Hydration

superhuman

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Hello

I struggle with some low body temperature and pulse aka hypothyroid.

I have been doing everything right in terms of nutrition etc but the one thing im lacking in terms of doing things correct is the water and salt.
I like to drink a decent amount of water esp when i eat, like after i eat i really want to chug down 0.2-0.5 liter of water because i feel so thirsty, no matter the meal except fruit and milk.
My pee is always clear so this means im overhydrated and also i struggle with some mild water retention.

How do you guys approach this in terms of adding more salt and decreasing water intake ? Do you add salt to your water? what else can i do. Just increase salt in general wich i also find kind of hard to increase my salt more.
 

Mittir

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I add generous amount of salt to OJ and milk. It is easier to eat salt with fruits like guava, pineapple, lemon etc.
It does not feel good to have a large amount of salt at a time.
So, i keep taking small amount of salt through out the day with water or fruits.
Some people use sodium bicarbonate for sodium. But i can not tolerate baking soda.
 

4peatssake

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superhuman said:
Hello

I struggle with some low body temperature and pulse aka hypothyroid.

I have been doing everything right in terms of nutrition etc but the one thing im lacking in terms of doing things correct is the water and salt.
I like to drink a decent amount of water esp when i eat, like after i eat i really want to chug down 0.2-0.5 liter of water because i feel so thirsty, no matter the meal except fruit and milk.
My pee is always clear so this means im overhydrated and also i struggle with some mild water retention.

How do you guys approach this in terms of adding more salt and decreasing water intake ? Do you add salt to your water? what else can i do. Just increase salt in general wich i also find kind of hard to increase my salt more.
Ray Peat doesn't recommend drinking large amounts of water. Perhaps have a glass of milk with your meals, as you say if you drink milk, that seems to quench your thirst. You can add salt to oj and use plenty of it with meals to taste. I salt my food pretty heavily. Salt is very important for people who are hypothyroid.

I have spoken to many people who believe they should drink "8 glasses of water every day," in addition to their normal foods, even if they don't feel thirsty. Many doctors still recite this dangerous slogan, but the addition of the qualifying phrase, "or other liquids," has become common.

The amount of water a person needs is extremely variable, depending on things such as metabolic rate, activity, and the temperature and humidity of the air. Working hard in hot, dry weather, it's possible to drink more than two quarts per hour for more than eight hours, without forming any urine, because all of the water is lost by evaporation. But in very hot, humid weather, a person with a low metabolic rate can be endangered by the smallest amount of water (e.g., "Meteorological relations of eclampsia in Lagos, Nigeria," Agobe, et al., 1981).

Most foods contain a considerable amount of water, usually more than 70% of their weight, and some water is produced in cells by metabolism. The function of water in the organism has been mystified and neglected because of some deeply rooted cultural images of the nature of organisms and their cellular make-up...

When people force themselves to drink a certain amount of water every day, even when they don't feel thirsty, they are activating complex adaptive processes unnecessarily. Thirst is the best guide to the amount of fluid needed.

When extra water consumption is combined with a low salt diet--as physicians have so often recommended--a healthy person can adapt easily, but for a hypothyroid person it can have disastrous effects.

Source: Water: swelling, tension, pain, fatigue, aging
 
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superhuman

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4peatssake: yes i agree but its just i get so thirsty after a meal sometimes that i just starve for water. Should i just add alot of salt to the water if i dont have milk around?

Yes for me drinking to much water is pretty bad since im hypothyroid and all so i should be smashing down salt and drink little water.
 
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superhuman

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Mittir said:
I add generous amount of salt to OJ and milk. It is easier to eat salt with fruits like guava, pineapple, lemon etc.
It does not feel good to have a large amount of salt at a time.
So, i keep taking small amount of salt through out the day with water or fruits.
Some people use sodium bicarbonate for sodium. But i can not tolerate baking soda.

Thanx. So if i drink water i should just add plenty of salt and sodium bicarb to it?
 

Mittir

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I rarely drink plain water now. If i do,i always get some salt with water.
I do not add salt to water, does not taste good. If you feel thirsty after few hours of meal
that can indicate blood sugar problem. I have bad experience with sodium bicarb,
so be careful when you try this. Are you getting other minerals?
Calcium magnesium sodium and potassium are major alkaline minerals.
They compensate for each other. RP strongly recommends at least 1200 mg of
calcium. Hypothyroid people have higher need for magnesium too.
Fruits, coffee, potato and milk are rich in potassium and magnesium.
 
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superhuman

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Mittir said:
I rarely drink plain water now. If i do,i always get some salt with water.
I do not add salt to water, does not taste good. If you feel thirsty after few hours of meal
that can indicate blood sugar problem. I have bad experience with sodium bicarb,
so be careful when you try this. Are you getting other minerals?
Calcium magnesium sodium and potassium are major alkaline minerals.
They compensate for each other. RP strongly recommends at least 1200 mg of
calcium. Hypothyroid people have higher need for magnesium too.
Fruits, coffee, potato and milk are rich in potassium and magnesium.

yes get all those minerals and enough, the only thing is salt that i dont get ALOT of together with drinking a little to much water.

Sodium bicarb bad for u why? what has been your experience with it
 

Mittir

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Sodium bicarb bad for u why? what has been your experience with it

I have not seen anyone else complaining about this problem in this forum.
It is general deterioration of health, sleep problem,flu like symptoms,
breathing problem etc. It does not happen over night. 3-4 days after daily use.
It is still a mystery to me. You may not have any problem at all.
Most people report good result with baking soda.
 

Jenn

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You body's need or ability to handle baking soda depends can vary greatly from person to person. I used it in large doses therapeutically for YEARS, because I was that out of balance. My friend couldn't tolerate ANY, except in baking doses. She was out of balance the other direction.
 
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superhuman

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i havent struggled with baking soda.
I just struggle with drinking to much water and beeing overhydrated i guess and having lower body temp and pulse then i should. And i struggle with beeing very thirsty ;)
 

charlie

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I noticed when I had a crazy thirsty feeling, I am actually craving sugar. This rarely happens now but when it does I increase my sugar for that time.
 
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superhuman

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Charlie said:
I noticed when I had a crazy thirsty feeling, I am actually craving sugar. This rarely happens now but when it does I increase my sugar for that time.

Interesting. I will experiment but i also watchout for my calories since i want to drop a litle fat so i cant just splash down sugar if im thirsty :)
 

Ari

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Hydration is something that I am also very interested in. I think most of my interest comes from the fact that everything I am starting to learn about hydration while on this diet is the exact opposite of what I used to believe.

For your situation all I can do is let you know what I've experienced, because I never remember feeling thirsty after meals, so I don't want to share info that might make things worse for you.

But still, I did come from being cold all the time (always cold hands and feet, needing jacket indoors etc) to being warm enough to take cold showers and jump in cold water without a problem. I did that through this diet. So lets see if I can help out somehow.

For starters, if I drink bottled water I immediately become cold. This is all stuff I've noticed and logged. If I drink a few glasses of water and then sleep, I will wake up freezing and groggy. For some reason though, mineral water lessens this effect. I think the reason is pretty clear though (theory only) - electrolytes.

As far as salt goes, eating it alone definitely warms me up. If I sit down with just a salt shaker I can warm myself up - but if I go too far I can dehydrate myself, and water doesn't provide a quick fix for that, at least in my experience.

As far as hydration goes (the title of this post.. that i've finally come around to), apparently skim milk is a better source of hydration than any sports drink or water (https://www.google.com/search?q=skim+mi ... e&ie=UTF-8)

That study was funded by dairy something or other though, but just something to try.

Anyways, the reason this post is so 'me' centered is that I don't want to claim to know how to help your situation, but just read it and see if anything sounds useful.

So some things to try, get salt and other electrolytes, drink less fluids, try skim milk instead of water, and if you want to drink water, make it 'harder' water.

Oh also one last note, I've found that starches (potatoes, rice) make me need more fluids. That makes sense to me based on the fact that the body needs water to break down all the bonds that hold the glucose molecules together in starch.. but I could be wrong.

----

On the topic of thirst, i'm pretty sure that can be a sign for some well known health issues.. have you looked into that at all?
 
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superhuman

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Ari said:
Hydration is something that I am also very interested in. I think most of my interest comes from the fact that everything I am starting to learn about hydration while on this diet is the exact opposite of what I used to believe.

For your situation all I can do is let you know what I've experienced, because I never remember feeling thirsty after meals, so I don't want to share info that might make things worse for you.

But still, I did come from being cold all the time (always cold hands and feet, needing jacket indoors etc) to being warm enough to take cold showers and jump in cold water without a problem. I did that through this diet. So lets see if I can help out somehow.

For starters, if I drink bottled water I immediately become cold. This is all stuff I've noticed and logged. If I drink a few glasses of water and then sleep, I will wake up freezing and groggy. For some reason though, mineral water lessens this effect. I think the reason is pretty clear though (theory only) - electrolytes.

As far as salt goes, eating it alone definitely warms me up. If I sit down with just a salt shaker I can warm myself up - but if I go too far I can dehydrate myself, and water doesn't provide a quick fix for that, at least in my experience.

As far as hydration goes (the title of this post.. that i've finally come around to), apparently skim milk is a better source of hydration than any sports drink or water (https://www.google.com/search?q=skim+mi ... e&ie=UTF-8)

That study was funded by dairy something or other though, but just something to try.

Anyways, the reason this post is so 'me' centered is that I don't want to claim to know how to help your situation, but just read it and see if anything sounds useful.

So some things to try, get salt and other electrolytes, drink less fluids, try skim milk instead of water, and if you want to drink water, make it 'harder' water.

Oh also one last note, I've found that starches (potatoes, rice) make me need more fluids. That makes sense to me based on the fact that the body needs water to break down all the bonds that hold the glucose molecules together in starch.. but I could be wrong.

----

On the topic of thirst, i'm pretty sure that can be a sign for some well known health issues.. have you looked into that at all?


Thanx a ton for a great post :)

In terms of drinking skimmed milk as a thirst drink i would love to but its a little expensive as well so for me i have to rely on water for fill my thirst. In terms of making the water "harder" what is your suggestions? how much of what etc ?

Thanx again. How much salt did you start out consuming before you felt warmed up? and how long did it take you in terms of days etc.. ? also how much salt do you consume now a day?
 

Ari

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For the salt, which is the easier of the two questions for me to answer, I just started sprinkling it on every food I ate until it tasted good, and then I would even eat it plain in between meals sometimes. Usually your taste buds will let you know how much salt you need. I used to avoid salt like it was a poison, but I slowly woke up to the fact that I was hurting myself that way. People used to go to war over salt back before it was so easily available. Also the phrase 'worth your salt'.

I'm not sure how long it took me to feel warmer after I added salt back into my diet. I do know though that if I feel cold now, I can warm myself up in a few meals time. So within a day. But it probably took me over a month to learn my body like that.

I consume as much as my taste buds tell me to these days. I don't really count how much that is, I just taste some salt and see if I want it. If I do, then I add it.

----

As for making the water harder, which is a tough question to answer, I would say that the water would need to end up having some calcium, magnesium, and sodium at the least. I am not sure how to get those in there. Maybe somewhere sells some sort of sport electrolyte pack? But really all of those things just imitate milk. I am lucky in that I have well water to drink from if I need water, but I avoid it. I can go without water if my diet is right. In fact I find that water usually messes with my digestion.

-----

So the main thing that puzzles me from your posts is that you are continuously thirsty. You know it could be a trained thing? I used to drink bottles of water a day, and leave them lying all over the floor etc, but I haven't recently, and I can't recall why I stopped.
 

Ari

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Actually I just thought of an idea - you could try drinking bone broths as your water source.
 

4peatssake

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superhuman said:
Interesting. I will experiment but i also watchout for my calories since i want to drop a litle fat so i cant just splash down sugar if im thirsty :)
Eating sugar doesn't promote weight gain. That's a myth.

Many studies have found that sucrose is less fattening than starch or glucose, that is, that more calories can be consumed without gaining weight.

Source: Sugar Issues

Ray Peat said:
Per calorie, sugar is less fattening than starch, partly because it stimulates less insulin, and, when it's used with a good diet, because it increases the activity of thyroid hormone.

The fructose component of ordinary sugar (sucrose) helps to increase the metabolic rate.

Source
 

Jenn

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When I get a craving type thirsty, it's either msg or I have not actually digested what I ate yet. Water is a by product of digestion. Your kidneys do sometime use water to help maintain blood pressure in the absence of sufficient salt or aldesterone.
 
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superhuman

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4peatssake said:
superhuman said:
Interesting. I will experiment but i also watchout for my calories since i want to drop a litle fat so i cant just splash down sugar if im thirsty :)
Eating sugar doesn't promote weight gain. That's a myth.

Many studies have found that sucrose is less fattening than starch or glucose, that is, that more calories can be consumed without gaining weight.

Source: Sugar Issues

Ray Peat said:
Per calorie, sugar is less fattening than starch, partly because it stimulates less insulin, and, when it's used with a good diet, because it increases the activity of thyroid hormone.

The fructose component of ordinary sugar (sucrose) helps to increase the metabolic rate.

Source

It is if you push calories to high, any calorie will promote weight gain. But sugar will do it the least but they will all do if you eat in excess.
 
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superhuman

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Jenn said:
When I get a craving type thirsty, it's either msg or I have not actually digested what I ate yet. Water is a by product of digestion. Your kidneys do sometime use water to help maintain blood pressure in the absence of sufficient salt or aldesterone.

Thats very cool and interesting, im gonna pay attention to that and chew my food really really good. What is MSG ?
 

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