Is too much water a bad thing?

I forgot to share what my secret weapon was at work when I forgot Advil last Wednesday. Cold water. I realized that if I drank cold water, it momentarily relieved the discomfort and pain associated with this damn retainer. So I drank lots and lots of water. I managed to down NINE 32-oz Nalgenes of water during work alone. Add another Nalgene during yoga on Wednesday night, and probably a half more once I got home. That adds up to roughly 336 oz of water on Wednesday. The "recommended" amount of water per day is 8 cups or 64 oz. I definitely exceeded that level. When I mentioned this to one of my rowing friends last week, she brought up the fact that too much water is a bad thing. I remembered hearing about something years and years ago where some high school football player died from drinking too much water during a strenuous practice, so I decided to look it up.

Let's break it down into the mechanics behind this issue. We have to start at the cellular level. The membranes of your cells are made up of phospholipids, forming a lipid bilayer. The heads of the phosopholipids are hydrophilic, while the tails are hydrophobic, so the heads face the inner and outer edges of the cell membrane. These semi-permeable membranes allow certain things like water molecules to pass through the membrane. Hello, osmosis:

See here for the source image.

This permeability allows the cell to exist in balance with its surroundings. But when you flood your body with water, the concentration of electrolytes and sodium in the blood outside of the cells decreases, causing the cell and blood concentrations to be unbalanced. In order to correct this imbalance, water enters the cell via osmosis, thus causing the cell to swell. See the hypotonic image below.

This cell swelling happens throughout the body, and you'll notice the side effects of the intracranial pressure (swelling in the brain). Some of these signs of "water intoxication" are: headache, confusion and dulled perception, drowsiness, as well as personality changes and irritability. You may also experience difficulty breathing during exertion, nausea/vomiting, thirst, and muscle weakness, twitching, or cramping. One example of a situation to be wary of is marathons. Marathon runners tend to consume a fair amount of water while running to stay hydrated, but they aren't eating a ton of food during these strenuous runs. This influx of water while doing an endurance sport can lead to hyponatremia, which is when the sodium ion concentration is lower than normal. This state can lead to collapse or confusion of the runners. That's why you can find tons of mid-run gels or snacks to help prevent hyponatremia. Some runners even use just salt tablets. Watch out for overexertion and heat stress as other contributing factors.

I looked up the LD50 of water and it is 90 g/kg (at least for rats). When I factor in my weight and do a brief conversion (thanks to Dr. Koros my Intro to Chemical Engineering Professor for training me how to do pretty conversions):

... you can see that my water intake was technically higher than the LD50 of water. You can also probably determine that I'm not dead. Otherwise, my ghost is really dedicated to blogging. But there are some big qualifiers here for why I didn't bite the big one last Wednesday... timing and the conditions. Sure if I had chugged 10 Nalgenes of water in one go, I might not have done so well, but considering that my water consumption was spread over 12 hours and that I was eating and consuming electrolytes and salts via my meals, it wasn't an issue. That being said, I don't recommend chugging that much water on a daily basis. Yes, water is good for you, but like with everything else... moderation is key. Drink when you're thirsty, eat when you're hungry, and maintain your balanced, healthy Paleo meals. Good luck!

21DSD Day 12 - Stay Strong

Bored with plain old water? Mix it up with lemon or lime. Or if you want to be fancy... Cucumbers!!! Because really, what's life without cucumbers in your water? It tastes so crisp and cool... like a cucumber.

I'm currently writing this in the car as my friends and I road trip to the lake for Memorial Day weekend. The song we're all singing to right now is "Wagon Wheel" by Darius Rucker. Fun fact: Darius Rucker was the lead singer of Hootie and the Blowfish, who just really wanted to sing country. And I mean, can you blame him? Country is awesome. So is Texas. Oh, and he's awesome, too.

Anyways, I'm mentally preparing myself for saying "no" to alcohol. As I mentioned, it's really hard to go out with a huge group of friends who are all drinking and not join in. I mean, my mom even said that it wouldn't be a big deal if I just had a drink... She wants me to have fun and not feel like the sober outsider, which can happen sometimes.

But I'm just reminding myself of the reasons to stay strong:

1. It's just plain good for my body.

2. My body will thank me tomorrow when I'm not hungover.

3. I'll be one of the few people with a clear recollection of the events of the evening.

4. I get to avoid filling myself with empty calories devoid of any nutritional value.

5. I want to be able to say that I stuck with 21DSD without cheating or slipping. It's a pride thing.

6. My face will stay clearer by staying away from the sugars in the alcohol mixers.

7. I want to win $200 in my work "Baywatch Challenge"

Speaking of the "Baywatch Challenge," I was heating up some Paleo Chili for my lunch today when I saw one of my competitors pulling a Lean Cuisine out of the microwave. It just made me think of the days when I used to eat microwave dinners. I did it for years, even back in high school because my schedule was so crazy with school, studying, and my abundance of extra-curriculars. I just remember always feeling hungry after I finished eating it. It just didn't seem like enough food, yet I was always worried about my total calorie count for the day, so I just sucked it up... Until I couldn't restrain myself anymore and I attacked the snacks. Not so good for weight loss. So today, when I tucked into a large bowl of Paleo Chili, I silently thanked the Paleo gods... Jk, I felt immensely grateful that my "Twin" (the other half of my crew team's stroke pair) introduced me to Paleo. Granted it took her a few years of telling me how great she felt to get me to try changing my eating habits, but it finally happened.

Though eating Paleo takes a lot longer and it makes me that person at restaurants when I say "I'll have the special, hold the bread and the sauce and the potatoes, and can I get a salad instead of that cheesy nonsense," I still prefer the foods that I'm eating. I don't think I can rave enough about how great my meals end up tasting in comparison to how i used to eat. Going Paleo forced me to hone my cooking skills. Don't believe me? Just ask my ex... He was the cook in our relationship; I was the baker. I attribute that to the fact that I love to bake from scratch and raw meat used to terrify me. Baking just seemed like the better option for me. But I've adjusted. I still love baking way more than cooking, but I enjoy cooking now, and it's not so much of a chore anymore. Yay!