Diabetes and High on Hydration

Water is so important to life of all kinds. The world is made up of about 70% water for a reason. Water washes away toxins, it allows plants to grow and thrive, and is vital for all animals (even humans) bodies to function properly. Though water is considered by many to be the most boring of drinks, it's actually the most drunk beverage around the globe. And though it is so very important for all humans to have enough clean water to drink, it's even more important for people living with diabetes. In fact, dehydration can be quite dangerous for those with diabetes and can happen alarmingly quickly. During one of my diabetic health check-ups, a nurse told me that one of the leading causes of diabetic related ER visits was dehydration. And what was the first treatment that a diabetic is likely to get at the ER? They are almost always put on an IV, especially if their visit involves high blood sugar. Yes, dehydration is so common with diabetics that ER staff are likely to put a person with diabetes on an IV drip even before their test results come back!

Why is Staying Hydrated So Important?

Hydration is so important for people with diabetes for a variety of reasons. One of the big reasons is to keep your organs like your kidneys and liver running properly. Your kidneys and liver play vital roles in managing your blood sugar, and if they are working in tip top shape, your blood sugar is not going to be doing so good either. An other reason it's important to keep properly hydrated is because diabetes and high blood sugar in general makes your blood just a little bit thicker, more sticky, this can lead to all sorts of problems. Some of the most alarming includes heart issues, blood clots, and even stroke. Staying hydrated encourages your body to thin out that blood, putting more space between your blood cells and discouraging things from getting so sticky. While being hydrated is keeping your organs happy and your blood from getting too sticky, it's also doing something very handy for us diabetics, it's lowering our blood sugars! That's right, staying regularly hydrated may lower your baseline blood sugars making your A1c tests just a little bit better.

What Should I be Drinking?

You've probably been told by your doctor or dietitian to avoid sugary juices and sodas and to limit the amount of carbs you are consuming by drinking, but those might not be the only drinks you should be avoiding. If you think that sports drink is a healthier option, think again. Many sports drinks can have surprisingly high amounts of sugars, carbs, and added salt too. Though added salt might seem harmless, in reality, if you are eating a standard American diet, you probably already get too much salt. Americans tend to eat a whopping 1000mg of sodium above the recommended 2000 mg of sodium per day. Having extra salt added to your drinks is not needed. If you're looking to diet soda to fill your hydration needs, you might want to look again. Diet soda may be lower in sugars and carbs, but they can also pack quite the salty punch! No matter what flavored prepackaged drink you are grabbing, it's always important to read the label, so you know exactly what it is you are drinking.

So if all these prepackaged drinks are so bad for you, what should you be drinking? The answer is the most popular beverage across the globe, no not Coke, it's water! That's right, cool, clean water is your new naturally no carb, no sugar, very low salt beverage of choice. But don't worry, you can spicy it up a bit! Think plain water is too plain? Try infusing the water. Lemon slices floating in your pitcher of chilled water adds an extra little zing to the drink. Want a tropical twist? Take your drinking ques from Okinawa and try some hibiscus infused water. Like mojitos? Try some mint and lime infused water. Is the weather getting a bit chilly where you live? No worries, drinking hot tea is just fine too. Just remember to skip the cream and sugar! There is a wide world of flavored teas blended with all sorts of herbs and flowers, and you will be surprised at how tasty they can be. But even with teas it's important to read the label, some can have dried sugar cane or honey added in.

How Much is Enough?

The standard recommendation is 8 cups a day, but honestly how much you should drink depends on each individual person. Some people are bigger than others, some are more active than others, some people live in hot climates while others live in cold ones. All of these things can effect how much fluids you should be drinking. A good rule of thumb that I found helpful was take how much you weigh in pounds, cut that number in half, and that's how many ounces you should try to drink in a day. Now this number isn't perfect. When I was quite hefty, this number was recommending I drink like nearly 130 ounces a day! Needless to say, I never managed to drink that much, but it did encourage me to try to drink often. So for more plush people, I would say drink half your weight in ounces up to 100 ounces. If half your weight would be more than 100, than just stop at 100 ounces. I don't think there are a whole lot of people (besides maybe athletes) that would need to drink more than 100 ounces in a day.