Eating smarter can help you in all aspects of your life. The solution lies in each of us building a lifestyle that helps us to be healthy, happy and to be our best. Here's the first key to eating smarter.

eat smarter 5.jpeg

Key #1: Hydrate

Quick! What’s the most important thing for health? Breathing? Yes, stop breathing and you’ll die in a few minutes. How about the second most important thing for staying alive? Water.

Stop drinking for a few days and you stop living. Did you hear the remarkable story of the Bangladeshi woman who survived 17 days in the wreckage of a collapsed garment building? She managed that near impossible feat because she had found some bottled water.

There is not a single cell in your body that does not rely on water. Water helps transport the carbohydrates, vitamins, minerals and other nutrients that your cells need to make energy. Think of your veins and arteries as your city’s roads and highways. These roads are used to bring goods into the city but also to transport unwanted materials out. If this transportation is slowed, the result is a city that is starving for goods and overflowing with garbage.

Your body’s water molecules are the trucks on the roadways, transporting the nutrients your cells need to make energy. Water makes up 80% of your blood’s volume, so dehydration really messes with the delivery of all the nutrients your body needs.

Sixty percent of your body weight is water, but incredibly water makes up almost 90% of your brain. With a fluid loss of only 2%, concentration and thinking will become impaired. This 2% loss is incredibly common during a typical day at school.

Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day (75oz or 2.3 L for a 150lb person). Increase your intake with stress (like exam time), extreme temperatures (hot summers and cold winters) and exercise (go team!).

Make drinking water part of your 24-hour athlete routine. Take a water bottle to every class and fill it up a few times every day. Stay hydrated to excel in daily life and move toward your dream.

Today's POWER-UP: Get Hydrated!

So make drinking water part of your daily routine.

Get a water bottle and keep it with you and fill it up a few times every day. Water is just as important at work as it is in the gym!

Stay hydrated, stay healthy and Be Better!