During my freshman year of college, I was a cheerleader at Florida State, and anyone who knows SEC football knows that the ‘Noles have a powerhouse program, even though the last couple of seasons have been mediocre.
Back when I was in Tallahassee, I can remember watching the offensive and defensive units go at each other in the hot Florida afternoons, and every half hour or so, they’d take a well-earned water break. Well, make that a Gatorade break, which is ironic since our rival school—the University of Florida Gators—was where Gatorade was invented forty years ago.
It wasn’t that long ago that football coaches didn’t allow their hot, thirsty players any sort of water break. Back in the 1960s, football players were told to “suck it up” by going through an entire practice without taking a sip of water. Bear Bryant, the legendary coach for the Alabama Crimson Tide, banned water breaks as a test of toughness.
Coach Bryant wasn’t making his football players tough; he was unwittingly ruining their bodies. The body needs water—and lots of it. Every twenty-four hours, the body recycles the equivalent of 40,000 glasses of water to maintain its normal physiological functions. Fluids in urine eliminate waste products, and fluids elsewhere in the body dissipate excess heat and cool the body. Running a body without enough water in the tank would be like trying to run a car without oil. You might be able to turn the engine on, but you won’t get very far before you break down. The body needs constant hydration, and that hydration should come from drinking water, the best liquid out there.
Water—which, in its pure form, is odorless and colorless—is the perfect fluid replacement for football players and anyone else breathing air on this planet. Only God could come up with a calorie-free and sugar-free substance that regulates body temperature, carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells, cushions joints, protects organs and tissues, removes toxins, and maintains strength and endurance. Water makes up 92 percent of your blood plasma and 50 percent of everything else in the body. Why any football coach would stop players from slurping a water bottle is beyond me, but it happened.
Thankfully that type of thinking is in the past, and today’s football coaches understand the importance of keeping their players well hydrated. Football players who drink plenty of water (and other liquids) are less prone to injuries and better able to perform on the gridiron. You would do well to emulate that behavior, even if you’re not working out in 100-degree heat in helmet and pads.
You should, however, be drinking water like a thirsty football player—at least eight glasses a day. Sure, you’ll be beating a path to the toilet a lot more often, but drinking plenty of water will prevent injuries and diseases and allow you to enjoy vibrant health. I take this advice to heart: I sip water throughout the day from a 48-ounce bottle of Trinity Springs Water, which comes from natural springs and contains a high mineral content.
My record for drinking water is one and one-quarter gallons of water in a day during a fast, but I won’t reveal how many trips I made to the bathroom. I also drink water before each meal and before, during, and after exercise, knowing that I need extra fluid to offset perspiration.
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If you would like to learn more about Jordan Rubin, author of the New York Times best-selling book, The Maker's Diet, as well as his other 18 books, visit www.jordanrubin.com |
Water is an overlooked resource by athletes seeking to lose weight. Many times athletes, I’ve found, confuse hunger and thirst. They think they’re hungry when actually they’re dehydrated. Drinking fluids will not only hydrate the body for all the good reasons I’ve just described, but it will put a damper on those hunger pains coming from the pit of the stomach.
If you’re trying to lose weight, drink an eight-ounce glass of water the next time you feel hungry. Drinking a glass a half hour before lunch or dinner will act like a governor on an engine, taking the edge off your hunger pangs and preventing you from raiding the fridge or pillaging the pantry.
F. Batmanghelidj, M.D. and author of You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty!, contends that you will lose weight if you drink a glass of water one half hour before your eat and two glasses two-and-a-half hours later. “You will feel full and will eat only when food is needed,” he says. “The volume of food intake will decrease drastically. The type of craving for food will also change. With sufficient water intake, we tend to crave proteins more than fattening carbohydrates.”
I think there needs to be a new ad campaign:
Water—it does a body good.
