Health Smart Mom

Well, in an ongoing attempt to improve the health of moms all over, you knew that I would mention drinking water. 

Why You Should Drink More Water

I am assuming that you, like me, and most moms, are busy, and don’t actually drink as much water as you should be drinking.    But there is no denying the health benefits to drinking water.  For starters, your body needs it, I mean your body REALLY REALLY NEEDS it.  Lack of water, like oxygen, leads to death, and that is not a very healthy state to be in.

In addition to the whole “necessary for life” thing.  Drinking water will help improve the appearance of your skin, provide you with more energy, and actually help keep your body from retaining water (as in will help avoid the whole bloated look.)

How Much Water Should You Drink?

Of course the standard answer is six to eight 8oz glasses of water each day.  However, another standard, now made popular by the whole “water diet” is that you should drink half of your body weight in ounces.  For example if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink 80 ounces of water each day.  (That alone should be enough of an incentive to lose weight  – it will reduce your daily water requirement!)

Are You Up To The Drink More Water Wednesday’s Challenge?

As we gear up for summer, staying properly hydrated becomes increasingly important.  To help you (and me) prepare, I am initiating “Drink More Water Wendesday’s”.  Each Wednesday (starting tomorrow) I will post a “check-in” where you can log on and report how much water you drank.  You can simply tell us how much you drank, and whether you met or didn’t meet your goal.  (Your goal is to drink more water, it’s up to you whether that goal is the “water diet” goal, the standard water goal, or simply a personal water goal that you set.)

 Just to make it a little more exciting -

That being said – I will announce my goal.  Since I have a tendency towards kidney stones, my goal is to drink 96 ounces of water each Wednesday (actually, I’ve been told that I should drink a gallon of water a day during the summer, but let’s start with something a little more managable.)

FINE PRINT:  You will get only one entry per comment per post – which means if you comment to this article 5 times, you will still only get 1 entry.  However, if you post to this one and each Wednesday’s status check post – you will have a total of 9 entries in the drawing for the water bottle! Contest is valid only for those whose mailing address is in the Continental United States of America.  Feel free to post if you live outside the U.S. but you won’t be elligible for the contest part of the challenge.