sometimes use salt tablets in their water.

But/and, you don’t have to drink super salty seawater to gain the benefits of adding sea salt (or
Himalayan salt) to your water. Start with a pinch – if it tastes terribly salty to you then your
body doesn’t need any extra sodium (your body always knows). If instead it feels amazingly
refreshing, then keep it up and/or add a bit more. You can adjust the salt in your water every
day from none to a tbsp, depending on how it tastes to you. For most people, a pinch does the
trick :)

Why do I retain water???

This isn’t quite a hydration question but it relates to hydration because sometimes all that
water you drink goes to the wrong place…like your ankles or belly.
If it’s a chronic problem then you might be prescribed a diuretic (water pill). This helps to
release the excess water from your system but it will also dehydrate you. You need to be extra
EXTRA careful with your water intake if you’re on a water pill.

High histamine levels and deficiencies in Vitamin B6 can also cause a lot of water retention. If
you add some water weight when you suffer from allergies, then a natural antihistamine like
quercetin or Vitamin C might help.

Movement helps to move water that’s accumulated in your lymphatic system (might show up in
your arms or legs). Being sedentary or standing for long periods can pool liquid at your
extremities. If you’re dealing with a lot of lymphatic retention, a good physiotherapist can give
you exercises to help drain this fluid and fit you with a compression garment to help reduce the
swelling.

Some conditions and medications can cause you to be extra thirsty and hold onto water:
congestive heart failure (CHF)
liver disease
kidney problems
syndrome of inappropriate antidiuretic hormone
nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drugs
uncontrolled diabetes

What about alkaline water?

Alkaline water is all the rage and you’d think that I would be all for it. But I’m not.

First, I am a fan of eating more mineral-dense alkaline forming foods. There’s some reasonable
evidence that they can help strengthen bones and help the body function properly. But, that
doesn’t include alkaline water.
Most alkaline water is created through mineral filters that increase the alkalinity. Usually
bringing it to a pH of 8 – 10. It doesn’t take a lot of minerals to alkalize water, so I don’t feel that
it would make much of a difference in your body re: your alkalinity. Others use ionization.

But, it may (this is a BIG “may”) be harmful. Natural spring water is a pH of 7, which is very
neutral. If the pH of a lake rises to over 8 then the fish die. How is this alkaline water bad for fish
somehow good for us?

Overall, there’s a lot of hype about alkaline water but very little research to support it. It’s
probably not very harmful but probably isn’t worth the money.

Should I start my day with a glass of lemon and water?

Yes! It helps to flush out your gallbladder and it’s a tasty way to get your first glass of water in
each day :)

In Conclusion

Drink water, stay hydrated, keep your body happy. I don’t know why it took me 3500 words to
say that, but it’s true :). If you have any hydration questions, send them along and I’ll add them
to this masterclass.

And go drink some water!