Health

12 Reasons to Drink More Water (Infographic)

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Did you know drinking two 12 ounce glasses of soda every day for one month means you will intake 8,000 calories and 5 pounds of sugar? While fine to drink on occasion, high-calorie, high-sugar drinks, like soda, can cause an array of negative effects to your body and wallet. Swapping soda for water is one of the quickest and easiest ways to stay hydrated and improve your overall health in both the short- and long-term future – and not to mention, it’s free of charge! Still not convinced? Check out these 12 other reasons to drink more H2O:

1. Lose Weight

While there is no one-size-fits-all solution for weight loss, the basic formula for trimming your waistline is to burn more calories than you eat. As an aid for weight loss, water will help you to feel full more quickly, so you will eat less and shed the pounds.

2. Burn More Calories

Drinking more water can help you to burn more calories by regulating your metabolism, which is your body’s ability to convert food into energy. By drinking 17 ounces of water per day, your metabolism could speed up by as much as 30 percent.

3. Exercise with Ease

Skip the energy drinks – drinking water while working out is the ultimate muscle fuel.  High-intensity physical activity can cause you to lose water through sweat and your muscles to become tired. For a boost of energy, drink water to reduce cramps and sprains, and push you through that final set of pull ups.

4. Have Clearer Skin

Studies show that people who drink more water tend to have clearer, younger looking skin. Water works to hydrate your skin and reduce toxin-induced blemishes, resulting in a healthy glow even your best moisturizer can’t achieve on its own.

5. Flush Toxins Out

You may have tried the latest juice cleanse to detox your body, but what about drinking a refreshing glass of water? Water helps to eliminate wastes and toxins from your body by encouraging healthy digestion and transporting nutrients to where they are needed.

6. Prevent Headaches

Everyone suffers for the occasional headache, and oftentimes they are caused by dehydration. Instead of reaching for medication next time your head hurts, try reaching for a cold glass of water to prevent or alleviate your headache symptoms.

7. Have Less Joint Pain

Water works as a lubricant for your joints, helping to reduce joint pain and protect against daily wear and tear. In fact, drinking more water can help to eliminate other pain in the body by supporting your lymphatic system, a network of nodes, tubes, vessels and fluid that move waste from your tissues.

8. Save Your Kidneys

Your kidneys perform the life-sustaining job of filtering and returning to the bloodstream about 200 quarts of fluid each day, so taking care of them is important. Drinking more water may help to significantly reduce your risk for chronic kidney problems; it may even help to prevent kidney stones from forming by flushing out the buildup.

9. Protect Your Spinal Cord

Traumatic injury to the spinal cord can cause neurological impairments that cause life-long complications. To protect your spinal cord and other sensitive tissues, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention suggests drinking an adequate amount of water.

10. Boost Your Productivity

Your brain and nervous system send out electrical signals to function properly. Having a regular supply of water will help to increase electrical functioning in your brain for clearer thinking, so you will feel more efficient and productive.

11. Stay Awake

While your morning brew may keep you awake temporarily, its caffeine may dehydrate you, and consequently make you more tired, in the long run. Fortunately, sipping on a glass of water with breakfast can awaken and rejuvenate you, too, by hydrating your body to increase its power to work to its full capacity.

12. Feel Happier

Dehydration can affect your mood and make you feel sad, grumpy and confused. Stay hydrated and feel energized by drinking the recommended amount of water (typically eight 8-ounce glasses a day). Water stimulates the flow of nutrients and hormones that release those feel-good endorphins you need to feel happy. Source:  http://www.unitypoint.org

Why Coffee and Tea Are Amazing for You

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Get health and fitness tips at Greatist.com

Why Coffee & Tea Are Amazing for You

There’s nothing like a hot cup of coffee or tea to start the day. Some may go as far as to say they can’t function without their daily dose of caffeine! While some studies celebrate these beverages, others claim they’re bad for us. So should you toss your favorite drink or ignore the naysayers? Let’s find out.

Coffee vs. Tea

There are 80-185 milligrams of caffeine per cup of coffee versus 15-70 mg of caffeine per cup in tea. Coffee comes from the berries of an evergreen plant and tea comes from a variety of plant leaves. But how much do we actually drink? 52 percent (or 100 million) American adults drink coffee daily. The average coffee drinker has 3.1 cups per day, or 70 gallons a year, enough to fill a bathtub. 30 percent of coffee drinkers enjoy specialty drinks like lattes and cappuccinos. 274 million pounds of tea were imported in 2010, the same as a large cruise ship. The average American drinks 155 cups of tea annually, or 10 gallons a year. 78 percent of tea consumed globally is black, which is preferred by North Americans. 20 percent is green and 2 percent is oolong.

Health Benefits of Tea

There are so many different types of tea that you’ve probably heard some are good for you and some aren’t. Studies on rat fat cells shot that brewed tea of any kind increases insulin activity by up to 15 times. Green tea is full of antioxidants that may help prevent many forms of cancer, including breast, lunch, and stomach. Green tea may also help prevent arterial clogging and reduce the risk of stroke. Green tea might also reduce neurological damage due to oxidation, which in turn prevents Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s. It can burn fat and improve cholesterol levels. Ninety percent of tea consumed in the U.S. is black. It is made from fermented leaves and is the highest in caffeine. Due to the fermentation process, black tea is lowest in monomeric catechins, which have been linked to cancer prevention. This tea may protect you from have a stroke or developing heart disease by helping blood vessels dilate correctly. It has also been linked to preventing lung damage from smoking. White tea is unfermented and made from young buds and leaves. It offers the most powerful antioxidants of all the teas. Oolong tea has many different forms, which is fermented and may prevent weight gain and promote weight loss. It may also help to prevent tooth decay.

Health Benefits of Coffee

Chances are, you’ve heard ideas like coffee will stunt your growth or give you heart disease or stomach cancer, but fortunately, none of these are true. In fact, it can actually be good for you. Coffee has been linked to improved memory recall. It may also help prevent Alzheimer’s, heart disease, gout, type 2 diabetes, and Parkinson’s. The caffeine in coffee can help ease asthma attacks. Coffee drinkers are 50 percent less likely to get liver cancer than those who avoid the beverage, though the exact reason has not been pinpointed. It may also lower the risk of breast, rectal, and colon cancers. Caffeine can increase energy expenditure (calorie burning). One study showed that those drinking caffeinated liquids burned 67 calories more than those who drank water, the equivalent of a medium-sized apple.

Too Much Caffeine?

While a little caffeine can be good for you and help keep you awake, too much isn’t a good idea. It may cause restlessness, insomnia, and anxiety. Experts recommend limiting your daily caffeine intake to 400 mg for men and 300 mg for women. That’s roughly 4 cups of coffee/6 cups of tea for men and 3 cups of coffee/4 cups of tea for women. Caffeine provides many healthy benefits, too. It helps increase endurance during workouts and may blunt pain and tiredness, letting you work out longer. It may enhance muscular contractions during exercise. As with any health advice, people should drink coffee and tea in moderation, as too much of a good thing can be…well, dangerous. While researchers have dispelled many common myths surrounding these beverages, it’s still a good idea to drink tea and coffee in small doses.

Source: http://greatist.com/health/why-coffee-tea-are-amazing-you-infographic