ICTWIE #2

Drinking at specific times

I’m now more selective about when I drink.

I have always stuck to mainly drinking water so this wasn’t a big change in my routine. I also tend to drink a lot, somewhere in the region of 6 litres a day. Now, everyone is different and some would call this too much water but this wasn’t an effort to put this all away throughout an average day. Keep in mind, I would consume close to 2l around training.

But what I had never considered was that by drinking water so close to meal times, I was diluting my stomach acid, limiting digestion of the food I was eating.

The solution? Drink no sooner than 30 minutes before a meal and 2 hours after a meal.

Of course, this isn’t always practical and I still listen to my body, if I’m really thirsty, I’ll have a drink. But I have largely stuck with this and it’s made a difference. Before, I would always have a drink with and straight after a meal without ever considering the effect this could have on digestion, now, it has become habit to not drink while I eat and it's started to feel strange, and very noticeable, when I do.