Ways to stay hydrated

[mikeyarmo]

Due to some discussion regarding my dehydration and others who experienced dehydration, I thought that this would be a helpful thread for everyone to see and contribute to. While dehydration does often appear to be a problem for me, I take many steps to eliminate it.

I avoid caffeine basically 100% (will have the very rare soft drink, but this may be once a month or every 3 weeks at most). I never got into drinking coffee (on purpose ) and soft drinks contain the sugar and caffeine that I really do not desire. Instead I am drinking more water and fruit juice, which still has to be limited though (especially ones that are not 100% fruit juice and contain a lot of sugar also).

I drink 2(ish) litres a day. I usually go through almost one litre before noon, as I find that after breakfast (which is also when I take my medication) my dehydration is most noticable.

I also try to watch my sodium (salt) intake. It is surprising how much sodium is in many foods (boxed and dry foods especially) so be mindful of the labels before you eat some products.


In case you are curious or unsure, some common dehydration symptoms include:

• low urine output
• dry mouth and throat/ feeling thirsty
• headache
• feeling of irratibility or lack of concentration (seen mostly if very dehydrated)

 

[Jeff D.]

If you exercise, even though it has a lot of sugar, you have to drink gatorade. If you buy the mix and put a third of what you should put in with the mix and then supplement that by adding more water then it will taste less sweet and will be better for you. I drink those little .5 litre bottles of water and drink anywhere from four to eight of those a day. Fruit juices especially if you live near a place that sells local fresh lemons or just lemons without pesticides and other crap will do. Get a glass of water and squeeze the lemon in the cup. Mix it after and even use the lemon rine and you will get a very tart and tasty drink, this is also a very good after exercise drink. Just make sure you mix it well or else there will be different levels of tart and water.

Those are all of the symptoms I get when I get dehydrated.

 

[Kossy]

Seeing that I have no colon and I am missing a lot of small intestine I dehydrate very quickly if I am doing any activity that causes me to sweat a lot. To counter that situation I pretty much drink gatorade by the ton. I know gatorade isn't cheap but if you get it in bulk it's pretty reasonable. At Sam's Club you can get a 24 case for 12 bucks. Which isn't bad think it only cost 50 cents a bottle compared to buying a bottle at 7-11 for a buck seventy five.