Without water, your body would stop working properly. Water makes up more than half of your body weight, and a person can’t survive for more than a few days without it. Why? Your body has lots of important jobs and it needs water to do many of them. Water is required for nearly every physiologic system in your body! From blood volume to spinal fluid and joint hydration, your body requires a constant level of water in your system.
So how much water should you drink?
8 oz of water, 8 times a day. That’s 1 cup, 8 times a day. There’s no research supporting this rule, but it’s a great place to start. You can monitor your thirst, how you feel, how often you use the restroom, and your urine colour to see if you need to add more or cut back.
Did you know that we wake up in a dehydrated state? Start the day off right with a glass of water and add a pinch of salt to replenish electrolytes!
A QUICK NOTE: Gatorade, Powerade, Red Bull – none of these are necessary or good for you. They have no place in EMA and a healthy diet. They have added sugar and toxic food colorings. The only time people should be using these drinks is if they have been
exercising hard for more than three hours, AND sweating profusely. Children at EMA do not fall into this category. The added salt, calories, and fake and harmful dyes are far more detrimental to the growing body.
CREATING A HABIT
Pack a water bottle with you to school or work. If you’ve got gym class, then drink a little before and more afterwards. Bring a water bottle to EMA. Drink a little before class, when the instructor gives you a water break, and after class. You should never have that thick tongue, dry mouth feeling in class.
Fruits and vegetables’ vibrant colors tell the story of their “super powers.” You see, it’s their “phytonutrients,”or plant nutrients, that help us fight disease and stay stronger for longer. Over the course of a week, we should eat from the colour of the rainbow. What you eat determines how you look, feel and perform. If we eat from the colours of the rainbow, we are guaranteed to get all the vitamins, minerals and antioxidants we require from food, instead of needing to take supplements to get them. The natural route is always the best.
THE RAINBOW
REDS – tomatoes, cranberries, raspberries, watermelon, chili-powder, apples.
ORANGE – cantaloupe, citrus fruits, mango, squash, turmeric, pumpkin, sweet potato, peaches.
GREEN – green beans arugula, snap peas, broccoli, cabbage, spinach, kale, bok choy, green peas, chard, collards, brussel sprouts, cilantro, parsley, green tea.
BLUE/INDIGO – eggplant, blueberries, beets, grapes, prunes, blackberries, purple potatoes, cacao.
ULTRAVIOLET (WHITE) – garlic, onions, parsnips, coconut, apples, rutabaga, potatoes, cauliflower.
CREATING THE HABIT
Use your phone, a Post-It on the fridge, or notebook to track your fruit and veggies during the week. You must eat 15 different fruits and vegetables over the course of the week.
The benefits of slow eating include better digestion, better hydration, easier weight loss or maintenance, and greater satisfaction with our meals. Meanwhile, eating quickly leads to poor digestion, increased weight gain, and lower satisfaction. The message is clear: Slow down your eating and enjoy improved health and well-being. When you eat slowly, you digest better. You lose or maintain weight more easily. Yet you also feel more satisfied with each meal.
SENSING SATISFACTION
One of the most important benefits of eating slowly is that it gives your body time to recognize that you’re full. It takes about twenty minutes from the start of a meal for the brain to send out signals of satiety. Most people’s meals don’t even last that long! Imagine the extra calories you could ingest simply because you didn’t allow your body time to register that it no longer required food. Eating slowly also helps us feel more satisfied, which is different than just being “full”.
CREATING THE HABIT
STOP AT 80% FULL
Since it takes at least 20 minutes for our brains to register that we are full, eat only until you are just satisfied. Having that last piece pizza will only make you feel uncomfortable, and you will most likely regret it later.
WHAT DOES IT MEAN TO EAT LIKE A HUMAN? It means eating how we evolved, over tens of thousands of years, to eat. Oreo’s and Bubble Tea were not part of our Ancestor’s diet. We evolved, and with it our brain developed, off of wild foods. This means eating a massive array of vegetables, fruits, meats, fish, nuts, seeds, herbs, and drinking only water, tea’s and maybe coffee. There is no such thing as kids foods or grown-up foods. Beyond the stage of nursing babies on mothers’ milk and first foods for babies, we all need to basically eat the same. Every human requires the same essential vitamins, minerals, proteins, carbohydrates and fats.
Fish crackers (and all other crackers), cookies, donuts, granola bars, yogurt tubes, cheerios, Frosted Flakes (and most cereals) – are all junk food, not fit for children, and especially not for adults. They are not healthy snacks, and besides being convenient and containing calories, provide almost no nutrients to the growing child.
FOR KIDS – Just Eat Real Food.
Eat as many fruits and vegetables as you want. Try to eat some quality protein every day (meat or seafood). Limit your treats like cookies, crackers, chocolate, ice cream to just a couple of times a week, like after a Saturday EMA class.
