July is one hot month so lets talk about how much staying hydrated and drinking enough water in the day helps your body just feel better, overall function better and hold your adjustments longer.
We all already know that we need to drink more water but it seems to be the hardest one to create a healthy habit of reaching our daily water intake amounts. 60% of the human body is made up of water. Water is involved in every process in the body. It is so needed!!
How much water do you need daily? 1/2 your body weight in ounces.
You’ve probably heard the advice to drink eight glasses of water a day. That’s easy to remember, and it’s a reasonable goal but most accurate answer is to calculate with your body weight because everyones amounts will be different.
Most healthy people can stay hydrated by drinking water and other fluids whenever they feel thirsty. For some people, fewer than eight glasses a day might be enough. But other people might need more.
You might need to modify your total fluid intake based on several factors:
- Exercise. If you do any activity that makes you sweat, you need to drink extra water to cover the fluid loss. It’s important to drink water before, during and after a workout.
- Environment. Hot or humid weather can make you sweat and requires additional fluid. Dehydration also can occur at high altitudes.
- Overall health. Your body loses fluids when you have a fever, vomiting or diarrhea. Drink more water or follow a doctor’s recommendation to drink oral rehydration solutions. Other conditions that might require increased fluid intake include bladder infections and urinary tract stones.
- Pregnancy and breast-feeding. If you are pregnant or breast-feeding, you may need additional fluids to stay hydrated.
The average person does not meet these needs. I found that 22% of people get the recommended amount. That is crazy!!!
Lack of water can lead to dehydration — a condition that occurs when you don’t have enough water in your body to carry out normal functions. Even mild dehydration can drain your energy and make you tired. Also Headaches and Migraines and Achy joints are signs of dehydration!!
When you are feeling thirsty this usually doesn’t occur until you have already lost 2-3% of your body’s total water.
Signs of Dehydration:
Thirst
Dry mouth
Tiredness
Worried/Irritable
Dark yellow urine
Dry skin
Constipation
Bad breath
You crave sugar
Muscle Cramps
Dizziness
Headache
Electrolytes are what control water movement in the body and ensure good hydration. When you sweat you lose water and essential minerals in the body. I love the ultima drink mixes for electrolytes. If you have any others you like let me know and I will check them out.
Can other drinks count towards my water intake?
NO— you should meet your requirements for daily recommended intake with water only and value the other drinks — coffee, milk, pop, sports drinks etc. as extra
Tea is the only other alternative that I would count for water intake but only if it is caffeine free.
Coffee actually dehydrates you — it takes 32 glasses of 7.0 ph water to balance your internal system back out from drinking an acidic drink like coffee.
Healthy Sunscreen and DIY Healthy Bug Spray
Sunscreen:
Bare Republic Mineral Sunscreen – The lotion is always better than the spray and this brand carries a face sunscreen, sport, kids, and a kids sun screen stick that works great for packing on the go and getting it on little kids.
Bug Spray – There are a bunch of brands out there some worse than others but if you want to make your own with essential oils you may have on hand here is a good recipe. Look for kinds that say deet free.
Natural, Non-Toxic Bug Spray with Young Living Essential Oils
½ bottle water.
½ bottle witch hazel.
10-20 drops essential oils more if you want it REALLY potent I used Spearmint, Peppermint, and Wintergreen.
Recipe: Sausage & Shrimp Boil
Ingredients
- 2 lb large jumbo shrimp peeled and deveined, leave tails on
- 1 lb smoked sausage kielbasa or andouille, cut into 1 inch pieces
- 4 ears corn each cut into 4 pieces
- 1 lb small red potatoes cut in half
- 1 medium onion cleaned and cut into large pieces
- 4 lemons 2 for cooking, 2 for serving
- ½ c. unsalted butter
- 4 cloves garlic cleaned and smashed
- ⅓ c. seafood seasoning like Old Bay
- ½ tsp salt
- ½ tsp black pepper
- 2 Tbsp fresh parsley plus more for garnish chopped
I do not follow recipes 100% but I like to find them for you guys to follow if you’d like. I forgot most of the ingredients for our camper but we had butter, salt, pepper, garlic, old bay seasoning and went with it for the recipe with shrimp, sausage, corn and potatoes! Still tasted great! Served with watermelon and fresh salad with lettuce from our garden! And I have told you about instructions being too long for me and these are – so I just put all the ingredients on our blackstone grill and cooked together with butter and seasonings. Everyone loved it!
Instructions
- Fill large pot with water. Quarter two lemons and add to the water. Then add onion, garlic and seafood seasoning to water. Bring water to boil.
- Clean and cut potatoes in half. Add the potatoes to the boiling water, cook for 10-12 minutes or until just barely fork tender
- Clean and cut corn, add to boiling water along with the sliced smoked sausage. Cook for 5-6 minutes.
- Add shrimp to boiling water and cook an additional 2-3 minutes or until pink.
- Drain water and place the shrimp mixture on a large baking sheet.
- In a microwave safe bowl melt the butter. Add salt, pepper and 2 tablespoons chopped parsley to butter and whisk to combine.
- Pour ½ of butter mixture over shrimp mixture and stir to coat. Reserve remaining butter mixture for serving.
- Garnish with additional chopped parsley and lemons. Serve immediately with reserved butter mixture.