In Defense of H2O

Alright water haters, I'm back to tackle the water argument after consulting my textbooks and some of the latest research. Like Reuters, I came up short on finding specific studies that proved several common beliefs about the benefits of drinking water. However, I disagree that the lack of scientific research in certain areas validates decreasing water intake throughout the day, especially if you're very active. Reuters scientists contested the role of water in the following bodily functions:

1. Eliminating toxins: yes, the kidneys do eliminate waste from the body, and yes, indeed, they do a fantastic job. However, without adequate fluid intake, urine output decreases in both quantity and quality. Fluid intake is required for the kidneys to function adequately.
   
2. Causing dehydration headaches: no, I did not find research to validate this claim. Light headedness is cited as a common symptom of dehydration, which may be experienced as a headache to some.
   
3. Limiting appetite: no, I did not find research to validate this belief either.
   

Volumes have been written about the benefits of drinking water. Adult human body weight is made up of between 45 and 65 percent water; human embryos are 75% water. Breaking new research from the University of Medicine Berlin, Germany*, has revealed an increase in energy expenditure of 24% over the course of an hour after drinking 500 ml of water. Simply translated, 'increased energy expenditure' is code for increased metabolism - good news for anyone trying to lose weight!

For those who simply dislike the taste of water, nutritionist Nancy Clark recommends substituting with fluids such as seltzer, juice, decaf coffee or tea, herbal tea, lemonade, soft drinks, soups, and low-fat milk.

Did you know that even food can contribute significant amounts of water to your diet? Try eating cucumbers, lettuces, tomatoes, oranges, and bananas to increase your fluid intake.

*Water Drinking Induces Thermogenesis through Osmosensitive Mechanisms; The Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism 92(8):3334-3337; May 22, 2007.

Triathlon Training 101 - Stack the Relay Team

Speedy Sistah's - that's the name of our relay team for the Smith Mountain Lake sprint triathlon that is now only two weeks away. I showed up for the same race last year before I realized something - I don't like to swim and I still haven't recovered from flying over my handlebars and ending up in the ER while training for my first adventure race two years ago!

This year I found the solution - a relay team, stacked with a former collegiate swimmer and an equally competitive and experienced biker. Enter Elana and Sue, Sol's truly Speedy Sistah's. At 10 and 6 years younger than me, respectively, I'm counting on them to build and secure a large lead to compensate for my older, banged-up runner's knees. Once it's my turn to run, my goal is simply to hang on to that lead and not let anyone pass me.

We signed up for the race about two weeks ago, which gives us 4 weeks total to train. Now, the average athlete might be a little wary of that fact; but fortunately for us, the three of us are personal trainers, with high baseline fitness levels and competitive egos to match. I'm predicting a win!

- Melanie

H2O for Health - Fact or Fallacy?

As a personal trainer, I am always pushing the virtues of drinking water - encouraging my clients to stay hydrated after they work out, get a massage, or drink copious amounts of alcohol. Fed-up with my constant preaching, my client, Mark, a particularly nutrition savvy and well-known chef who drinks water during workouts but prefers Diet Coke, coffee, or good wine the rest of the day, has found his backup in a recent article published in Reuters:

H20 Findings

Reuters researchers, in a review of scientific literature, found little to no evidence to support the view that drinking water improves overall health, helps eliminate toxins from the body, or prevents "dehydration" headaches.

I must admit that I was hard-pressed to cite the specific research that proves what I preach. I'm left asking myself where I got my information - from my massage therapist the last time he/she worked the 'toxins' out of my muscles? Am I a sponge, unwittingly influenced by the many commercial bottling companies who exploit my thirst by trying to convince me that my American tap water is filthy and I must buy my water? Have all of the scientific facts I've gathered through formal study converged into one generic mass in my brain?

Or was my advice based on my own life's experience? I can tell you that if you hike for 18 hours in the Mojave desert without clean water to drink (like my adventurous friends and I once did when we lost our trail in the Zion backcountry at age 22) , you're most likely going to have a splitting headache, muscle cramps, and fatigue, if not outright heatstroke. I can also verify my old high school friend Ed's favorite method of preventing a hangover by drinking an entire pitcher of water before going to bed after a night of heavy drinking.

Time to return to my scientific roots and research the literature, I suppose, lest Mark best his know-it-all trainer. I'll let you know what I find out in next week's Fitness posting.

Who is Edward Abbey?

Better yet, let's phrase the question as Ed himself would have: Who the hell is Edward Abbey? Sol's first blog pays tribute to the man who penned our tagline: "Who needs wilderness? Civilization needs wilderness," from his essay Freedom & Wilderness, Wilderness & Freedom ( The Journey Home).

The first time I heard this particular essay I was driving the washboard dirt roads of Utah's West Desert (there's a reason you never heard of this place) in the state's Ford Bronco, searching for spotted frogs with the rest of a crew of young and hopeful wildlife biologists seasonally employed by the Division of Wildlife. The book on tape was narrated by old Ed himself, and if I close my eyes long enough I can almost hear the dry, but empassioned delivery of his own words; I can feel the desert sun on my arms; I can see across miles of vast desert emptyness and smell nothing but earth - well, punctuated by the occasional stench of cow pie.

Now that I've lived within the urban confines of D.C. for five years, this particular essay has more meaning for me, and inspires me as I introduce others to the beauty of wilderness.

"The wildest animal I know is you, gentle reader, with this helpless book clutched in your claws...we need wilderness because we are wild animals. Every man needs a place where he can go to go crazy in peace. Every Boy Scout troop needs a forest to get lost, miserable, and starving in. Even the maddest murderer of the sweetest wife should get a chance to run for the hills. If only for the sport of it. For the terror, the delirium..Because we need brutality and raw adventure. What makes life in our cities at once still tolerable, exciting, and stimulating is the existence of an alternative option, whether exercised or not, whether even appreciated or not, of a radically different mode of being out there, in the forests, on the lakes and rivers, up in the
mountains. The boundary around a wilderness area may well be an artificial, self-imposed, sophisticated construction, but once inside that line you discover the artificiality beginning to drop away; and the deeper you go, the longer you stay, the more interesting things get - sometimes fatallyinteresting. And that too is what we want: wilderness is and should be a place where, as in Central Park, New York City, you have a fair chance of being mugged and buggered by a shaggy fellow in a fur coat, one of Pooh Bear's big brothers. To be alive is to take risks; to be always safe and secure is death."

So get out there and start living! And when your done, come back and tell us your favorite Edward Abbey stories...