Does your pee stink?
The other day I was standing outside the women’s bathroom (it was a single stall one) waiting for my turn and I could smell this lady’s pee……through the door! I literally had to hold my breath while I went to the bathroom. This might seem like TMI (too much information) for some, but I had to share it because the smell of your urine is indicative of how things are working in your body. Urine generally has a foul smell when you’re dehydrated so this lady clearly wasn’t drinking enough water!
In addition to our urine having a strong smell, our bodies (our armpits and skin) can also smell more putrid when we aren’t drinking enough water. Urine is also supposed to be very light yellow. If your urine is dark, it’s another indication that you are not drinking enough water. It’s so important for us to drink enough water because as you probably know, our bodies are 80% water and we need to give it what it’s made of. There are many benefits to drinking water. When we are drinking enough water: our kidneys work better, we have less toxins in our system, our skin looks smoother, we have more energy, we tend to drink less soda and coffee, we are not dehydrated, we feel fuller, eat less and are more likely to lose weight!
People often ask me how much water they should drink and while there is no magic number, here are a couple of guidelines: Drink one ounce of water for every 2 pounds that you weigh. So if you weigh 150 pounds, you should be drinking 75 oz or about 9 glasses of water. I would recommend that anyone, regardless of their weight or activity level drink at least 6-8 (8oz) glasses of water a day. Also if you are exerting yourself or are exposed to a lot of sun, definitely increase the amount of water that you drink.
Now you might be saying to yourself, “6-8 glasses, that’s impossible for me!” No, it’s not.
– If water “doesn’t taste good” to you, add something to make it taste good! Try adding lemon, lime or orange slices to your water. If you’re on the go and don’t have time to cut fruit, try adding a mint tea bag. That will give your water a slightly minty taste. It’s very refreshing in the summer.
– Or your problem might be that you don’t remember to drink water. If so, drink one to two glasses of warm water upon waking (w/ a slice of lemon, but if you forget to do this, it’s okay) that will jumpstart your lymphatic system. Put the empty cup on your nightstand. That will serve as a reminder ot get your water and drink it when you wake up before you eat anything.
– Also, buy a glass or stainless steel water bottle and carry it around with you. I’ve noticed that after I got my Lifefactory water bottle and started carrying it around, I began to drink a lot more water. .
Let me just say something about bottled water. Bottled water is convenient, but it contains BPA, phthalates and other chemicals. Click here to read my article about chemicals in plastics. When possible, strive to drink filtered water.
So now I’ve given you three tips about how to make sure that you drink more water. Leave a comment below and let me know which tip resonated with you or let me know whether you have other tricks for increasing your water intake.
Happy drinking!
– AmiCietta
