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September 2006

How food affects hydration

by Brian Foltz

If your body is 70% water, what happens when you eat food that contains less than 70% water? Your body must use its own water reserves to digest and process it. This contributes to chronic dehydration. Although foods have many different effects on your health, its water content and hydration value should always be considered. Eating plenty of high‑water content food and avoiding low‑water content food is important to optimize your body's hydration and health.

Virtually all food has some water in it. The most natural whole foods have the highest water content. Fruits and vegetables are the concentration points of water and nutrients in a plant and contain 85% to 98% water. Eating dense vegetables (e.g. cucumbers, tomatoes, jicama, etc.) with a salad or meal or as a snack is one of the easiest ways to improve the hydration value of your meals. Hydration is another reason fruits and vegetables should be an important part of your diet.

Foods with low water content are dehydrating and generally the least healthy, such as cookies, chips, dried snacks, pastries, and high fat and high sugar foods. Sugar, salt and pure fat have no water in them at all. Table salt can be very dehydrating and toxic to the body. For every one gram of excess sodium chloride, your cells use up 23 times that amount of water to neutralize it. Processed and fast foods contain large amounts of processed salt. Restaurant soups are also very high in salt, MSG or other toxic flavor enhancers. Never eat soup from a restaurant, unless they make it from scratch. And replace all your salt with a good sea salt or Himalayan salt.

Balance is the key. It's the average water content of your food that is important. If half your meal is 50% water content food and the other half has 90% water content, then the average is a healthy 70%. The more low water content food you eat (by weight) at a meal, the more vegetables or homemade soup you need to balance it out. For example, lettuce and cucumbers are both very high in water. However, lettuce is very light compared to a cucumber which can have as much as 16 ounces of water. Slice up some cucumber or jicama (a delicious Mexican vegetable from the radish family), squeeze some fresh lime juice on it along with some sea salt and enjoy a delicious side dish or snack that is very hydrating.

A natural source of water

Food is a natural source of water for the body, providing about 30% of your body's water needs. The water inside natural whole foods contains an abundance of naturally balanced minerals that help to "structure" the water for easier utilization by the body. People with a diet of primarily raw and vegetarian foods can satisfy more than 30% of their daily water requirements with their food. In the desert climate of the Australian Outback, Koalas drinks no water at all. Their diet consists solely of several species of Eucalyptus leaves (more than 90% water), which provides all the water they need.

Most dairy products are fairly high in water, with eggs containing about 74% water in their raw state. Meats are also high in water (70‑80%) in their raw and unprocessed form. After cooking to a medium degree, most meats are 50‑60% water. You can usually tell how much water a meat has just by observing how dry or juicy the meat tastes. The more a meat is cooked or aged, the more water it loses. An exception to this rule is when you cook meat in a stew or a soup. Although the meat itself loses some water, the soup or stew is almost all water and very hydrating.

Chicken soup for the cells

Rich chicken broth is an ancient remedy handed down through the generations as traditional folk wisdom. Moses Maimonides, the 12th‑century physician, prescribed chicken broth as a treatment for colds and asthma. Modern research has confirmed that broth helps prevent and lessen the effects of infectious disease. One recent study showed that having a cup of soup before lunch or dinner will decrease the amount of calories eaten at the meal and help you to lose weight.

In traditional cultures, soup has helped to keep families healthy for centuries. The nourishing values of homemade soups, stews and broths were a cornerstone of family meal preparation. Not only does rich soup broth contain an abundance of minerals and other nutrients, it helps improve hydration. This traditional wisdom from centuries of experience seems to be all but lost in America today. The convenience of modern appliances, fast foods, and processed and pre‑packaged foods now dominate most modern food preparation.

Providing homemade soups at your dinner table on a regular basis could be the single most effective thing you can do to improve your health. Soups are delicious and very satisfying for people of all ages. Soups and stocks made with vegetables and meats are highly nutritious, containing nutrients and electrolytes that are easy for the body to assimilate. Add small amounts of vinegar while it cooks to draw out minerals, especially calcium, magnesium and potassium, into the broth.

Soup is an ideal form of nutrition for the elderly. The gelatin contained in properly prepared broth acts to aid digestion and has been used in the treatment of many intestinal disorders, including hyperacidity, colitis and Crohn's disease. Gelatin contains large amounts of amino acids arginine and glycine, which help the body more effectively utilize protein. Because gelatin rich broths improves digestion and protein metabolism, it allows you to eat less protein and not lose muscle mass. Not only will this save you money, but it saves precious energy that would otherwise be needed to digest protein.

Nourishing traditions

If you want to benefit from soups and traditional foods, I highly recommend my favorite book on the subject: "Nourishing Traditions," by Sally Fallon. This unique book is a treasure trove of historical antidotes about the origin of traditional and healthy foods, as well as delicious recipes for soups and hundreds of traditional healthy foods. It provides detailed instructions on how to culture vegetables for better digestion and can help you bring back many types of traditional foods to your family's meals. They will thank you!

An easy way to improve hydration with food is to make a simple vegetable broth. First, fill a stock pot half full with any clean drinking water. Then go to your refrigerator and take out all the vegetables that are too old to eat but still not spoiled. I like to include celery, carrots, onions, Kale and broccoli stocks. You can use virtually any vegetables, except cucumbers which make it bitter. Boil for 30 minutes and the minerals come out in the broth. Add some good sea salt or Himalayan salt for flavor and enjoy!

The water content of food has a powerful influence on your health. Keeping it balanced near 70% will help to keep you hydrated and in good health. Your body's first signal for food is often a thirst signal and should be answered with a glass of water or a high‑water content snack. Having a glass of water or a cup of soup (or both) before a meal is a very healthy habit to develop. I also strongly encourage you to spread the word and help bring back the healthy tradition of soups, stews and broths. It will satisfy both your taste buds and your desire for optimal health.

(Brian Foltz is the author of the forthcoming book, "The Secrets of Superior Hydration." For a free list of foods with their water content and a free Special Report, "The 7 Hidden Causes of Chronic Dehydration," call 800‑707‑1925 or go to www.hydrationsecrets.com.)