The debate never seems to get resolved. Every summer, we tend to gravitate outside, especially for parties and family get-togethers. And someone always starts a contentious conversation about the best way to quench your thirst…
Flight of the Phoenix (1965): Crashed in the Arabian desert, crew and
passengers weigh the pros and cons of walking out to civilization.
“You’ll sweat ten pints for every one you drink!” Not a hope…
The guy (and it’s always a guy, isn’t it?) who brings up the topic is usually holding a cold, sweating bottle or can of beer in his hand, and gesticulating extravagantly to underline his point.
Yes, he’s the self-appointed poster boy for suds. And he’s feeling just fine, thanks. But there’s much more behind the real answer to the eternal question.
Beer not the answer
No matter how good an ice-cold brew tastes – and feels – going down, it’s not the best way to quench your thirst. Much less rehydrate yourself, especially after exertion.
Alcohol is a diuretic, which makes it the opposite of a good, functional hot weather choice. The idea, the doctors tell us, is to conserve water in our systems so we can sweat it out, cooling ourselves as it evaporates.
Wine and other alcoholic beverages are just as contraindicated – for the same reason.
Sports drinks are okay, but…
Gatorade and other sports drinks are, in theory, a great option for hot-weather hydration and thirst control. They definitely replenish all the essential vitamins and minerals we sweat out on a hot day. Especially after exertion, or when we’ve been under duress.
But in practice, they don’t ‘satisfy’ or ‘refresh’ the way soda or even the aforementioned beer can. We might not be as engaged with sports beverages as we need to be, to drink as much as we should.
And let’s not forget, sports drinks aren’t cheap!
Coffee or tea?
The British acquired their (in)famous tea habit from many years superintending India as a crown colony. It was there they first encountered the drink, and learned quickly that a hot cup of tea was the best way to cool off. The beverage caused them to perspire, which in turn cooled them.
But like any kind of alcoholic beverage, tea and coffee are essentially diuretics, which work against the idea of sweating for relief.
Soda, maybe?
Not a great choice, either… First, because most sodas/soft drinks contain caffeine. They tend to ‘go in the top end and out the bottom’ pretty quickly.
And they use sweeteners that may be, or definitely are harmful in some way. Sugar and high-fructose corn syrup remain the preferred ‘caloric’ (fattening) ‘natural’ sweeteners in the soft drink industry. Sweet, fizzy drinks have been officially identified as the primary souirce of excess sugar in the western diet. And a leading cause of overweight and obesity – especially in kids.
‘Diet’ and ‘lo-cal’ sodas use non-caloric artificial sweeteners. But the jury is still out, at least on some of them, as to whether they raise your risk of cancer or metabolic diseases.
Milk has its fans
“Milk (which is composed of approximately 90 percent water), [is an] excellent alternative to help satisfy our daily water needs,” The Dairy Farmers of Canada want us to remember. “In fact, Health Canada’s Food Guide lists plain milk among the healthy beverage options we can choose from to stay hydrated.” It’s natural and full of essential nutrients.
But it’s also pretty costly, these days. Too costly to just guzzle when you’re craving a quencher?
What’s left?
If you haven’t guessed by now… it’s Water. Plain, old, unsweetened, unflavoured, unadulterated water. it’s what your body was designed to crave, and to use most efficiently and effectively. None of the bad stuff, and all of the good stuff. That’s why they call it ‘hydration!
My take
There’s a poignant scene in the movie Flight of the Phoenix, where an old desert hand tells someone new to the climate, “You’ll sweat 10 pints [of water] for every one you drink…” In other words, he hasn’t a ghost of a chance of walking out to civilization from the desolate Arabian sandscape where their plane has crashed. In the middle of July.
If that’s the way you feel after a bout of gardening, a game of softball, a walk in the blazing summer sun, or an hour or two slaving over a fiery grill… There’s really no question: Water is truly the best way to revive yourself!
~ Maggie J.