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Health & Fitness

Healthy Eating Tip - Stay hydrated

The importance of staying hydrated to maintain good health.

Staying hydrated is one of the single most important things you can do for your health.  Dehydration has been linked to fatigue, irritability and hunger. Your specific "Healthy Eating" Assignment for the week is to drink half of your weight in ounces everyday.  For example if you weigh 150 lbs, you should be drinking 75 oz. of water per day.  Soda, coffee, juice do not count.  

Here are some facts about soda and other sugary drinks that are good to know. 

  • One 12 fl. oz. of soda contains 155 empty calories.  Empty calories come from food that is high in sugar and fat but low in nutrients that the body needs to stay healthy.
  • That one can of soda causes a temorary spike in your blood sugar. It does give you a temporary boast of energy, but when the sugar comes down, you end up with far less energy than when you started.  
  • There are 3,500 calaries in a pound. In order to lose or gain one pound, and individual must either subtract or add 3,500 calaries from their diet. That equates to 22.5 sodas. If you drink one per day, you could gain as much as 16 pounds per year.  
  • It takes about 23 minutes of walking to burn the calaries in one can of soda.  
  • Diet sodas aren't any better. Although they do not have the calaries of regular soda, the chemically derived artificial sweeteners they contain           ( especially aspartame) may act as neurotoxins and have been linked to headeaches, memory problems, anxiety, depression, skin irritations, joint pain etc.  
  • So remember, water is the best when you are thirsty.  

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