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Water Nutrition Facts
What's better, drinking water before your meals or after it?
(May 13, 2010)
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This is a question that has a different answer wherever you go. Some doctors and experts say that it’s better to drink water before a meal, while others say it’s after a meal that’s best. Similarly, some cultures believe that water shouldn’t be drunk immediately after a meal, while others have no such hang ups. So instead of answering the question straight out, we’ll just give you the facts, and you can drink it when you feel like.
Let’s start with the benefits of drinking water. Proponents of doing this claim that the major benefit of drinking before a meal is that it helps to curb your appetite.
This means that you eat less. If you’re on a diet, or looking to lose weight, this may help you. In fact, research shows that a glass of water just before a meal makes you take in less calories.
The downside to drinking water before a meal is that it may interfere with digestion. Some experts claim that water before a meal dilutes the stomach’s gastric juices, in the much the same way as adding water to hydrochloric acid makes it weaker. It’s easy to see how this argument works, but a lot of doctors and researchers claim it isn’t so. They say research proves that water does not affect digestion. On the other side of the argument are many oriental healers and health specialists, who strongly advocate that one shouldn’t drink before a meal. Now, let’s move on to drinking water after a meal. The first argument against it is the same as above: that in interferes with digestion by diluting gastric juices. Another argument, though, which is harder to deny is this: drinking cold water immediately after a meal solidifies oils and fats because of the temperature. This makes it harder to digest them, and may, in some cases, even lead to acid reflux. Again, there is research that contradicts this.
So what should you do, then? Well, Ayurvedic doctors recommend that you do neither. They say that it’s best to drink a little water half an hour before and half an hour after a meal. During your meal, sip on some water if you’re eating salty or spicy food. More important than drinking water around mealtime, you need to keep hydrated throughout the day. If you do this, you won’t need to drink around meals, and will stay much healthier.
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Submitted by E L on May 13, 2010 at 02:25
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