Healthy individuals meet their daily fluid needs by drinking something whenever they feel thirsty and by also drinking fluids with their meals.
Each one of us needs to drink the amount of water that we need to function optimally; this is determined by age, gender, lifestyle, physicality and geographical area.
How Can I Meet My Daily Fluid Needs?
You can meet most of your daily water requirements by drinking sufficient water throughout the day, and also by eating foodstuffs that are high in water content such as celery, oranges, tomatoes, and melons, as well as soups and broths.
While you can get around 20% of your daily water requirement from water-rich foods and other liquids, it is vital that the other 80% comes from drinking water.
Your body loses water throughout the day through normal everyday functions, and this needs to be replaced regularly in order to prevent dehydration. Under normal circumstances most people drink enough fluids to meet their water needs, but if you are doing some type of vigorous activity or are outside in hot weather for most of the day, you may need to increase your fluid intake.
This can easily be done by:
- Starting your day off with a large glass of water before eating or drinking anything else; this will kick-start your system and make up for all the hours of dehydration while asleep;
- Choosing water instead of other beverages when eating out;
- Adding a few slices of lemon or lime to your water to give it a nice refreshing taste;
- Making sure that you eat at least a few water-rich fruit and vegetables every day;
Investing in a water cooler with a filter that can provide you with easy access to pure, filtered, chilled water that tastes so good that you will be encouraged to drink more of it is still the best method of ensuring that both you and your family or colleagues are sufficiently hydrated on a daily basis.
Buy a water cooler online or rent water dispenser from Living-Water Ltd.