I believe water is one of the most important “nutrients” for your health. In fact, there are 3 main things you need to live and survive:
- Oxygen – without it, you’d die in a couple of minutes.
- Water – without it, you’d die in about 3 days or so.
- Food – without it, you’d die in about a week.
Unfortunately, most people
- don’t drink enough water (and too much of the wrong liquids).
- IF they do, they drink the wrong kind of water.
- drink during the wrong times.
Today I’m going to discuss #3, drinking water during the wrong times, which can actually be BAD for your health.
Food + Water = BAD
So I’ll get right to it and keep it simple for you today. You should NOT drink water around mealtime or when you eat food. This means not before, during, or after.
And this actually pertains to ALL liquids – soda, tea, juice, coffee, alcohol, etc. In fact, these other liquids are even worse!
Before A Meal
You shouldn’t drink water immediately BEFORE your meal because it dilutes and washes away your digestive enzymes and gastric juices.
When you think about eating a meal, see, and smell the food, your mouth begins to salivate. Your saliva has digestive enzymes and this is actually the BEGINNING of your digestion of food and absorption of nutrients.
During A Meal
Most people drink water (and liquids) during a meal to help “wash down” the foods. They mistakenly believe that it actually helps digestion – but the opposite is true.
Drinking during your meal is a bad habit because it actually is preventing you from chewing your food more thoroughly, which is part 2 of digestion.
You should take your time chewing your food, breaking it up into smaller pieces because it helps digest and absorb the nutrients. It also reduces digestive problems like gas, bloat, acid reflux, and so forth.
Unfortunately, most people just vacuum up their foods, barely chew it, and use liquids to push it down their throat and into their stomach. This creates more of a burden in your stomach, leading to stomach and colon problems.
Lastly, this causes you to actually EAT more food because your brain has an automatic “stop eating” mechanism after about 20 minutes.
This is why SLOW eaters are usually thinner. They not only digest and absorb the foods better, but they also eat less food during that 20-min time span.
After A Meal
By drinking water right after your meals, you are again tampering the natural time it takes for your food to digest. This also makes you feel hungrier faster and results in overeating and bloating.
Remember, just because you’re done eating, does NOT mean your body is done digesting. Depending on the calorie and macro content of the meal, your body will be digesting for another 2-3 hours.
But for sure, the main bulk of digestion happens for another 30-60 minutes.
Again, by drinking water (or any liquid) immediately before, during, and after your meal, dilutes essential gastric juices in your stomach, reducing digestion, and absorption of nutrients.
Food also enters the large intestine much faster than it should, which causes stomach discomfort and worst of all – high blood sugar and insulin spikes.
This in turn causes you to feel tired and gain fat.
So When Should You Drink Your Water?
About 30 minutes before your meal is the “latest” I suggest. So, if the food comes out at noon, drink your water no later than 11:30 and start eating at noon.
And wait at least 30 minutes after a meal and preferably 60 minutes, before drinking your water (and other liquids).
NOW, if you really need to have some water during the meal because something got stuck in your throat or you had something spicy or whatever, then go ahead and have a little sip of room temperature water. That’s it.
And if your goal is to lose weight, suppress your appetite and eat less food – then I suggest you have 2-3 big cups (16 oz/1 liter or more) about 30-45 minutes before a meal. Add in a little bit of lemon juice and/or apple cider vinegar to balance your blood sugar levels.
And here’s a bonus tip if you want to still enjoy some of your favorite foods, lose weight, improve colon health, and also help improve cholesterol and blood sugar levels:
Take fat and carb blocking fiber supplement, such as CHEATmeals, with your water, 30-45 minutes before your meal. This supplement contains special digestive enzymes and natural fibers that actually block about 30% of the bad sugars, carbs, and fats from being absorbed.
So you’ll feel full, lose weight, have better colon, cholesterol and blood sugar health at the same time.
So there you have it, don’t drink water or any liquids 30 min before, during, and 30 min after your meal. Add in some CHEATmeals before your meal and you’ll digest your food better, improve cholesterol, and blood sugar levels and reduce gas, bloat, acid reflux, and other digestive problems.