this is a good article...thanks! here's my little input...when out in extreme heat, water is essentail...but beware...as good as ice cold water taste when it is really hot, your water should be more tepid then cold, other wise you can pass out from it...this happened to a fellow traveler when we went to egypt in 2000...we were at the giza pyramids...it was. i would guess, about 115-120 degrees f. that day ...i had just stepped off the tour buss, when this lady fell splat, right on her face behind me...she had just bought and consumed a great deal of ice water and had a heat stroke... we managed to get her out of the sand, and into some shade (no a/c) and bring her out of it...yet she still continued this behavior, and had a couple more episodes while we were there...it was summer, and the temps tend to reach a high of 135 degrees in the desert...talk about hot! whew!!!

I might be a newbie to this site and the Atkins diet, but I am no stranger to dieting in general. Been doing that all my life. First major diet I remember being on was in 7th grade. Some vitamin diet that the B12 made you so sick to your stomach who would want to eat. When I was in 6th grade I got my first pair of store bought jeans from Sears(had an older cousin and got all her out-dated hand-me-downs) They were a size 18 pretty plus (kind words in place of a boys husky I suppose.)

The eggs are way easier to get than the drumsticks... each new drumstick requires another 100 posts!!! I am looking forward to being a Steak, but then the stakes (no pun intended) are even higher

Katt

I will add to this if I may...

There was a case recently in England where a singer in a stage musical got water poisoning, because there was a heat wave, and he had the heat of stage lights + running around sweating on stage. He found that despite drinking 5+ litres of water a day, he was STILL THIRSTY. Water poisoning occurs when other vital minerals get flushed out by going to the bathroom so frequently, and also because the fluid levels are so high that there's not a high enough concentration of other minerals. I think salt is one of the critical minerals but I'm not 100% sure. His case was made worse by his sweating, which dilutes salt levels.

Also, I have heard of people retaining water because of drinking too much water, the cure for them is to drink NO WATER for a day or two and then it all comes out... however this should be done only under medical supervision It happened to a friend of mine who was pregnant at the time, and I do NOT recommend this course of action unless it has been recommended by a doctor!!!

Katt

[QUOTE=MsAtt]this is a good article...thanks! here's my little input...when out in extreme heat, water is essentail...but beware...as good as ice cold water taste when it is really hot, your water should be more tepid then cold, other wise you can pass out from it...QUOTE]

Wow, that's fascinating!!! I will be careful!

Katt

Ever since I started this WOL, I'm amazed at what water can do. I never used to drink plain water... just drank soda and iced tea. Now I drink water all day long. It helps fill my stomach and keeps me feeling full so I don't overeat. I pee about every 20 mins though... what a pain! LOL

This is so TRUE!

I use to never drink water and since I've been on Atkins I've had so much water on a daily bases that I'm reaping it's benifets.

Lily

of course...this is true.....gosh I sure do need to up my water intake....

I always thought I was getting plenty to drink, but, when I started really paying attention, found that I wasn't drinking very much water at all. Now I keep 3 1-liter bottles in the fridge at work and refill them as I empty them. I'm getting at least 2 liters in every day and spending a lot of time going pee! I'm already seeing a difference in the weight though.

Water poisoning is also called "hyponatremia," which should clarify things: The problem is not that you have too much water, it's that you have too little salt in your body. Here's a good article on it, and I'll summarize it here; basically what happens is that when you drink WAY too much water the water/salts balance in your body goes kablooie. Since you use salts like potassium, sodium, and magnesium to do everything from sending nerve impulses to controlling how much water is in a particular cell, when the balance gets drastically disturbed, bad things happen. Vomiting, diarrhea, excessive salivation, muscle tremors, stupor, confusion. Death or coma can result; that's probably caused by the swelling of the brain. Susceptibility to hyponatremia dependson body weight, amount of food in the system at the time, the body's control of urine production, and some other factors which are not clearly understood.

So now we know what it is and how you get it. The best cure for it, and the way to make sure you don't ever experience it, is to EAT LOTS OF SALTS! Salty snacks and electrolyte water -- there are some that are low carb, like Glaceau Fruitwater or Smartwater (though NOT the Vitaminwater, which is high carb!) -- are good ways of making sure this won't happen to you. Especially if you're doing something like the Great Hangover Avoidance Water Chug, make sure you've got some salty nuts or something on hand.

Just call me the Water Fairy :->
Holly

I am still new to all of this and the water issue is a big one! I HATE to drink plain water! I know that there is probably a reason that we are not supposed to drink the flavored kind, but could someone explain it, please? I have only been able to drink Clover Valley (flavored) sparkling waters (caffeine free, no calories,low sodium {15mg} 0 carb, 0 fat) sweetened with sucralose. Please tell me why this is bad!

Why don't you experiment with some different bottled waters. Maybe your tap water doesn't taste good to you so you don't drink enough.
We drink the bottled water from Costco and get our quota daily with no problems. Before, I couldn't have done it with our tap water even though we have a filtration system!

Plus sucralose does have carbs which you'll need to keep track of if you're using it alot.

...i always drink bottled water...dasani is my favorite...the water here in milford will kill ya! bleh! once in a while i squeeze a little fresh lemon juice in it just as a change...i drink quite a bit of water daily, buy have never really kept track of it...i think i better start doing that...

O.K. If I have a 1qt. bottle of sparkling flavored water sweetened with sucralose, even though it says 0 carbs, how many carbs should I count? I'm really afraid this is the only way I'm going to stick to my water intake! Thanks!