Drink 8 glasses of water everyday.... or not...

Ever wonder where the old recommendation "drink 8 glasses of water everyday" came from?

It has been around for a while. In 1945 the Food and Nutrition Board of the National Research Council recommended "1 millileter of water for each calorie of food". Based on an average person's daily food intake, that is about 64-80 ounces a day (or 8-10 cups). People somehow missed one important part of this recommendation though:

"Most of this quanitity is contained in prepared foods..."

So that means that the 8-10 glasses of water everyday is not really meant to mean 8-10 glasses of plain water every. single. day. Water is found in our food too (especially fruits, veggies, and soups). The reasearchers counted the water that is in our food as well when making these recommendations.

 It was so hard to try and determine a recommendation for water (because everyone's bodies and lives are so different and we are all different shapes and sizes) that everyone kind of gave up in between 1945 and 2004. No other major studies were done on how much water a person should drink. In February 2004, the Institute of Medicine finally released an official recommendation for adequate water intake for all different life stages (which if you are really interested can be found here). These values are based on drinking water, other liquids, and food.

So there is really not one answer that fits everybody! How much water you need depends on your individual body, where you live, what you eat, how active you are, and if you are sick or not. I know I drank WAY more than 8-10 glasses when I was hiking in the dessert and I drink WAY less water when I am sitting in my air conditioned office writing this post.

So how do you tell how much water you need to drink? Pay attention to your urine. If it is light yellow or clear, you are getting enough fluids. If it is darker or strong smelling, reach for more water!

- Allison Leonard, RD