Signs of Dehydration and 6 Healthy Rehydration Drinks to Add to Your Diet

signs of dehydration: how to tell if you're suffering from dehydration symptoms plus 6 rehydration drinks you can have instead of water. these dehydration remedies will help to keep you hydrated without while still remaining healthy.

You know that you should be drinking 8 glasses of water per day but how many of them do you actually get around to? You may be suffering from dehydration without even knowing it!

If you do not drink enough, sweat too much, or have severe diarrhea, you can become dehydrated. Mild to moderate dehydration isn’t that dangerous and can be corrected simply by drinking more fluids.

If the dehydration worsens and becomes severe dehydration, you may need to have IV fluids to correct the condition.

Signs of Dehydration

How can you tell if you’re dehydrated? Here are some signs and symptoms of mild to moderate dehydration:

• Having a dry mouth
• Feeling fatigued or sleepy all the time
• Having increased thirstiness
• Having a decreased urine output with urine that is more yellow than it usually is
• Having dry or flaky skin
• Being dizzy
• Having a headache from low blood volume in the brain
• Crying without have many tears

If the dehydration is allowed to worsen and you continue to lose body water, you may see the following signs and symptoms of severe dehydration:

• A severe reduction in the output of urine or the absence of urine at all. If there is any urine produced, it will be scant in amount and a deep yellow color or amber/brown color.
• Lightheadedness or severe dizziness that is worse when you stand up or get up from a reclining position.
• Orthostatic hypotension. This is a severe drop in blood pressure that occurs when you try to get up after sitting or lying down.
• Rapid heart rate from the heart trying to compensate for a low blood volume.
• Fever, which is usually low grade in nature
• Seizures, which are usually grand mal seizures
Poor elasticity of the skin. When you pinch it, the skin tents up and doesn’t go back to its normal position.
• Being lethargic or confused
• Going into a coma
• Suffering from extreme shock, which can be life-threatening.

Dehydration has a way of sneaking up on you, especially if you are otherwise occupied with other things, such as the activity you are doing or are wrapped up in being sick with vomiting and diarrhea.

As soon as you start to feel the symptoms, you need to be thinking about hydrating yourself.

Treating Mild To Moderate Dehydration

If the symptoms are mild and you can still drink, try to step up the amount of fluids you are taking in. Water is perhaps the best choice for treating dehydration. Other good choices include electrolyte drinks or rehydration salts which provide liquids plus electrolytes, which can be lost in sweating, vomiting, or having diarrhea.

If the problem is due to vomiting or diarrhea, you can buy some Pedialyte or your doctor may prescribe anti-emetic (anti-nausea) medication. 

Over the counter anti-diarrheal medication is another choice as long as the diarrhea isn’t from food poisoning. (In such cases, it is best to replace fluids only and allow the bacteria causing the diarrhea to flush out of your system).

Treating Severe Dehydration

If the dehydration is severe and you are suffering from some of the severe dehydration symptoms listed above, you need to consider checking yourself into a hospital and receiving IV fluids.

IV fluids have not only the water you need but contain sugars and salt solution that will restore your normal electrolyte balance. It can take as little as a liter of fluid to turn around the dehydration or as many as five or more liters of IV fluid.

Consequences Of Severe Dehydration

Besides seizures, one of the main consequences of severe dehydration includes damage to the kidneys. If the kidneys do not have fluid to flush through the tubules, you can actually suffer from acute kidney failure.

The kidneys can shut down and will only return to normal functioning with careful replacement of fluids and time. Replacing the fluids too fast, however, can result in cerebral edema and electrolyte disturbance within the brain.

Stay Hydrated

To avoid these horrible consequences drink water regularly. This is easy when you always have access to water, by keeping a bottle of water in your car, and on your desk or near you wherever you work. You can even keep a small bottle in your handbag and refill it throughout the day.

How Water Intake Helps You Regulate What And How Much You Eat

One very good reason that you may want to always drink your daily required amount of water is for weight loss or maintenance.

Weight loss can be a hard task for anyone. There’re so many different elements that go into losing weight that it can be like learning a completely new way of life. 

There is one simple thing that you can do to help regulate how much and what you eat and that is to drink more water. Drinking water is not a magical cure-all, but it may seem like it after you learn what it can do to help you regulate your eating.

Water Aids Digestion Through Saliva

Digestion starts with saliva and saliva is made mostly of water. According to Everyday Health, the enzymes in saliva are the beginning of the digestive tract.

These enzymes help break down food so that they can be properly digested in the stomach. Without these enzymes, food would never be able to be broken down in the stomach.

Water also helps to break down the fiber in your food. Water-soluble fiber is one of the biggest factors that lead to you feeling full after you eat. If you have not had enough water, or are dehydrated, digesting water-soluble fiber becomes almost impossible.

Make sure that you are able to digest this food element properly by drinking lots of water.

Water Soluble Vitamins

One of the reasons that we eat food is to get access to vitamins. Vitamins and minerals are vital to various body functions. Deficits in these minerals and vitamins can cause cravings in the body.

There are some vitamins that can be absorbed using certain fats and some that we must be hydrated to absorb. The difference between fat soluble and water soluble vitamins is how they are used and stored in the body.

Water soluble vitamins are excreted and not stored. That means if we’re not properly hydrated, we’re not retaining enough of these vitamins, mainly Vitamins B and C.

San Francisco Gate tells how the body cannot digest certain water-soluble vitamins without enough water in the body. These vitamins break down with the water in the digestive tract and are then absorbed into the body.

Absorption of these essential vitamins stops when dehydration occurs, or when there is not enough water in the body.

When even slight deficiencies are present, you may begin craving additional foods even though you’re not hungry.

These cravings are due to vitamin deficiencies and not hunger so make sure that you have enough water so that you can digest all of your water-soluble vitamins.

Water Helps You to Eat Fewer Calories

Water can help you eat fewer calories than you would if you didn’t drink water before meals. Livestrong notes a study where participants consumed 75-90 fewer calories with 2 8-oz glasses before dinner per meal.

Now consuming 90 fewer calories per meal may not seem like a whole lot. However, if you did this every meal you could lose up to 28 pounds a year.

How?

If you save 90 calories a meal, three times a day, that’s 270 calories every day that you’re not eating. If you do this every day for a week, you’ve not consumed 1890 calories.

Continue saving that 90 calories a meal every week for a year, and you’ve saved 98,280 calories. 3500 calories make up a pound. In weight loss, the theory is that a deficit of 3500 calories means 1 pound of weight loss.

By saving 98,280 cals you’ve created a pretty big gap, meaning 28 pounds!
On the flipside, if you were to continue eating as normal that 90 calories could be in excess.

Therefore, instead of saving yourself you’ve actually gained 28 pounds in a year, all things being equal. All of this weight loss or weight gain is changed by only drinking two 8-ounce glasses of water before each meal.

Hunger And Thirst Cues Are the Same

You may be reaching for a snack when what you should be reaching for is a tall glass of water. This article describes how the body sends out the exact same signal for hunger that it does for thirst.

Many people don’t know how to tell the difference between hunger and thirst, and because we so rarely think about dehydration, we assume that we are hungry. Next time you’re getting hunger signals from your brain try reaching for a glass of water instead.

You may find out that you were just thirsty.

Now you know four surprising ways that water can help you control how much and what you eat. Now I hear many of you saying just how boring water is! Can you drink anything else and still lose weight and be healthy?

6 alternatives to water: these healthy hydrating beverages will help you to stay hydrated in the summer heat when you just an't drink any more water. learn the effects of dehydration and how to stay hydrated with these rehydration drinks

6 Healthy Rehydration Drinks To Add To Your Diet

When people get tired of drinking water, they often choose to drink sodas or other types of unhealthy drinks filled with overwhelming amounts of sugar.

Although it’s completely normal to tire of water from time to time, you should be more careful about what you choose to use as a substitute for it.

Nothing can replace water. It’s without a doubt the healthiest option and is needed by your body in order to function properly.

Nevertheless, if you’re looking to add some variety to spice up your waterlogged diet, then you can consider adding these five healthy rehydration drinks to your diet.

Orange Juice

Drinking a glass of fresh squeezed orange juice in the morning is the perfect way to start your day. Some people don’t want to put in the effort to prepare orange juice on a regular basis. If you don’t have enough motivation to do so, then at least try to make it when it will be most useful.

For example, making it during allergy season is always a good idea, since this drink is known for soothing seasonal allergies, thanks to its quercetin and vitamin C content .

It’s also worth mentioning that because this drink is an excellent source of vitamin C, it can strengthen your immune system and make you less vulnerable to different diseases.

If you’re buying orange juice instead of making it yourself, make sure to buy the no-sugar-added, calcium-fortified version, as that will provide you with more health benefits, such as improved bone health.

Green Tea

The next time you feel like drinking a cup of coffee, try to prepare a cup of green tea instead. Not only will this provide you with the energy boost that you would seek in a cup of coffee, but it will also provide you with some great health benefits.

Green tea is an awesome source of polyphenols and flavonoids, which are natural antioxidants that help protect your cells from various harmful toxins. Due to its high antioxidant content, green tea can reduce the risk of serious health problems, such as heart disease and cancer.

Since green tea also contains fluoride, it can have a positive impact on the health of your teeth. Additionally, the flavonoid content of this drink can improve your bone health.

Coconut Water

Coconut water is nature’s Gatorade. It contains essential electrolytes like magnesium and potassium that will help to perfectly rehydrate your body plus its minerals and vitamins essential to our overall well-being.

Fresh coconut water is hard to beat. Straight from the nut is the best way to have it. If you’re unable to get it this was then choose bottled varieties that are refrigerated and without sugar and preservatives. 

Pomegranate Juice

Pomegranate juice has become increasingly popular in recent times. Not only is this drink crisp and refreshing, it also offers several different health benefits.

Some of the most notable health benefits of pomegranate juice include improved heart health, a strengthened immune system, and a lower risk of cancer.

Consuming this drink on a regular basis can also help you maintain normal blood sugar levels, as well as normal blood pressure levels.

If you’re not making your own pomegranate juice, then you should be careful to read the labels when buying it. Some manufacturers dilute the drink with other liquids or add excess sugar.

Low-Fat Milk

As a child, you were encouraged to drink milk because of its vitamin D and calcium content. However, low-fat milk can be a great drink for grown-ups as well.

The low-fat varieties of this drink will provide you with many essential micronutrients. It will also provide you with all the macronutrients you need (protein, carbohydrates, and fat).

Another great thing about low-fat milk is that it will help you feel full for an extended time period, which will help to prevent you from overeating. Dairy-free options are great alternatives too. 

Beet Juice

Beet juice is without a doubt one of the healthiest drinks you can consume.

Some of the most notable health benefits of beet juice include increased stamina, lower blood pressure, and increased blood flow to the brain.

Beet juice is easy to make at home with a juicer or blender and cheese cloth to remove the pulp. This way you control the ingredients added into it (or lack thereof.)

You can also find it as an option at many juice bars and health food stores. Again, be sure to read nutrional labels. 

These drinks can help you to stick to a healthy diet especially when following a ketogenic diet or a whole food eating clean lifestyle.

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