To drink or not to drink with meals?
The writer is a person now used to being asked questions such as: "but you never drink when you eat? How do you eat without drinking ?!". All this because of a "custom learned, and now maintained without difficulty, during sports retreats. In those days, the athletic trainer required us to drink only after finishing the meal, which naturally began with various types of vegetables, followed by pasta and a second course based on fish or meat Why all this?
Let's start by saying, for the avoidance of doubt, that water has zero calories, so it doesn't make you fat. On the contrary, if used correctly it can even make you lose weight. A couple of glasses sipped before lunch, for example, favor the sensation of gastric fullness, reducing appetite.
The purifying action of this food is also useful for eliminating metabolic waste induced by stress, pollution and a diet too rich in toxins (fried, charred, grilled foods, alcohol, saturated fats, additives, etc.).
Since many of these toxins are fat-soluble, if they are not adequately eliminated due to over-intake or insufficient liver or kidney activity, they are stored - by way of a dump - in the adipose tissue. This consideration helped to give rise to the following equation:
+ toxins - water = greater accumulation of adipose tissue
During meals, it is a good idea not to drink too much, to avoid diluting the gastric juices and slowing down digestion. On the other hand, when a balanced meal is consumed, the water supply is guaranteed by fruit and vegetables (which are made up of 80-90% water).
In any case, if you have not consumed enough water earlier in the day, it is better to drink it during the meal rather than deprive yourself of it for the sole purpose of improving the digestive process.
Finally, it is important to distribute the amount of water throughout the day. Concentrating its intake on a few daily occasions would produce a marked hormone-mediated diuretic effect, with consequent waste of a large part of the water taken.
When is it best to drink?
- As soon as you wake up
- Before the meal
- Before, after and during physical activity
- Between meals
- When a lot of fluids are lost due to physiological (sweating, dehydration during air travel, cold, wind, etc.) and pathological (diarrhea, vomiting, burns, bleeding) causes.
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