Drinking water : Before/During/After the meal?

I've read different takes. The no-drinking-while-eating reasoning was about diluting the digestive enzymes. You definitely need water in your system to move food through your digestive tract efficiently. As they always say, everything in moderation. A little water with the meal and a little water at other times. You're supposed to drink a lot of water during the day (64 ozs?) and you're supposed to drink it gulp by gulp throughout the day.

Drinking water before a meal is a technique used by people to control the amount of food they intake.

The volume of water fills up the stomach temporarily, giving the body a sense of fullness and leaving less room for food.

littlek,

Two years ago I was in hospital, a doctor explained to me that 10 glasses was the right level of water per day (about five pints) 64ozs is only 3 pints.

The other thing he stressed to me was that it should be consumed in glassfuls, sipping it now and again doesn't do the job, and coffee isn't a substitute. I dont know why since I don't drink it I didn't bother to ask.

your doc needs to go back to school (as do most) there is no "right amount" of water per day. The more water you drink the faster your metabolism. The amount of daily activity in your life will also make the minumum amount you need to intake increase/decrease. It should be ingested in sips because if you gulp you ingest air creating uhh to put it nicely "gas". This means drinking water continuosly throughout the day. Drinking water before a meal is a good idea for most because we as humans tend to overeat we don't realize what size a portion is really suposed to be. before during and after wouldnt be a bad idea lol. drinking water after you eat does help digestion. I don't know how a doctor could even try to say there is a correct amount of glasses or water per day. All cells in the human body require water, we are all different sizes and have different activity lvl's as well as different diets and different body chemestry so it will be different for each person.

I would think, ( just from the common sense view) that your comment about people being different sizes and bodyweights sounds fair enough.

Obviously, a 90 pound female probably doesn't need as much "water or food" as a 200 pound man, but your claim that water should be ingested in sips, has absolutely no validity whatsoever unless you are a qualified doctor, are you?

If not Safecracker, I have to go with the advice of the doctor at Leeds General Infirmary, because I know he is qualified to advise me, and I have no evidence that you are.

What I said could be interpreted ambiguously, although not meant to be ,I wasn't speaking as an expert, I was simply relaying to you the advice that a top class professional gave to me.

I am a certified personal trainer my brother in law is a specialist...I can get you some info to back it up. A peice of paper does not make you a good doctor, I am also taking a post grad in nutrition.....yes I know busy life. how is that comment not valid unless I'm a doctor? Would making me a doctor change the information in the comment? If you drink alot af water at 1 time it will cause you to urinate also. All my comment was saying is common sense when you gulp instead of sip you will ingest more air and that air will want out producing "gas"

The body loses about 6 pints of water a day, but that is based on an average persons activity. Bodybuilders are far more active physically and their bodies will lose a much greater percentage of fluid through perspiration. With this in mind it is a good idea to break your daily intake down and try to follow some guidelines as to when and why to drink water.

First thing in the morning is essential as over night your body will lose water and this needs to be replaced. It will also help to aid your digestive system at breakfast. A minimum intake would be 1 cup (8 ounces), with 2 being preferable.
Before a meal. It is a good idea to consume 1 cup of water 30-45 minutes before a meal again to increase the efficiency of your digestive system.
During the day it is advisable to consume 1 cup every hour. This will maintain a constant level of fluid in your system and help to keep your hunger at bay.
Before a workout. A workout will heavily effect your water supplies and therefore it is advisable to drink plenty of water before hand. By drinking 2 cups 1 hour before training and then 1 more cup 15 minutes before training you will ensure that your water supplies are well stocked before you begin to reduce them.
During training. Being bloated during training can be uncomfortable, however it is important to keep a constant water supply to the body especially on extended workouts. Sipping water during training will help to keep the body hydrated and increase muscular performance.
Before bed. Although being woken in the night needing the toilet can be annoying, it is a good idea to consume a cup of water before going to sleep to help maintain bodily functions over night. You will be without fluid intake for long periods whilst you sleep so it is a good idea to keep the hydrated at this time.
After alcohol. Alcohol is a diuretic so will increase your bodies excretion. It is recommendable to drink a pint of water before bed (assuming you are coming home from a bar or a club) as a minimum as your body will be highly depleted of water.
One final side note for the male population. By remaining well hydrated you can actually increase your natural libido by increase alertness and raising energy levels and you can make your private life more enjoyable by being able sustain an erection for longer periods of time.

I could go on but I don't think theres a need.

Hi safecracker, sounds to me like you know what you are talking about, so I'm happy to defer to your knowledge of the subject, my original comment was merely to pass on what a qualified doctor had advised me to do, what else could I do? I'm a building estimator.

Oh, don't get me wrong I understood where you were comming from lol

Importance of water in our body and its intake is very well known. But I am still not clear whether it is safe to drink 2 or 3 glass of water after meals?. Will it dilute the acids required for digestion?

It's ok to do so it is just more effective to drink it in sips, it won't really hurt you to drink a couple glasses of water after meals. It's better to do that then to not drink it at all.

http://www.nytimes.com/2003/05/06/health/fitness/06THIR.html?tntemail0

This is a New York Times article with various medical professionals describing new guidelines on water drinking. I have tried to cut and paste it, since this article is older than a week and I think you might have to pay a small fee to read it.

edit - hmm, it works for me when I check the link. I think you will find it interesting.

Don't work for me. The general rules will still apply no matter what though.

OK, I managed to cut and paste -

May 6, 2003
New Advice to Runners: Don't Drink the Water
By GINA KOLATA

Every athlete, every fitness enthusiast has heard the advice to drink plenty of water. Drink as much as you can. Don't wait until you are thirsty. By then it may be too late. You may be seriously dehydrated, risking dizziness, collapse, even death. "Stay ahead of your thirst," athletes and would-be athletes are told.

But now USA Track & Field, the national governing body for track and field, long-distance running and race walking, says that advice is wrong. In what it calls a major revision of its guidelines, the organization says endurance athletes, who may be consuming huge amounts of water over the course of a long event, may risk seizures, respiratory failure and even death from drinking too much.

Instead of drinking as much as they can, the new guidelines say, runners should drink when they are thirsty. People in long races like marathons may want to weigh themselves before and after long practice runs to see how much they lose from sweating and drink that amount when they race, and no more. The guidelines are at www.usatf.org.

Dr. David E. Martin, an exercise physiologist at Georgia State University in Atlanta, called the change revolutionary and overdue. He is a co-author of a new advisory statement on fluid replacement in marathons written for the International Marathon Medical Directors Association. It was a supporting statement for the track and field advisory.

Dr. Martin said the old advice was leading to water gorging, with people stopping at every water stop, downing water cups and so diluting their blood that their sodium levels plummeted, a condition known as hyponatremia.

The problem occurs in any endurance event that gives people the time to drink and drink and drink. It emerges among people who hike the Grand Canyon, in those who compete in Ironman Triathlons and, most notably, in marathons.

Hyponatremia is not a problem for elite marathon runners, Dr. Martin said, because they go too fast to drink too much. "Running at a five-minutes-per-mile pace," he said, "there's no way you can drink enough to get hyponatremia."

Those runners, he added, have their own water stations, the elite water stops, where they have their own sports drinks that they have chosen in advance.

Instead, Dr. Martin said, the problem is with slower runners, who may take as long as nine hours to run a race. They may be running with groups of friends, raising money for a favorite charity. Or they may be tourist runners, people who plan vacations around marathons.

"We're worried about this increasingly large group of people, taking courses in how to run a marathon, going to shoe shops to learn how to run," Dr. Martin said. "What has been told to them is the party line. Make sure you drink. You can't drink too much. Carry water with you or you will get dehydrated. Don't worry about heat, just drink more. That's wrong. It's wrong, wrong, wrong."

What about the risks of dehydration, leading to heatstroke as the body temperature soars? Grossly exaggerated, medical experts say. Most athletes who collapse at the finish line suffer from postural hypotension, a drop in blood pressure when blood pools in the legs, and not from heatstroke.

Examining information on illnesses in marathons since 1985, Dr. Martin and Dr. Tim Noakes of the University in Cape Town in South Africa, write in the advisory statement, "It has been difficult to find any studies in which dehydration has been identified as the sole important causative factor in even a single case of exercise-related heatstroke."

But they reported that they found 70 cases of severe hyponatremia.

Many start the race overhydrated, having fallen for what Dr. Heinz Valtin, a physiologist at Dartmouth Medical College, deems a medical myth: that dehydration is always lurking and must be fended off with more or less constant sipping of water.

In a paper published in November in The American Journal of Physiology, he said he could find no scientific support for the common advice for healthy adults to drink at least eight glasses of water a day and that the benefits that have been claimed ?- weight loss, relief of constipation, less fatigue, increased alertness and so on ?- have no foundation in rigorous studies. "In my opinion, the vast majority of healthy people do not need that much water," he said.

Dr. Martin agreed, saying: "People have been carrying bottles of water with them. Some people actually get water intoxication syndrome. They feel lethargic from drinking too much. I worry about the sanity of those people."


Copyright 2003 The New York Times Company

Ever drink so much water in a short period of time, you get buzzed? I used to down almost a gallon of water within a hafl hour before going to the gym, and I'd get lightheaded.

But, I think it does take ALOT of water to actually hurt you. I wouldn't worry about the average person drinking too much water, they'd have to seriously keep forcing it down, like I did a couple times. People running marathons, that's a different story. They're already physically pushing themselves in many different ways.

I've never felt lethargic from drinking too much water(and I do drink alot...already about 5-6 20oz bottles of it today), but I've definitely felt like crap from not drinking enough.

But what it comes down to, you're always going to find studies where people want to argue conventional thinking....some are good studies, some aren't. I don't think there's much concern about people drinking too much water out there...I say keep drinking more. People should be more concerned with all the crap they're drinking in sodas+high sugar drinks.

I've never buzzed, but I've sloshed and gurgled. It isn't conducive to, well, anything.

Drink when you're thirsty. Interesting concept!

There was a sad story in the NY Times recently about a fraternity hazing death in Upstate NY. They made the poor dude drink himself to death--and he was drinking water!

LOL the article supports what I was saying...don't gulp it down, although by the time you are thristy your body is actually saying "need water now, short on water, need now" so sipping is best.....in a race you don't exactly have time to sip.

I have no personal point of view here, just interested. I think I remember seeing another article re other fluids counting for "water" re kidney metabolism, and it seemed reputable to me at the time (yah, I know some fluids have dehydrating effects, I test them all the time...) Alas, I have water on the brain pan and can't remember. I found that NYT article filed in my Health computer file. Hmmm, maybe the other one is somewhere in Favorites...

I found the description of crashes people do as they finish marathons often being related to postural hypertension interesting.

When I stand and try to socialize while holding art gallery openings, a matter of only about four hours, but after a whole day of running around cleaning, yada yada, I come home physically totalled out, with feet yelling and back whining. Not to mention mind shouting from having had to be polite and moderately jolly. I can understand that 26 miles of moving forward vertically could mess you up, postural hypertension-wise.

Very interesting articles/opinions/views about water drinking. In fact no matter how simple or shallow this subject might 'sound' like, it sure triggers lots of arguements. Water is a very very important resource anyway, though it is found almost everywhere and it is cheap (many times for free) , come to think about it, you'll find that water is more expensive than oil (!)
No wonder why nations are begining to put their hands on water reserves these days.