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Water Is Your Body's Most Important Nutrient

by Geraldine Marques-Frediani, Professional Pilates Instructor

Everyone should drink at least 2 liters or 64 ounces per day,
and if you exercise or are overweight, even more.

Water is your body's most important nutrient, is involved in every bodily function, and makes up 70- 75% of your total body weight.
Water helps you to maintain body temperature, metabolize body fat, aids in digestion, lubricates and cushions organs, transports nutrients, and flushes toxins from your body.

Your blood is approximately 90% water and is responsible for transporting nutrients and energy to muscles and for taking waste from tissues.

If you are not getting enough water, your body will react by pulling it from other places, including your blood. This causes the closing of some smaller vessels, making your blood thicker, more susceptible to clotting, and harder to pump through your system. This can have serious implications in hypertension, high cholesterol, and heart disease. Recent studies have also linked the lack of water to headaches, arthritis, and heartburn.

Water is a great natural appetite suppressant. There are three ways we get water into our bodies. We get it from the foods we eat, the fluids we drink, and as a by-product of metabolism. It is always better to drink pure water instead of soda, tea, or coffee. These products actually increase your need for fluids because most contain caffeine, which is a diuretic. Diuretics force out stored water along with certain essential nutrients.

Stay Hydrated.

Moderate types of exercise, like Pilates, rarely require all the glucose and sodium that one finds in sports drinks, but a healthy dose of water is essential. Dizziness and nausea can both be symptoms of dehydration.
Athletes and exercisers need more water than less active people. Reducing water in the body as little as 5% can result in as much as a 20-30% drop in your physical performance, 10% reduction can make you sick, and 20% can mean death.
Everyone should drink at least 2 liters or 64 ounces per day, and if you exercise or are overweight, even more.
With water pollution on the rise, it is best to drink filtered or bottled water whenever possible.
Nota : eating or drinking too much and trying to exercise can be equally uncomfortable !

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Recipe

Purple Fruit Smoothie

This is a great smoothie for breakfast - and sometimes lunch or dinner !
You can substitute the orange juice with any mix of juices or even soy milk !
The soy milk adds more of a milk shake quality than the juice does.
You can add whey powder and enjoy it after your Pilates workout.

Preparation Time : 5 Minutes

Ready In : 5 Minutes

Servings : 1

Ingredients :
- 1/3 bananas, skins removed and cut in chunks
- 15 g frozen blueberries
- 45 ml orange juice
- 3 ml honey (optional)
- 1 ml vanilla extract (optional)

Directions :
Place bananas, blueberries and juice in a blender, puree. Use honey and/or vanilla to taste.
Use more or less liquid depending on the thickness you want for your smoothie.

Nutrition Info - Amount Per Serving :
Calories          89
Total Fat         0.4 g
Cholesterol     0 mg
Sodium           1 mg
Total Carbs     21.7 g
Dietary Fiber  1.7 g
Protein            0.9 g

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Exercise of the Month

Pilates on the Mat :: Criss Cross

Start Position

Lie on your back (supine position), face up on floor with knees bent and aligned over hips, calves parallel to floor, hands behind head, unclasped.
Draw abs in so lower back is firmly against floor.
Inhale as you lift head, neck and shoulder blades off floor.

Workout

Exhale and extend and lower right leg as far as possible without lower back losing contact with floor; simultaneously rotate, right elbow toward left knee.
Inhale, return to center.
Exhale and switch elbows and legs to complete 1 repetition.
Continue to alternate.
Begin with few repetitions, and work up to 10 repetitions.

Tips

Modifications for this exercise include leaving both legs bent and aligned over hips, extending the straight leg towards the ceiling, and increasing or decreasing the range of motion of the legs' movement.

The lower the straight leg, the harder the abdominals have to work to maintain alignment.
If you choose to increase difficulty, you must be able to use your abdominals to keep your lower back from popping up off the mat.

Try to get a nice smooth and slow rhythm going with the breath and the movement of the legs.

Benefits

Strengthens abdominal muscles, particularly the obliques.

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