Everything is poison in the right amount, even water. And if you force yourself to drink a very large amount of water, hoping to flush toxins from your body, you are actually risking "cleansing" your body of important electrolytes.
However, that does not mean that it is not good to drink plenty of water if you want to lose weight. In fact, as long as you do not overdo your water intake, there is reason to believe that drinking water can help reduce weight.
Why? We will examine this in this article about fluids and weight loss, as well as what you can do in practice.
Water and weight loss
First of all, water intake during weight loss can be important because water contains no calories. Therefore, if you replace juice or sugar-sweetened soft drinks with water, you will consume fewer calories.
It is not surprising that a systematic review found that adults who drank soft drinks with meals had approximately 7.8% higher daily calorie consumption than those who drank water with meals.
Indeed, if you drink 0.5 l of soft drink a day and replace it with water (or a diet soft drink), the calorie reduction will be enough to lose almost 1 kg of weight per month.
But water is also important for weight loss because it fills you up and provides a feeling of satiety.
Water in food products
Since water contains no calories, a high water content helps to fill out food. The more filling food is in relation to its calorie count, the more satiating it usually is.
Thus, high water content in food products is associated with a greater feeling of satiety.
We know this from food products like fruits and vegetables, which usually have a high water content. A cucumber, which is essentially just water, has only 15 kcal per 100 g, while watermelon has only about 30 kcal per 100 g. It is quite difficult to overeat with such low-calorie food if you can swallow 1 kg of watermelon and still only consume 300 kcal!
We also know this when we add water to food, for example, in soup. A portion of chicken soup, potato soup, or carrot soup has very few calories because water "dilutes" the energy density of the food.
Therefore, eating delicious soups regularly (without too much cream) is great advice for weight loss.
However, it is not just the water contained in food that is important. In fact, drinking water before a meal is also useful if your goal is weight loss.
Drinking water before meals to reduce weight - what do the studies show?
Several studies have investigated what happens to people's calorie intake if they drink a large glass of water before a meal.
In a study involving 41 older and middle-aged overweight people, half of them were told to drink 500 ml of water 30 minutes before three main meals, and both groups were put on a weight loss diet.
After 12 weeks, the group that drank water before meals lost about 2 kg, or 44% more weight. This was because it was measured that at the beginning of the study (but not at the end), they consumed fewer calories during meals when they drank a large glass of water beforehand (498 vs 541 kcal).
Therefore, there is reason to believe that water before a meal reduces appetite and can help reduce weight.
Making it easier to drink water
If you still find it difficult to replace juice or sweet soda with water, here are some things you can do. Not just to feel more satisfied before a meal.
Keep a carafe of water in the fridge so you can drink water that is colder than from the tap.
Add sliced cucumber or basil leaves to your water.
Add ice cubes or frozen berries to your water.
Add sliced ginger, lime, or (organic or peeled) lemon to your water - no, that doesn't mean detoxification, but it tastes great.
