Now comes scientific evidence that H2O really does help you lose weight. Researchers in Germany report that water consumption increases the rate at which people burn calories. The impact is modest and the findings are preliminary, but the researchers say their study could have important implications for weight-control programs.
Some dieters find it helpful to drink a glass of water when they feel hungry between meals, or just before a meal. However, I do not recommend this as a regular appetite-reduction tactic. Firstly, because hunger is an important indicator of low blood sugar, which water can do nothing to correct. And if blood sugar falls too low, it can lead to irresistible urges to eat junk food or binge. Secondly, drinking water purely to fill up your stomach is merely an artificial short-term measure which does nothing to help create the sort of eating habits that are essential for long term weight control.
Drinking water is important if you're trying to lose weight, some studies have shown that thirst and hunger sensations are triggered together. If there is a slight dehydration the thirst mechanism may be mistaken for hunger and one may eat when the body is actually craving fluid. As most food contains some water, if one doesn't drink much they may be subconsciously driven to eat more to gain the necessary water supply however, you also gain the undesired effects of increased calorie consumption. Drinking more water can help to prevent overeating and benefit weight loss.
The body maintains a healthy fluid balance by a complex cell mechanism involving sodium, potassium and other electrolytes. In simple terms, if you eat too much salt (sodium) you will retain more water, leading to weight gain. Anyone who suffers from fluid retention and accompanying swelling (edema), especially women who experience premenstrual symptoms (PMS) or obese men with high blood pressure, is advised by dietitians to follow a low sodium diet (eg. the DASH diet). Ideally, limit your intake to 1000 milligrams of sodium per day, until the water retention eases.
How Water Is Related To Weight Loss
Eating fruits and vegetables may help manage weight
Numerous foods are low in energy density. Among these foods, fruits and vegetables are excellent substitutes for high-energy-density foods.
Losing weight can be very difficult, even for the highly motivated. In addition, maintaining an appropriate weight is difficult, particularly as a person ages. Health care professionals need to provide sound, scientific information when they advise people to eat foods that help them stay healthy, which includes maintaining a suitable weight. The research community is evaluating the effectiveness of a number of weight loss strategies; however, this brief examines only one strategy: the role that fruit and vegetable consumption may play in weight management.
Providing you are eating about one-third of the diet as fruits & vegetables, you should notice rapid weight loss because the ample fruit consumption helps fill the stomach faster encouraging less high calorie foods to be consumed. The total calorie consumption will automatically reduce even if we are eating plenty of fruit and vegetables. There is such a variety of fruits available that many can be freely eaten without consuming too many calories thereby controlling weight more effectively.
Very few studies in the literature have investigated whether there is a direct relationship between eating fruits and vegetables and losing weight. The studies in this brief examined many issues such as the relationships of calories, volume of food eaten, types of food eaten (including fruits and vegetables), satiety, and weight reduction. Many of the studies reported on consumption of fruits and vegetables but did so in the context of a larger framework, such as preventing or treating high blood pressure or cardiac disease, but reported on weight loss also.
Relationships between calories, amount of food eaten and body weight
Extensive research has been conducted on the relationships between calories, amount of food eaten and body weight. The association of this information with the role of fruits and vegetables in weight management can be summarized as follows:
Studies consistently show that over the course of a day or two, a person eats about the same weight of food. On average, the weight of food eaten is more constant than the daily calorie intake. So if you eat the same amount (by weight) of food, but lower the calories in each portion, you will consume fewer calories. Studies also indicate that you don't even miss the calories and feel just as full as the high calorie day.
To lose weight a person must eat fewer calories than what he or she expends.
People may not limit what they consume based on calories alone. Feeling full is one reason that people stop eating. Short-term studies indicate that the volume of food people eat at a meal is what makes them feel full and stop eating, rather than the calorie content of the food.
At the same calorie level, foods with low energy density provide a greater volume of food, which may help people feel full at a meal while consuming fewer calories.
Water and fiber increase the volume of foods and reduce energy density. In their natural state, fruits and vegetables have high water and fiber content and thus are low in calories and energy density.
Fruits and vegetables are good substitutes for foods of high energy density.
In addition to nutrients such as protein and fiber, the energy content of food, gram for gram, also affects how full we feel. The term for this is energy density, which is simply the amount of calories in a gram of food. The relationship between the weight of food and its calories content is largely based upon the amount of water in the food. Water adds weight but not calories, so the higher the water content the lower the energy density.
