Newspaper Page Text
— Griffin Daily News Wednesday, October 1,1975
Page 22
Water
hides
weight
By SHIRLEV BRIGHT
BOODY
Registered Dietitian
Copley News Service
Os all the essential nu
trients needed by the human
body, the most important one
is often overlooked — water.
People can live for months,
or even years, without some
of the essential vitamins and
minerals, but can survive
only a short time in the
absence of water.
Water is a constituent of
every cell in the body, and is
present in widely varying
concentrations in tissues.
It makes up approximately
60 per cent of the total body
weight, varying according to
age and the amount of fat on
the body.
Water acts as a solvent for
vitamins, minerals, amino
acids, fats, carbohydrates,
protein, hormones, saliva, all
body fluids as well as the
waste products of metabo
lism. It is, in fact, an impor
tant part of the entire meta
bolic process.
Our body acquires water
through food, as well as from
beverages, and is lost
through the urinary tract,
lungs and skin.
The regulation of body
fluids is a function of the kid
neys. The thirst regulator is
centered in the brain which
signals the need for water.
A 10 per cent decrease, or
loss of water, is severe dehy
dration and a 20 per cent loss
is fatal. A point should be
made here concerning the use
of diuretics, or “water pills.”
They should be used only
when prescribed by a good
doctor — not for a weight loss
but for a severe case of water
retention such as edema,
when there is a 10 per cent or
more retention of water over
normal.
A lowering of the sodium in
the diet can usually produce
an excretion of excessive
water without medication.
This can be accomplished by
omitting high sodium foods
such as milk, and dairy prod
ucts, salt, celery and
MSG (monosodiumgluta
mate) from the diet.
There is no such thing as a
totally salt (or sodium) free
diet, as salt is present, to
some degree, in nearly all
foods.
Medical problems such as
pulmonary edema, conges
tive heart failure, hyperten
sion and kidney problems are
treated with appropriate
medication and diet to help
control the disturbances in
water metabolism.
Many women will retain
water premenstrually thus
causing a temporary in
crease in weight. This some
times causes a feeling of
panic, but this gain is almost
always the result of water
and not a gain of fat.
Omitting the previously
listed high sodium foods
about 10 days prior to men
struation may help reduce
the fluid retention.
This does not mean that
water should be restricted. It
should be remembered that it
is most healthful to drink
plenty of water, all you want,
every day.
The amount of water re
tained in the body has an in
fluence on body weight — 2
cups weigh 1 pound — this is
why body measurements are
more important in determin
ing weight loss than scale
weight.
People who are trying to
lose weight will often pay ex
cessive attention to the scale
and weigh themselves re
peatedly during the day. The
scale fluctuations may be re
cording the amount of water
in the body and not reflecting
true body weight.
Whenever large amounts of
water are lost from the body,
the scale will go down.
Abnormal losses occur from
diarrhea, nausea, fever, or
undue stimulation of kidney
function by diuretics.
Water losses can occur
from high weather tempera
tures, perspiration, and
steam baths. Don’t confuse
these with the loss of
metabolic water resulting
from the oxidation, or burn
ing up, of excess fat — the
true loss of weight.
Dear Shirley,
I have been skipping break
fast and lunch to save
calories and lose weight, but I
actually am gaining instead.
How can this be possible?
Missß. H.
Dear Miss B. H.,
You are eating at the wrong
time of the day. Instead of
feeding your body during the
day, when you need food and
will bum it up, you are feed
ing it before resting when
food is stored as fat.
PRICES GOOD MONDAY, SEPT. 29 .
THRU SUNDAY, OCTOBER 5,1975
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COPYRIGHT 1975 . \
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