Geography, Clean Water, and a Healthy Lifestyle

Posted by Lisa Newton on April 3, 2008 at 6:56am

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Water is an important aspect for any healthy lifestyle program.

It’s recommended to drink water based on your thirst level. So, if you’re thirsty, drink some water, but don’t force yourself to drink 8 – 8oz glasses unless that’s what you want to do. Of course, if you’re exercising, especially in hot weather, you need to drink more.

How does water relate to Iowa Avenue’s Thursday Thirteen?

The logo featured above is from FreePoverty.com, which allows everyone to contribute in the form of donating water to people all over the world who live in extreme poverty. By letting users locate places on the map, their accuracy will determine how many cups of water will be donated on their behalf.

Therefore, FreePoverty aims are to:

- Provide clean drinking water to those in need

- Make users realize that they can make a difference

- Let contributors learn something about geography that they may have not known before

To give you an idea of what you’re getting yourself into, here are thirteen locations which were in my FreePoverty quiz:

Prague, Czech Republic
Eiffel Tower, France
Pompeii, Italy
San Antonio, Texas, United States
Detroit, Michigan, United States
Copenhagen, Denmark
Brasilia, Brazil
Great Pyramid of Giza, Egypt
The Leaning Tower of Pisa, Italy
Zurich, Switzerland
Quebec City, Canada
Cape Town, South Africa
Pretoria, South Africa

So, when you have time, play FreePoverty's geography game and donate a few cups of water.

Help provide clean water to people who don’t have any because,

After all, it’s about a healthy lifestyle!

Tags: charity, health, water

Comment by Jessica on April 3, 2008 at 7:47am: That's a great tip. Most of the time we're told to drink this many and this much. Often we forget to doing things intuitively.

Comment by Christine Braun on April 3, 2008 at 8:00am: There was an item on the news this morning about how much water to drink in a day. They said that it is good enough to drink when your are thirsty and that most people are getting enough fluid from their food and beverages. They also did research and said that drinking more water does not cause you to lose weight faster. I would agree. Whenever I forced myself to drink 8 glasses of water a day on top of other fluids, I did not see any improvement in weight loss. I make sure to drink more water when I exercise. Usually...I am thirsty after all that. LOL

Comment by Metroknow on April 3, 2008 at 10:45am: Just to second Christine's note, the 8 8oz glasses rule doesn't have much basis in actual science - the origins of where this came from are really unclear, but the LA Times recently did a story on it as well (see here: http://www.snopes.com/medical/myths/8glasses.asp - LA Times story is referenced) that has been accepted only because we've all said it enough times.

For more scientific backing for the debunking, here's a link to a press release from Dartmouth Medical School that found the same (no basis): http://dms.dartmouth.edu/news/2002_h2/08aug2002_water.shtml

It is a really good way to sell bottled water however. :)

Really, it makes sense from a common sense perspective that there simply can't be a rule that applies to all when it comes to water - If a man weighs 500 lbs does he need the same amount of water as a 104lb woman?

Comment by Eve on April 3, 2008 at 11:15am: I played the game and won 184 cups of water. Not too bad for an old lady. ;)

Comment by Lisa Newton on April 3, 2008 at 11:45am: Yes, I read a similar article on MSN, thus the reason to only drink when you're thirsty. But, you do have to make sure you're taking in enough fluids if you're doing any heavy exercise or working outside when it's really hot.

@Eve Hey, us old ladies do pretty well at these quizzes......................:)

Comment by Ask The Dietitian on April 3, 2008 at 1:47pm: One quick estimation on whether you are drinking enough water is to check the color of your urine. You want it to be pale to colorless. That's how I convinced my daughter she wasn't drinking enough. It's easier than counting cups.

Comment by Sheila Octaviano on April 5, 2008 at 2:58pm: The method that ATD suggested is the method my doctor taught me back when I was a teenager and got a few kidney and/or bladder infections. From then on I use the color to determine if I'm drinking enough. I also used that to teach my kids.

Comment by Cynthia on April 5, 2008 at 8:10pm: I'm guessing I won't do as well playing this game as I do with Free Rice, LOL! Geography was not my best subject! I'll give it a shot though.

I saw the water article... and well, studies are not always the whole situation. If I don't drink my gallon of water, you don't want to know how crappy and dry and dehyrdated I feel! Different folks need different amounts. People who are overweight and exercising hard need more than people who are thin and not exercising.

I know what level makes me feel good, and keeps me from needing too much moisturizer! And it's the daily gallon. Also helps me keep my eyes from feeling dry, which as I've gotten older, they've had a bit of a tendency towards.

The urine color check is a good indicator, I think.