1 liter of water first thing in the morning to detoxify???

intimesofneed

I think a few facts are needed here.

Firstly drinking a litre of water in one go will not harm you, but until your body gets use to it you may feel bloated or nauseous. The idea is really straight forward water is a zero calorie food. When you drink a large amount particularly in the morning, it fills the stomach and starts the digestive system to try to move the volume through the body. This is a natural bodily function.

Because water contains only trace elements of salts and other minerals there is nothing to digest.

The body clears out the residues of the food you ate the day before, to make room for the water you have drunk. The volume is important because too little and your body can retain the old food longer. To much and you feel ill.

To explain this a little better, when you eat food the body can take at least 8 hours to digest it, and for certain food groups even longer. The body will eventually digest everything if you don't eat again, however if you eat the body dumps some residue to make way for new which can be used as energy or stored as fats. The body doesn't store everything you eat hence we go to the little room to clear stuff out.

Now back to the water, when you drink in volume the body dumps residue as mentioned, but then cannot get any value out of the water you have drunk, so it takes enough to hydrate and then dumps the rest.

This leaves the body without food so it burns fat, and you feel full because of the water. Doing it daily loses the body around 400 to 500 calories but depends on weight. Of course you can eat more and keep the weight on. It also flushes the kidneys because again there is no value in water in terms of calories.

One final point, the latest research shows any drink will hydrate the body just as quick as water so the notion that drinking lots of water rather than beer hydrates your quicker is not quite true. Of course the downside is beer has both calories and dehydrates at the other end, so naturally zero calories are best.

So the answer is drinking a litre of water is not bad for you and can help you not to feel over hungry in the morning, so try it and eat half the breakfast you would normally eat and you will drop weight - and Oh don't forget the exercising.

jenniferitzep

First drink water before you're thirst because being thirsty means you are dehydrated! !!!!!!
Second water is always good for you but even water in amounts your boby can't handle is bad.
I drink a bottle of water each morning before anything .never had that effect but did make me start feeling better.
Please dont try to lose 15 pounds in one day that is not healthy.

tomg33

I think a few facts are needed here. User signs up to defend a 5-month old thread about a specific documentary? FISHY....


Drinking water is great. When you wake up you are usually dehydrated so it's great to drink some water. I do this. But all the other stuff is a fantasy...

Cybotjr

I'm not defending the documentary per say, but the OP forgot to mention that the guy that lost 15lbs(which btw sounds crazy), was also on a juicing program designed to detoxify, cleanse and lose weight. He didn't lose that on water alone. As to those that say drink when you are thirsty, we know that the average person doesn't drink enough water, yet most do drink something when thirsty, the only solution is to make a habit of drinking regularly even when not thirsty.

Rurouni_Kou

Y woud u drink something toxic to eliminate toxins???! Dihydrogen Monoxide is horrible for you and won't detoxify u! Please think of the chidren before injesting this toxin first thing in the morning!



Ok.. that out of my system, now for seriousness: Anytime you see the word "detoxify" your "quack alert!" meter should tick into the red. There's nothing to "detoxify"- what toxins your body can remove on it's own, it does so fantastically well, your liver and kidneys are miracles. Let them work and stop trying to assume they don't and therefore you need to drink some magical substance to remove other undescribed magical substances. If there are toxins your body can't remove (say, lead for example) and they're causing you problems, the magical properties of drinking water or eating veggies isn't going to help you- at that point you need a doctor and medical treatment. Otherwise, eat healthy and quit assuming your body doesn't know what the &#^ it's doing. It's been at it for years- let it do it's job and quit underestimating it!

coreyclark7712

Drink water first thing in the morning, I drink about 24 - 30 oz. I drink 8 - 16 oz of water 30 min before meals, not during, and 30 - 60 min after to optimize digestion. Here's a link to one good page by Dr. Stanley Bass on food combining for optimal digestion and nutriment absorption: http://drbass.com/sequential.html
Research more for yourself.

If its a detox you want then question and stay conscious of everything you consume, not just how much water you drink. Documentaries can make you somewhat aware, but its inevitably up to you to question your own body and diet. Cut way down on salt before drinking too much water, salt retains water and makes you bloated thus your body will put on water weight. Everyone's body is unique, listen to what yours says after eating, it will speak the truth.

sherrybaby81

Interesting. I always drink a 32 oz bottle of water (which is about a liter I think) every morning before eating anything else. Not for any reason, I just like to rehydrate in the morning and find it helps wake me up. I have never noticed any other effects on my body from doing this...and it doesn't speed up weight loss, that's for sure!

Tlink34

I drink about that much first thing in the morning and never have constipation issues but I don't have stomach cramps either.

Faye_Anderson

I wonder what it is about this thread that makes people sign up to MFP and leave their first post here months after it was posted? It's odd that 2 people have done that

geebusuk

If you're feeling sick, it sounds like the likely 'detox' is from the substance of most 'toxic' worry to your body at that time - all the water you just drank!

As it goes, I can drink quite a lot - used to have a 1lt plastic 'glass' with a lid and bendy straw thing that'd I'd keep by the computer filled with squash (risks from spills were minimised) and could fairly easily drink that in one if thirsty.

theresa7576

detoxing makes me cringe. your body knows what it's doing.. it has organs that have that specific job. All these short term fixes lead to no long term results. working out and watching what you eat every single day (clean diet) is the only way to stay healthy.

LoupGarouTFTs

Drinking water will not hurt you so drink up. The body 'has everything it needs to detoxify itself' is true however it replenishes what it uses in that process with the water you drink and the food you eat. One of the things it needs most to detoxify is water, so drinking a liter in the morning will get it started faster. If you have 12 BMs in a day chances are you had a lot of dehydrated impacted feces in you. After that poop is gone, you wont have quite the same reaction anymore.

Dont listen to the haters. It cant hurt you to try it once and if you get diahrea just make sure you take in a glass of water each time you have a bought to replace the water you lost. Over the course of a day or two things will settle down.

Wrong. There is such a thing as water intoxication and water poisoning. You can actually die from drinking too much water. One person found that out the hard way when participating in a radio DJ's water drinking challenge. I'm not saying that one liter will kill you--I'm just refuting the bad advice.

SKME2013

I am all in favour of drinking lot's of water every day. Not sure though about gulping down a whole liter in one go.

The argument though to only drink when you are thirsty though is apparently wrong: you should drink before you get thirsty, as thirst means you are already dehydrated. You should prevent getting thirsty.

Stef.

melanie2175

Not certain about the detoxify aspect but I have been drinking 2 16.9 oz. of water in the morning before coffee or food and I know I feel better and well we all need water and to start drinking it first thing in the AM helps me get my water in during the day. I have lost weight but I think it is water weight since I am hydrated now. (my goal water consumption amount is 135 ounces a day which is higher than the formula of half your body weight/ounces of water. As long as I consume half my body weight in ounces {85-90oz} I am not concerned. with that formula 200 pound person should drink 100 oz of water.) I have heard some people say that they sometimes feel nauseous before a BM. particularly when things start moving naturally after having been constipated. and nausea pre BM is sometimes associated with IBS so I have been told.
Any way as long as the water is not toxic consuming it should be healthy for you.
"Water first for thirst"

bunnypanther

I drink a pint or two in the morning. Also the same during the night. And at least 2lt during the day not counting tea n coffee or other drinks.

I do this because I have night sweats which wake me up and make me thirsty (obviously!) and I'm prone to water infections so keeping my kidneys and bladder flushing through is a good way to avoid/solve them.

Muddy_Yogi

I drink that much every morning just because I am thirsty...I can tell you it does nothing for my poops. As for as Toxins...LMAO....did they give them a name in this one or just spout about you having them in your body?

Unknown

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_Waffle_

I saw a documentary called "Food Matters", it's about eating healthier, and the kinds of toxins that get into our bodes, stuff like that. They mention a sort of water detox at about 46 mins into it. Now, the guy who's talking suggests to start your day with water. He said to drink a liter of water before eating or drinking anything else. The point of this is to expel toxins as quickly as possible through our bowels instead of allowing them to go through our skin through sweat.

Name one toxin.

JoannaEngel84

Drinking water will not hurt you so drink up. The body 'has everything it needs to detoxify itself' is true however it replenishes what it uses in that process with the water you drink and the food you eat. One of the things it needs most to detoxify is water, so drinking a liter in the morning will get it started faster. If you have 12 BMs in a day chances are you had a lot of dehydrated impacted feces in you. After that poop is gone, you wont have quite the same reaction anymore.

Dont listen to the haters. It cant hurt you to try it once and if you get diahrea just make sure you take in a glass of water each time you have a bought to replace the water you lost. Over the course of a day or two things will settle down.

Wrong. There is such a thing as water intoxication and water poisoning. You can actually die from drinking too much water. One person found that out the hard way when participating in a radio DJ's water drinking challenge. I'm not saying that one liter will kill you--I'm just refuting the bad advice.

^This! Thank you! I was thinking 'large amounts of water in one go can hurt you!'. This is why some people die from drugs. They get sick and then drink tons of water because everyone wants to keep them hydrated. At some point the concentration of ions in the cells exceeds the concentration of ions (salts etc) outside of the cells. The cells suck up too much water and actually burst. It's science, folks!!!

parkscs

Is detoxify slang for hydrate? If so, go for it!

yo_andi

... did this and actually lost 15lbs in one day, having 12 bowel movements a day.

Was there a parasite in the water?

jkowula

... did this and actually lost 15lbs in one day, having 12 bowel movements a day.

Was there a parasite in the water?

12 Bowel Moments in a day? That sounds awesome!!!

Josalinn

Drink when you're thirsty.

First off....ZOMBIE THREAD.

But I just wanted to add I somewhat disagree with the above quote. Yes you should drink when you are thirsty, but many people don't drink enough water period. I'm not saying go out and start chugging, but to just be mindfull that you should probably get in the habit of drinking when you aren't thirsty also.

wellz6

I used to drink 16 oz. of water first thing in the morning. Several months ago I upped it to 32 oz. and I love it. I don't chug it at once but try to get it all down within 5 minutes or so. I don't have the bowel movement thing going on with the water but I can tell a big difference in how it makes me feel. I feel very hydrated and gives me a great healthy feeling to start my day.

nicsflyingcircus

Food Matters. Yeah, another Netflix one-sided "documentary"/entertainment. A lot of those food documentaries have all kinds of weird stuff in them and extremist views. Like his brother having 12 bowel movements in one day. That's when I'd be hitting the "up" button on my ROKU.

I drink 24 ounces of water first thing in the morning. Whats a liter? 32 ounces or thereabouts? I just do it because I haven't had any for 12-14 hours and I'm thirsty.

Me too. I am thirsty in the morning and usually drink a half liter right away, then the rest of my liter bottle with my morning coffee, usually gone by 11am. Another by 2pm (with and after my first meal of the day)... and downed two more liters by 10pm or so.