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10 Tips to Drink Water Daily – Better Digestion, Gut Health, and Brain Power!

In the hustle of daily life, it’s easy to overlook one of the simplest yet most powerful tools for your health: water. Hydration isn’t just about quenching your thirst; it’s the key to unlocking your body’s potential, especially when it comes to fueling your digestion, fortifying your gut health, and supercharging your brain function.

Energize Your Digestion

Proper hydration helps break down your food, absorb nutrients, and move waste through your digestive tract efficiently. Without an adequate water intake, your digestion can slow down, leading to issues like constipation and bloating. By staying hydrated, you can support optimal digestion and ensure that your body can effectively extract and utilize nutrients from the foods you eat.

Nurture Your Gut

The gut (gastrointestinal tract) is home to trillions of bacteria that play a vital role in your overall health. These beneficial microbes help digest food, produce essential nutrients, and support your immune system. A well-hydrated body promotes a healthy balance of gut bacteria, which is crucial for proper digestion and immune function. Water also helps maintain the mucosal lining of the gut, protecting it from damage and inflammation. Cheers to a hydrated gut and a flourishing ecosystem within!

Ignite Your Brainpower

Believe it or not, hydration is closely linked to brain health and cognitive function. Your brain is a powerhouse that relies on water to fuel its every move. It is made up of about 75% water, and even mild dehydration can impair memory, concentration, and mood. Adequate hydration is essential for maintaining proper brain function, supporting neurotransmitter production, and ensuring efficient communication between brain cells. By keeping your brain hydrated, you can enhance mental clarity, focus, and overall cognitive performance.

Tips for Staying Hydrated

💦 Challenge yourself: Set daily water intake goals and challenge yourself to reach and exceed them for a fun and motivating hydration journey. Aim for half your body weight in ounces of water (140 lbs. = 70 oz of water). When exercising, or on a hot day you may need more. How to know you’re hydrating adequately? Quick bathroom check –plentiful and clear urine indicates you are. Dark urine is a reminder to drink more water.

💦 Start your day with a glass of water: Kickstart your morning hydration routine by having a refreshing glass of water as soon as you wake up.

💦 Keep a trusty water bottle by your side as your hydration sidekick – sip, refill, repeat!

💦 Create a water schedule: Break your day into segments and assign specific times to drink water, ensuring consistent hydration.

💦 Set reminders: Use alarms, apps, or sticky notes to prompt yourself to drink water throughout the day.

💦 Jazz up your H2O game with infused water using zesty herbs, crisp veggies or fresh fruit for added flavor and nutrients.

💦 Tune into your body’s cues. Feeling hungry? Drink more water. Thirst is often mistaken for hunger.

💦 Dive into water-rich foods like crunchy veggies, juicy fruits, and nourishing soups to boost your hydration levels deliciously.

💦 Add electrolytes. Skip the Gatorade, instead add a pinch of sea salt to your water a couple times a day. When I do need more than sea salt, sugar-free Liquid IV is my preferred electrolyte option.

💦Reward yourself: Celebrate your hydration achievements with a bubble bath, a massage, a special treat to stay motivated and reinforce the habit of drinking more water.

In a nutshell, hydration isn’t just a drink – it’s your ticket to a thriving digestive system, a resilient gut microbiome, and a razor-sharp brain. So, grab that water bottle, take a sip and let the habit of hydration increase your energy and boost your health. Salud!

How will you drink your water today? 😊

Additional tips

The Ultimate Guide to Infused Water – Wondermom Wannabe

Homemade Electrolyte Drink – Wellness Mama

The Emerging Science of Hydration – Deanna Minich

Hydration is an integral component of health and should be considered alongside nutrition for promoting optimal wellbeing. Dehydration accelerates aging and diseases of aging. Skip to the end of her article for a recap of what to keep in mind with hydration

#functionalnutrition #hydration

Celebrating 57 and Getting Personal

If you’ve followed Color My Food for a while, you’ve heard that my dad’s experience with Parkinson’s changed my career and my life.

My Motivation

I’ve shared before what I wish I’d known about brain health when he diagnosed.

I became a functional nutritional therapist practitioner (FNPT) to help slow down the progression of Parkinson’s. Right away we applied what I was learning. And the mental decline began to reverse. Then suddenly he was gone.

To a great extent what moved me through my grief was the conviction that I had to complete my FNTP training to help others be proactive about brain health and overall wellness.

My Journey

As crazy as it sounds, here I am 3 years in, but I’ve only now realized functional nutrition has also become MY wellness journey.

I gave a nutrition presentation last week at the River Oaks Women’s Breakfast Club, and mentioned it was my 57th birthday which met with astonishment. A woman came to talk to me afterwards and wanted to know how? What I was I doing to look so vibrant? Was I not afraid of aging?

I explained I embrace every birthday. My beloved mother was 43 when she died instantly in a car accident. I miss her still, yet I am grateful to know that love is ever strong.

My 44th birthday was hard; I’d outlived my mother’s lifespan. But I’ve always seen every year as a joyful celebration of life. Never a fear of getting older.

50 was a genuine celebration with Georgette, one of my lifelong friends, an hermana del alma (soul sister). Together we celebrated 100 which made 50 a piece of cake. 😂 More than 50 girlfriends dressed in red – a grand celebration.
My dad in his tux, as the only man at the party, kept saying he felt like it was his party. 😎 ❤️

50 + 50 = 100! A joyful 50th birthday celebration !

55 no big deal, 56 either. But I confess, 57 briefly stalled my breath. It’s closer to 60 than 50. 😅
So, I made time to sit outside and feel on it – rather than just think about it. One of the gifts of midlife was to get out my head and connect with my heart.
That’s when I realized how much functional nutrition has become part of my daily lifestyle. Part of me.

That birthday morning of introspection also made me realize that I that pound the drum of food/nutrient density constantly, but I don’t share the foundations that make function nutritional powerful

✅ Hydration

✅ Digestion

✅ Blood sugar regulation

✅ Fatty acids

✅ Minerals

✅ Lifestyle: stress resilience, sleep, and movement

Nor have I made it personal. Fear of vulnerability? Maybe. Privacy concerns? Probably.

I will step out of my comfort zone and make this personal, because I know it’s the personal that makes it real.

I can’t pack into one blog post my personal journey over the last three years, so today I will share daily actions that I know make a difference in my physical, mental and emotional wellbeing.

✨Drink filtered water with about 1 tablespoon of apple cider vinegar after waking up to help my brain and body detox from the night’s internal repairing and cleansing work

✨Stay hydrated daily drinking half my body weight in ounces of filtered water (adding a pinch of sea salt a couple times of day)

✨Prioritize daily nutrient density

  • Get quality protein, fats from nature, and carbs from plants at every meal
  • Eat leafy greens and/or cruciferous every day – in a hefty salad with protein for lunch, a protein smoothie, salad with dinner, greens in soups/stews…
  • A minimum of 3 plant colors every meal
  • 9 – 10 plant foods per day: rainbow vegetables, beans, ancestral grains, nuts, seeds, herbs, spices — it all counts

✨Meditation (2021 daily habit starting with 5 minutes – took me 2 years but proud to say I am consistent now with 20 minutes daily. Working on making it 2x daily)

✨Consistent sleep routine (2023  daily habit). It took a year, but I am SO proud to say I can now wake up consistently feeling rested without an alarm clock – and I NEVER before considered myself a morning person.

✨Daily movement –  Rather than circling for the the nearest parking spot at the grocery store or wherever I’m going, I park further away so I walk on a regular basis. 10 sun salutations when I get up to move body and energy – took me 2 years to make this a daily practice 😅

What daily habit have you set for 2024?  

I invite you to share! I know from experience writing it out makes it more do-able and sustainable. And I can cheer you on!