Often when we first decide to lose weight and adopt a diet, we
see a large loss in the first week. That loss is often referred to as
"Water Weight" and while the dropping of the scale is a happy sight, too
often people get the idea that it doesn't really "count" because it's
just "water weight."
So just what is this "water" we're losing? Well let's think about the human body for a minute. Our bodies, we are told, are about 70% water. The water in our bodies helps to lubricate joints, remove waste, carry fuel, carry oxygen, and other important metabolic functions. A very important function that requires water is inflammation. Inflammation is the body's response to an attack or damage to the body. An acute response is when you do something like hit your finger with a hammer. The body immediately dispatches plasma and leukocytes to fix the damage.
A chronic inflammation response can be related to certain illnesses, and is also what we see because of a diet high in fat and sodium coupled with a sedentary lifestyle. The body is under "attack" by free radicals in our processed foods, as well as in the air in the form of pollution. The inflamatory response is your body trying hard to fight the barrage of free radicals. Why does your body do this? Because free radicals are made of atoms with an odd number of electrons. Since nature likes a balance, these atoms will go to your healthy cells and attach themselves and steal off an electron damaging the body at a cellular level. Your body's response is to continually attempt repair of these cells. This goes on day in and day out in everyone's body, to some extent. But when you pair our normal environmental contaminants with added junk in a highly processed diet, the body can't keep up.
The answer to this is to introduce something into our diets that can neutralize those free radicals so they don't go for our cells... and that's where antioxidants come in. Antioxidants have an extra electron that attaches easily to free radicals. You find these little miracle workers in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, certain fish oils, and complex grains. The most immediate response when a person starts eating healthier is that the body can repair the damaged cells, at which point the inflammation is no longer "needed" for repair. In the long term, there are studies that suggest that this can reduce or possibly even reverse some forms of cancer.
Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. --Michael Pollen
So even a small change in your diet can produce the big water weight loss, and as you make ongoing changes like adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet to replace highly processed foods, the benefit can undo the damage our diets have done.
One thing to be aware of is that while a multivitamin or other supplement probably isn't going to hurt, there are studies that show that they are not nearly as effective as the real food. Why? Because while we recognize that antioxidants can pair with the free radicals, the precise mechanics of it are unclear. It may be more than just the antioxidant, but might also include other aspects of the fruit or vegetable you are eating. So vitamins are nice, but they are NOT a replacement for real food.
So next time you think water weight doesn't "count" think again! It's just more proof that your body is restoring itself in response your health lifestyle changes!
So just what is this "water" we're losing? Well let's think about the human body for a minute. Our bodies, we are told, are about 70% water. The water in our bodies helps to lubricate joints, remove waste, carry fuel, carry oxygen, and other important metabolic functions. A very important function that requires water is inflammation. Inflammation is the body's response to an attack or damage to the body. An acute response is when you do something like hit your finger with a hammer. The body immediately dispatches plasma and leukocytes to fix the damage.
A chronic inflammation response can be related to certain illnesses, and is also what we see because of a diet high in fat and sodium coupled with a sedentary lifestyle. The body is under "attack" by free radicals in our processed foods, as well as in the air in the form of pollution. The inflamatory response is your body trying hard to fight the barrage of free radicals. Why does your body do this? Because free radicals are made of atoms with an odd number of electrons. Since nature likes a balance, these atoms will go to your healthy cells and attach themselves and steal off an electron damaging the body at a cellular level. Your body's response is to continually attempt repair of these cells. This goes on day in and day out in everyone's body, to some extent. But when you pair our normal environmental contaminants with added junk in a highly processed diet, the body can't keep up.
The answer to this is to introduce something into our diets that can neutralize those free radicals so they don't go for our cells... and that's where antioxidants come in. Antioxidants have an extra electron that attaches easily to free radicals. You find these little miracle workers in fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, certain fish oils, and complex grains. The most immediate response when a person starts eating healthier is that the body can repair the damaged cells, at which point the inflammation is no longer "needed" for repair. In the long term, there are studies that suggest that this can reduce or possibly even reverse some forms of cancer.
Eat food, mostly plants, not too much. --Michael Pollen
So even a small change in your diet can produce the big water weight loss, and as you make ongoing changes like adding more fruits and vegetables to your diet to replace highly processed foods, the benefit can undo the damage our diets have done.
One thing to be aware of is that while a multivitamin or other supplement probably isn't going to hurt, there are studies that show that they are not nearly as effective as the real food. Why? Because while we recognize that antioxidants can pair with the free radicals, the precise mechanics of it are unclear. It may be more than just the antioxidant, but might also include other aspects of the fruit or vegetable you are eating. So vitamins are nice, but they are NOT a replacement for real food.
So next time you think water weight doesn't "count" think again! It's just more proof that your body is restoring itself in response your health lifestyle changes!
