Over the course of my time as a personal trainer, I’ve listened to so many different stories from clients and members about how they eat and drink. They come to us for advice, meal plans and tips on how to shake that excess and unwanted weight from their bodies. And a lot of the time we can get swept up in designing a balanced meal plan to assist them to get that body they desire so much.
Shhhh…here’s the secret
It’s all well and good to have that balanced diet to achieve your goals… but the secret between winning and losing this battle could all come down to one element….water.
Your engine …the digestive system
If your car engine is not operating with the best quality fuel, oil and first class servicing it will not run smoothly or for prolonged periods of time. ( I have always found talking in analogies makes it easier for people to understand certain bodily functions.)
The digestive system is the most complex system of the body which commands the most attention and energy from your body to keep functioning at its optimal rate. It’s when our digestive system struggles under the weight of a poor diet the rest of the body will suffer as well.
Train hard – eat well – no result?
Put your hand up if you have thought this before… A lot of people would have their hand up right now. They have changed the way they eat and train yet they do not see any results or even the slightest movement on the scales or with their overall size. This in large part, relates to the fact that their digestive system is not functioning properly. So it is entirely possible for you to change our lifestyle, eat perfectly and train the house down and nothing happens on the scales or with those tight jeans.
Quite simply…If one’s tubes are not clear, nothing will pass through. That’s right. Our body is simply a mass of billions of tubes.
Think of a drain that is clogged. Unless we flush and remove the gunk that has clogged it, no results will happen.
Waste/waist management
Our body and its vital organs are just a mass of tubes. If any of those tubes get blocked, cut or poisoned this is where disease and sickness occur in the body.
We only lose weight four ways.
-
- Respiration
- Perspiration
- Urination
- Defecation
These four means of waste management are the only ways we lose weight and stay functioning at our optimal best.
Start venting!
If any of these tubes become affected, the healthy and natural cycle of the human body will break down.
When we have these four waste management tasks working all the time, we are venting.
Venting is what we want. Venting is how we remove toxins from the body. Venting is how we lose weight. Venting is how we stay healthy.
Why water?
Water is like oil for your car engine, not fuel. The water will flush and lubricate your digestive system so that what needs to be absorbed into the body will do so and what needs to be removed by waste management will happen also.
There is nothing more natural and healthy for your body than water.
In ancient times, fasting by drinking nothing but water for extended periods was a common practice to rid the body of disease and reset the digestive system. It is a practice that still happens today, however, is underutilised.
How much water?
It is the most common mistake in people that we don’t drink enough water for the body to work at its best.
There are contributing factors.
- Some don’t like the taste
- Don’t have enough time in the day to consume the amount
- We forget
- Sometimes people believe that the amount we have to drink is not right, realistic or dangerous.
FACT You cannot drink too much water unless you have a severe medical condition in which the kidneys and bladder are not functioning right, and excess water is being retained in the body.
One litre of water per 22 kilos of body weight is what is recommended on a daily and consistent basis.
What to do with all that water!
Apart from making you visit your new best friend, the bathroom a lot more, it will unclog the body and make you crave more healthy foods.
The more you give the body what it needs, the more it will crave it. The process of drinking the right amount of water will become easier and easier as you persevere through the early stages.
I have even told clients hypothetically that if you ate McDonald’s three times a day, continue to do so, but you drink the water you are supposed to and see me in 30 days, I’ll guarantee you’ll see a difference. Note – I am not recommending you accept this challenge!
The water will promote clarity of the mind and body and an overall cleansing feeling. No heavy and weigh you down feelings in the tummy.
It will promote feelings of fullness for longer and reverse a lot of cravings for foods heavily saturated in fats, sugars, heavy carbs and bad salts.
It’s a start!
Obviously, it doesn’t end with water but most definitely begins and continues with it.
A lifestyle of fruits, vegetables, good quality nuts and grains, water and juices, and a lower intake of sugars, heavy carbs and meats will improve the circle of life, your digestive system.