Top tips for hydration at home and on vacation
By Mercedes Kay Gold, CNP, CPT
As a holistic nutritionist, I advocate clients to eat according to seasons. Wintertime is all about warming the body from the inside out through the right food choices. Root vegetables are in season all winter long. Carbohydrate-dense squashes, potatoes, carrots, and parsnips are precisely what the body craves. Plant-based stews are temperature plunging perfection. Meat-based lovers, go ahead and nourish the body with mega-minerals and collagen by preparing homemade bone broth. Cinnamon, cayenne pepper and ginger are grand for heating the body internally in a happy holistic manner.
Booked a winter escape to the sunny tropics? As you take off layers of clothing and enjoy the free vitamin D from the sun’s warm rays, lighten the food fare, too!
As your feet hit the sand, and you dive into the salty wonderous waves, take notice how the body magically unwinds. The earth’s electromagnetic energy lowers blood pressure and inflammation upon contact. Inhale, exhale and enjoy. It’s easy to forget the importance of hydration when surrounded by water or sitting poolside, but thirst is a sign of dehydration. The key to hydration is all day sipping. Skip alcohol due to dehydration, as well as banish beer. The wheat contact spikes insulin and sugary pop is just a huge no! Sugar-free is toxic, containing sweeteners and the aluminum can is linked to type 3 diabetes. Water or coconut water, Mother Nature’s best alternative, is this holistic nutritionist’s number one pick. This perfect electrolyte even comes in its own environmentally safe portable package. If alcohol is part of your, “I’m on vacation mindset!” then save the alcohol version with the cute umbrella to accompany fresh food fare.
Fruit is stocked with an array of antioxidants to support health, and gets a big wow for overall water content. My fabulous fruit picks are pineapple due to bromelain, a dreamy digestive enzyme. Pineapple also banishes buffet bloating and gas naturally. Watermelon gets a bad rap as a high sugar fruit, but the glycemic load is low, not spiking blood sugar. Ignore the rumors and indulge. Watermelon has a 92 per cent water content, a mere 46 calories in a cup and crazy vitamin C content. Cantaloupe and honeydew follow closely with 90 per cent water so a fruit bowl is high-fiber fantastic anytime.
Happy holistic holidays are about lowering stress and opening our eyes to new things. Apple and oranges are a winter staple in the snowy months, but switch it up. On vacation, take advantage of the tropical delights, choosing brightly colored freshly picked local loves. At home, choose an array of fruits and to avoid truck-ripened fruits, choose frozen. Fruit is fabulous for nourishing and hydrating the body. Plants are alkaline, all-star news for health since the Standard American Diet better known as the S.A.D diet is a disaster. Eating an acidic diet creates inflammation throughout the body.
Hydrate, nourish, cleanse all seven pathways of elimination with the help of fruit. Yes, veggies are alkaline and hydrating too, but it’s a tropical fruit bowl mindset for this writer. Here’s a little holistic helper. Straw-coloured urine indicates hydration. Clear, no and bright smelly yellow, no!
Happy vacation hydration!
Mercedes Kay Gold is a Certified Personal Trainer and Certified Holistic Nutritionist who loves helping others live their best life when not spending time with her children and grandson, Theodore. She can be reached at mercedeskaygoldfitness@gmail.com
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