Getting Healthy with Rick Bellanti

bellantiBy: Rick Bellanti – Dec. 2015

When I was approached to write a monthly wellness column, I knew that my first article was going to be about daily water intake. It’s one of the most important ingredients for your health and wellness and also the easiest to do and keep track of.

Water makes up about 60 percent of our bodyweight and is essential for keeping your body running at an optimal level. Water allows oxygen and essential nutrients to travel throughout your body and will help flush toxins out of vital organs while carrying nutrients to your cells. It keeps you hydrated as well as helping you sustain energy and concentration. There are plenty of studies that suggest that being dehydrated causes fatigue and loss of energy, which will ultimately affect your mood and may even cause headaches.

Many times I’m asked: Can drinking water help me lose weight? Drinking water may help you lose weight (in my opinion) as drinking water throughout the day may prevent you from eating when you are not actually hungry, as sometimes when we are getting hunger pains it’s just the body telling us we need more hydration instead. I also suggest drinking a full 8-10oz glass of water thirty minutes before your meals to help fill you up and eat less.

Another question that I’m asked is: How much water should I drink daily? Most health sources still recommend that to maintain a healthy lifestyle, eight – 8oz glasses of water daily is sufficient. They do include other fluids you drink in that amount as well such as if you drink coffee, tea, soda, juice as all part of your water intake. Keep in mind though if you are trying to lose weight all of these have added calories as well.

When I started my journey to lose weight and get healthy, it was suggested to me that if you are in a weight loss mode (as I still am) you want to drink much more water daily. Some have even suggested to me to drink half your body weight in water (which seemed impossible for me to do as when I started my weight loss journey I was 415lbs so drinking 200+ ounces of water seemed impossible). Personally, I drink eight 16oz glasses throughout the day (128 ounces).

I know some readers just don’t like plain water, I never did either, but just like anything else it takes time to get used to. Try dressing it up a little with a lemon or a lime wedge. Soon it becomes a habit, and now when I find myself at restaurants, I have no problem ordering water with lemon or a lime wedge in it.

Rick Bellanti is a wellness coach and is on a journey himself to lose 240lbs, and has lost 106lbs since the start of 2015. If you have any questions or comments, please post them to his Getting Healthy with Rick Bellanti Facebook page and once a month he will address a few of the topics here.