As in, you don’t drink enough.

And in this heat especially, that’s a problem.

Here are some quick FAQs on staying hydrated:

How much do I need to drink? The Mayo Clinic says that for everyday survival, men need to consume about three liters (13 cups, three Nalgene bottles) a day, women 2.2 liters or nine cups. Bouts of exercise that make you sweat demands another 1.5 to 2.5 cups (roughly half a liter). Prolonged exercise — hiking, for instance — requires even more. How much, says the Mayo Clinic, depends on how much you sweat. On our hikes, of anywhere from 3 to 10 miles, we recommend you take two liters of water. (On longer hikes, we take a water filter.)

Does altitude affect how much I need to drink? Yes, says the Mayo Clinic, but usually only altitudes above 8,200 feet, which rules out anything in our region (Mount Mitchell, at 6,684 feet, is the highest point east of Souther Dakota’s Black Hills.) You’ll also want to drink a little more on an especially humid day.

What about sports drinks? “The basic guideline for most people is that if you are doing continuous exercise for 60 minutes or less, then water is fine,” Suzanne Girard Eberle, sport dietician and author of “Endurance Sports Nutrition,” tells The Washington Post. “But beyond 60 minutes and if the intensity is high, you should consider a sports drink.” Sports drinks include electrolytes, which help regulate nerves and muscles; carbohydrates, which help restore glycogen, sodium and potassium levels, as well as water. On a long hike, it might make sense to have one bottle filled with water, and one with a sports drink. And don’t flinch when you see the sodium levels: replenishing depleted sodium (as well as potassium) is crucial to keep you going — and to keep you from cramping.

So, just drink during the hike? No. Start the day before — even earlier — if you know you’re going on a long hike, especially on a hot day: your cells can absorb the liquid. And continue to drink and rehydrate after the hike.

What if I’m not thirsty? Are you not thirsty, or do you have no desire to drink tepid water? Our solution: If you use water bottles, fill them three-quarters full the night before your hike and stick them in the fridge. Then, just before heading out for your hike, top ’em off. You should have tasty cold water for a couple hours at least. If you use a hydration bladder, load the bladder with ice, then top off with water. If water sits in your tube long it will heat up; you may have to spit it out to get to the cold stuff. Also, according to Girard Eberle, cold water is more easily absorbed into the stomach

If I drink, I may have to pee. If you’re drinking enough, you will have to pee. That’s good. If you have a thing about peeing in the woods, well, we have a support group — talk to us. And when you do pee, make sure it’s clearish. If it’s obviously yellow, you aren’t drinking enough.

So drink up! You got a problem with that?

The post Hydration: A word about your drinking problem appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

“I don’t know how you did it at 9:30!,” she wrote back. “I ran this morning at 5:30 and it was already 80 degrees!”

Who’s crazier — the person who slept in and ran at 9:30 or the one who went out at 5:30 when it was five degrees cooler — is open for debate. What’s not debatable is how crazy it is to workout in weather like this and not hydrate. Some quick reminders to get you through the next couple of teetering-on-100 days, thanks to the folks at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga.

How much do I need to drink? Sweating is a very personal thing, you may go out at 9:30, run four miles and break a mild glow, I’ll go out and look like one of those kiddie pool water fountains, spraying every which way. Here’s how to calculate your personal sweat rate: Get naked and weigh yourself. Then get dressed and workout for half an hour, not drinking anything or going to the bathroom. Then get naked again and weigh yourself. The amount less you weigh is the amount of water you’ve lost, and thus how much you should be taking in to prevent said loss. So if you lost a pound, you should drink 16 ounces of fluid during that half hour workout.

Start out well hydrated. And don’t just gulp down a glass of water right before heading out. Start hydrating the evening before.

Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. The “thirst mechanism” isn’t triggered until you’re 2 percent dehydrated.

Drink throughout your workout. Say you’re that person above who lost a pound during the half-hour workout. Take your water bottle with 16 ounces and sip at it throughout your workout.

Drink cool fluids. There’s no greater deterrent for drinking than to take in a long tug on your Camelbak only to get a mouthful of water suitable for brewing. Toss an ice cube or two into your water, or freeze a half full water bottle overnight and top it off before heading out.
The final arbitur. As always, the litmus test for weather you’re drinking enough is the color of your urine: the less yellow the better.
Drink up afterward. According to UT Chattanooga, the 30 minutes immediately after a workout is crucial to rehydrating.

The post It’s hot. Drink! appeared first on GetGoing NC!.

The four of us — Alan, Lois, Grace and I — were backpacking Easter weekend on top of Virginia, in the Mount Rogers National Recreation Area. If there’s an activity that lends itself to long, extended conversations, it’s backpacking. You wake together, you have breakfast together, you hike all day together, you have dinner together, you crawl into your respective tents and listen to one another snore together. It is the ultimate in togetherness. While I was aware of Alan’s interest/obsession with nutrition (including a two-year stint as a fruitarian and his days as a carrot juice magnet) and gathered that his girlfriend, Lois, a nurse, was likewise inclined (she was), Grace was a wildcard. Until she pulled from her backpack a 25-pound bag of fresh food. (Note to non-backpackers: That’s a lot of weight; most backpackers rely largely on dehydrated foods that way a fifth as much.) Though nearly half Alan’s age, Grace was up for discussing his every nutritional nuance, from dehydrating watermelons to waiting 30 minutes to brush your teeth after sucking a lemon because you could brush away your citric-acid-softened enamel.

It was a lot for this mainstream consumer to comprehend. Too much, in fact.

“Grace,” I finally said, “this all sounds good but I’m a simple man. Can you distill this down to a handful of suggestions for treating your body right?”

Grace was only too happy to oblige. For whereas nutrition is a hobby for Alan, it’s Grace’s profession. Grace Duling is a nurse by training and, as I discovered mid-trip, a Health Coach/Certified Case Manager for Blue Cross and Blue Shield of North Carolina, which also sponsors this blog. Essentially, that means that people with BCBSNC insurance can call Grace for help on everything from how to manage their diabetes to, I reckon, how long to wait to brush after sucking on a lemon.

Here are Grace’s five suggestions for treating your body better:

1. Drink water The body is amazingly designed and made up of about 60 percent water. (The amount of water varies by tissue or organ: lean muscle tissue contains 75 percent water by weight, blood 95 percent, body fat 14 percent, bone 22 percent.) Many functions in the body use water to carry out important processes such as digestion, elimination, absorption of nutrients and hydration of joints, ligaments and vertebral discs. Water also provides moisture to keep tissues in the ears, nose and throat from drying out. During a person’s normal day, one loses water and it needs to be replenished. Your body is designed for water.  Most people need about 2 liters of pure water a day and sometimes more depending on the situation, circumstances and environment.  For instance, active people who exercise need more water than an individual who is sedentary.  You can get this from drinking water or from fresh fruits and vegetables.  Remember that one needs to be drinking water throughout the day not just when thirsty.  Being thirsty is already a sign you are slightly dehydrated and sometimes hunger pains are actually your body’s cue for wanting water.  Water is the best source for staying hydrated.  For more on hydration, visit Mayoclinic.com.

2. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables The typical Standard American Diet is lacking in fresh fruits and vegetables. I mean the kind fresh from the garden. Buy organic when possible or at the very least follow the Environmental Working Group‘s rules of the The Clean 15 and The Dirty Dozen.  The USDA advises eating 3-5 servings of fruits and vegetables a day and there are plenty of other credible sources, which also state the value of adding these to your diet.  It’s important that we eat as much of these natural sources as possible because they provide so many benefits for our body such as vitamins, minerals and fiber. Eating them helps us prevent certain diseases such as cancer, heart disease and diabetes, and keeping us at a healthy weight. We also feel better when eating whole, fresh sources of fruits and vegetables. We have increased energy, our body’s function better, we sleep better and even lose weight or maintain a healthy weight.  What’s not to love?

3. Lean meats (no added hormones or antibiotics) or lean sources of protein Our bodies have organs, tissues, muscles  and bone that are all made from cells that require proteins. These proteins are made up of substances called amino acids and we get them from our diet by eating sources of lean meats or meat alternatives. Examples of this would be chicken, turkey, lean cuts of beef, fish, eggs or alternatives such as beans, legumes, nuts, seeds or even soy (if you are an individual that can tolerate it).  Dairy products can also provide a source of protein but not all of us can eat dairy.  So take your pick as there are lots of options. The idea is to include protein in one’s diet.

4. Reduce sugar These days sugar is prevalent in just about everything we eat that is manufactured or processed.  Sure it makes things taste good but sugar doesn’t really provide us any nutrient benefit and it’s actually addicting in some ways. Eating sugar can give you a quick burst of energy but usually it’s short lived and then your body comes crashing down. This makes you feel tired, grumpy and just plain “yuck”. Sugar is empty calories that more times than not causes excess weight gain, contributes to Diabetes, Heart Disease and other unwanted ailments. Most people don’t realize how much sugar they are consuming. Statistics tell us that these days Americans are averaging 2-3 pounds of sugar consumption a week as compared to only 5 pounds a year a century ago. That’s astounding!  Simply put the message is to reduce sugar in all natural forms (honey, maple syrup, white, brown or cane sugar) and avoid/eliminate artificial forms of sugar (aspartame, saccharin).

5. Take a complete multi-vitamin We all have busy schedules and sometimes we just don’t eat like we should. Supplementing daily with a whole food source (natural, not the synthetic) multi-vitamin is a good idea. Active individuals or people who choose alternative dietary choices may also need to supplement with Complex B-Vitamins to be sure they are getting all the B-vitamins especially Vitamin B-12 which is important for healthy nerve function, blood cell function and overall energy.

Photo: Grace Duling and her provisions for the weekend: Fresh food is great on a backpacking trip — if your back can handle it.

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