Drinking water all the time can get old real fast, especially when less healthy alternatives are abundant and enticing! I wanted to ask you what are healthy alternatives to water to get the same taste as those less healthy options without the calories and artificial sugars?"
Summary of Advice: Tea, skim milk, black coffee, fruits, and vegetables are good alternatives. Honey offers a nice natural sweetness to drinks if you need it.
Hello there!
I keep getting awesome questions from you guys, and this one isn't any different! I'm really excited to be talking about hydration, as it's a very important concept not only to bodybuilding, but to overall health.
Source: cleanwateraction.org
I probably don't need to tell you how vitally important water is to you. It makes up about 60% of your body mass and is involved with almost all bodily processes (digestion, absorption, saliva production, nutrient transportation, temperature regulation, etc). One water molecule is composed of one oxygen atom and two hydrogen atoms.
Source: ces.fau.edu
Water in the body is easily lost continuously through such processes as respiration, evaporation through the skin, urination, and other processes...so it's important to drink water often. You don't necessarily need to drink the 8 glasses a day like you've heard forever, as you are hydrated through other forms of food you ingest, but it's good to drink a steady amount.
When it comes to bodybuilding, water manipulation is a very important process. It all comes back to the idea of picking your fitness goal and designing your diet and workout program around that goal as I discussed in my nutrition page. While water is very important to health and well-being, what bodybuilders do to their bodies to manipulate water to achieve the perfect aesthetic is very unhealthy.
Have you ever noticed how in the morning your skin looks tighter and you often times look your most lean and possibly cut? If your body fat is low enough, have you noticed how your six pack appears more pronounced? It's because you've essentially gone hours without fluid, and "dehydrated" yourself in the process. Bodybuilders do the same thing.
About two weeks out from a competition, bodybuilders will severely deplete their water intake. I'm talking only sipping on water for the whole day. Like a CUP of water a day...or maybe a cup for every couple days (I'm not an expert as I've never competed...but rest assured it's a very small amount of water). The result is a much tighter, leaner looking body that excentuates the muscles on stage. When you see a bodybuilder on stage, they're actually at their least healthy and fit, and in fact some bodybuilders have died from dehydration preparing for a show (Katsumi Kitamura).
Have you ever noticed how in the morning your skin looks tighter and you often times look your most lean and possibly cut? If your body fat is low enough, have you noticed how your six pack appears more pronounced? It's because you've essentially gone hours without fluid, and "dehydrated" yourself in the process. Bodybuilders do the same thing.
About two weeks out from a competition, bodybuilders will severely deplete their water intake. I'm talking only sipping on water for the whole day. Like a CUP of water a day...or maybe a cup for every couple days (I'm not an expert as I've never competed...but rest assured it's a very small amount of water). The result is a much tighter, leaner looking body that excentuates the muscles on stage. When you see a bodybuilder on stage, they're actually at their least healthy and fit, and in fact some bodybuilders have died from dehydration preparing for a show (Katsumi Kitamura).
Conversely, bodybuilders will also drink tons and tons of water (like 2 gallons a day) during the off-season or the week right before they start dehydrating themselves for a competition to stop the release of more antidiuretic hormone (arginine vasopressin) in the body, which is responsible for preventing you from losing water to urination. Anti-diuretic hormone is secreted by the posterior pituitary gland and is one of several hormones secreted by the body to help regulate water within the body [1]. Bodybuilders drink a lot of water to reduce the levels of antidiuretic hormone in their body so that they can easily lose fluid to achieve that tighter look when it comes time to reduce water intake (or so I'm told).
When it comes to health, gym performance, and aesthetics, water is also important in promoting an environment within your cells that is conducive to more energy in the gym, giving you more energy overall throughout your day, maintaining your tan, making your skin softer and smoother, putting you in a good mood, and making things easier for your kidneys.
But your question was on alternatives to water. I would first like to say that when it comes to bodybuilding and body transformation, you're going to have to get used to doing things you don't like....on a daily basis....over and over again. You can NEVER have it both ways. Things worth achieving will always take sacrifice and some mental training. You have to want your ideal body more than you want to hate the taste of water. I know it gets old. I know it's bland. But you'll need to think like that. I'm going to go over alternatives, and you don't need to drink exclusively water (even though 80-90% of what you drink SHOULD be water), but I thought it was important to preface my advice with that before we get into it. So let me state it again: You have to sacrifice and do things you don't want to to achieve not only your ideal body, but anything in life that's worth it. We do what we HAVE to do.....to do what we WANT to do.
As for alternatives to water that are healthy for you, it's kind of difficult. If you're looking for something you can drink regularly that has nice flavor and no blandness, you'll be hard-pressed to find something without aspartame, sucralose, and/or polyphenols. As a bodybuilder, I'm not necessarily concerned with the overall health of the food I eat, so I'll drink a lot of diet teas every once in a while with artificial sweeteners to get that nice sweet flavor I sometimes crave. Your goal might be health though, and if that's the case that's probably not an option for you.
The only fluids I personally drink are water, tea, black coffee, and almond milk. I used to drink skim milk on the regular, but since I"m trying to cut down a bit I'm exclusively almond milk for my "dairy" drinks. I don't put anything in my tea or coffee. You can get to that point too, you'll just have to train yourself and go through the growing pains of getting used to it. If you're only concerned with calories, try putting in some truvia or stevia with your drinks to give them some zero-calorie sweetness. You could even also consider putting honey in your drinks to sweeten them, which in my estimation isn't a bad choice so long as you're smart about the amount you put in (like a teaspoon). It's natural too (or should be)!
Honey is a good alternative to processed sugar if you don't like artificial sweeteners like Stevia and Truvia
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Citations:
[1]http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/hypopit/adh.html
Source: tqn.com
But your question was on alternatives to water. I would first like to say that when it comes to bodybuilding and body transformation, you're going to have to get used to doing things you don't like....on a daily basis....over and over again. You can NEVER have it both ways. Things worth achieving will always take sacrifice and some mental training. You have to want your ideal body more than you want to hate the taste of water. I know it gets old. I know it's bland. But you'll need to think like that. I'm going to go over alternatives, and you don't need to drink exclusively water (even though 80-90% of what you drink SHOULD be water), but I thought it was important to preface my advice with that before we get into it. So let me state it again: You have to sacrifice and do things you don't want to to achieve not only your ideal body, but anything in life that's worth it. We do what we HAVE to do.....to do what we WANT to do.
As for alternatives to water that are healthy for you, it's kind of difficult. If you're looking for something you can drink regularly that has nice flavor and no blandness, you'll be hard-pressed to find something without aspartame, sucralose, and/or polyphenols. As a bodybuilder, I'm not necessarily concerned with the overall health of the food I eat, so I'll drink a lot of diet teas every once in a while with artificial sweeteners to get that nice sweet flavor I sometimes crave. Your goal might be health though, and if that's the case that's probably not an option for you.
The only fluids I personally drink are water, tea, black coffee, and almond milk. I used to drink skim milk on the regular, but since I"m trying to cut down a bit I'm exclusively almond milk for my "dairy" drinks. I don't put anything in my tea or coffee. You can get to that point too, you'll just have to train yourself and go through the growing pains of getting used to it. If you're only concerned with calories, try putting in some truvia or stevia with your drinks to give them some zero-calorie sweetness. You could even also consider putting honey in your drinks to sweeten them, which in my estimation isn't a bad choice so long as you're smart about the amount you put in (like a teaspoon). It's natural too (or should be)!
Honey is a good alternative to processed sugar if you don't like artificial sweeteners like Stevia and Truvia
Source: showupfitness.com
As I just stated, I used to drink milk a lot. Milk is actually a pretty good drink that can help you get your water requirements in for the day, all while giving you a nice calcium and protein boost with some added vitamins. I recommend skim milk. If you don't like skim milk, you've been drinking way too many overly processed and probably over sugared drinks. It's time to get on that skim milk wagon and off of those junk drinks.
You can also attain your water content from the foods you eat. Fruits and vegetables can help hydrate you from the water content they contain. If you've read my nutrition section, or know my views on fruits, you'll know that I recommend limiting your fruit intake and opting more heavily towards vegetables. Fruits and veggies also have a lot of fiber in them to help fill you up and prevent you from snacking and getting hungry. So while they hydrate you, then also help you achieve that sexy body you want!
So there are some alternatives. Please understand though that you can't have it both ways. You'll have to give up flavor for health and other body transformation gains. You just need to find what's more important to you. Water isn't really that bad I promise. If you're training hard it's your best friend, and you can learn to appreciate it the more you drink it and the more exclusive you make it in your diet. Let me know how it goes. I know you can do it. Love the water.......your body will thank you for it.
Thank you for your question!
-Jtrain
You can also attain your water content from the foods you eat. Fruits and vegetables can help hydrate you from the water content they contain. If you've read my nutrition section, or know my views on fruits, you'll know that I recommend limiting your fruit intake and opting more heavily towards vegetables. Fruits and veggies also have a lot of fiber in them to help fill you up and prevent you from snacking and getting hungry. So while they hydrate you, then also help you achieve that sexy body you want!
So there are some alternatives. Please understand though that you can't have it both ways. You'll have to give up flavor for health and other body transformation gains. You just need to find what's more important to you. Water isn't really that bad I promise. If you're training hard it's your best friend, and you can learn to appreciate it the more you drink it and the more exclusive you make it in your diet. Let me know how it goes. I know you can do it. Love the water.......your body will thank you for it.
Thank you for your question!
-Jtrain
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Citations:
[1]http://www.vivo.colostate.edu/hbooks/pathphys/endocrine/hypopit/adh.html
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