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Does Drinking Plain Water Not Hydrate You Enough?
If you’re like us and you love nothing more than scrolling around on health and wellness TikTok, you’ve likely stumbled across a lot of chatter about whether or not drinking plain ol’ water is good enough for you—or if you should be adding electrolytes, a pinch of salt, a squeeze of citrus, or something else.
Of course, we know that drinking water is essential for just about every bodily function. However, the question is: Would we benefit even more from drinking water with a few extra ingredients? In a recent TikTok video, @thetigerlilyxx claims that drinking plain water alone isn’t hydrating enough. Instead, they suggest that you need other minerals to replenish your body with vital nutrients that can be obtained by supplementing the drink with ingredients such as lemon, lime or Himalayan sea salt.
To ensure we were crystal clear (pun intended) about what we were should be drinking, we spoke with functional medicine doctor Jill Carnahan, MD, Your Functional Medicine Expert and author of Unexpectedwho revealed that drinking plain water is absolutely stellar, but adding a few additional ingredients can be helpful for certain populations, because needs can vary from person to person.
@thetigerlilyxx Allow your body to speak to you ❤️ I take 3 herbal supplements daily: Moringa, nettle, ashwagandha. Visit the l!nk in my b!o for yours #medicinewoman #plantmedicine #thehsecoach #wellnesscoach #virtualwellnesscenter #lifestyle #herbalistsoftiktok #oddlysatisfying #wellnesstips ♬ Under The Influence – Chris Brown
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Does drinking plain water not hydrate you enough, according to an MD?
According to Dr. Carnahan, drinking plain water is 100 percent fine and healthy for the majority of people. Adding additional ingredients, however, might be beneficial in some circumstances.
For starters, your body might benefit from added electrolytes (and not just plain water) if you are under a lot of stress or have a hormonal imbalance. “Adrenals are a stress response organ, and they are responsible for regulating and [producing] mineralocorticoids which are also related to electrolytes [and influence salt and water balances],” Dr. Carnahan says.
This means that any disruptions that affect your adrenals can have a negative effect on your hydration levels. “So basically, if we’re under high stress or our adrenals aren’t functioning well for some reason, it is important to add electrolytes, especially sodium, to your water because drinking just free water can actually cause hyponatremia, or low sodium, and that can lead to difficulties if you’re sweating excessively,” Dr. Carnahan says. These cases are, of course, few and far between.
“Also, using an infrared sauna, exercising excessively, and any large loss of sweat will also cause loss of salts and electrolytes,” Dr. Carnahan adds, which is why she recommends giving water a little boost of minerals and electrolytes containing sodium.
Plus, if you’re dealing with an upset stomach or other gastrointestinal issues that can lead to diarrhea or nutrient loss, replenishing with more than just plain water is important. “If for some reason you have abdominal issues like gastroenteritis or diarrhea, you lose more potassium through the gut, and in that case, it would be best to supplement water with extra magnesium and potassium for those who lose through the gut,” she says.
So, what should we be drinking instead of just plain water?
So what’s Dr. Carnahan’s drink of choice, you might ask? Well, it’s water…with a twist. “When you drink mineral-enriched water, like San Pellegrino or other European mineral waters, you are drinking an alkaline product. The minerals in these beverages can help maintain healthy bones,” he says, which is only true for mineral waters with or without carbonation. (And helps make a case for ordering the fancy, non-complimentary bottled water on the menu.) “That being said, I am not a big fan of flavor-enhanced waters or plain carbonated waters without minerals.”
So how can you up your drinking water if you find plain water utterly unappealing? “If someone doesn’t like the taste of clean water, then adding lemon or lime or cucumber is a perfectly good alternative,” Dr. Carnahan says. Cheers.
An RD shares the most hydrating foods to keep your hydration levels in check:
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Botulism from food causes the death of a respected outdoorsman from Jackson Hole
Wyoming social media reports the death of 55-year-old Hans Russell, who succumbed to botulism after being conscious but also completely paralyzed for several weeks in a Salt Lake City hospital.
Russell was a popular outdoorsman and river guide in Jackson Hole, WY. His death is blamed on a solo camping trip to Idaho where he consumed a can of soup that was not properly refrigerated. The doctors in Salt Lake City who fought to keep him alive came to believe that the single can of soup was the source of the botulism toxin Russell consumed.
Russell was well known in Jackson Hole. He was a kayaker, paraglider, rock climber, fisherman, and guide for Mad River Boat Trips and a bus driver for Lewis and Clark Expeditions. He was an expert in the whitewater areas of Wyoming and Idaho who always put safety first
He was from Pittsburg, KS, and became attached to the Yellowstone/Teton area after high school. He did return to Kansas to pick up an Arts Degree from Pittsburg State University. His friends say he was also “an amazing guitarist.”
The botulism-contaminated soup that led to Russell’s paralysis and death was said to have trapped him in his own body in that he could not move and was called a nightmare that began with a can of soup.
The outdoor enthusiast, river runner, and guide was diagnosed with Botulism A, a rare bacterial infection that undermines the body’s nerves and prevents breathing and paralysis of muscles. It left Russell unable to talk or open his eyes.
He was a Jackson Hole resident for the past 10 years. His death was first reported on the GoFundMe page that friends were using to help pay Russell’s hospital bills.
About botulism
While a variety of food poisoning can result from eating under-processed food, one of the most dangerous is botulism poisoning. Untreated, botulism can paralyze the muscles needed for breathing, resulting in sudden death.
Anyone who has eaten any recalled products and developed signs of botulism poisoning should immediately seek medical attention, according to the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).
“In foodborne botulism, symptoms generally begin 18 to 36 hours after eating contaminated food. However, symptoms can begin as soon as 6 hours after or up to 10 days later,” according to the CDC website.
The symptoms of botulism may include some or all of the following: double vision, blurred vision, drooping eyelids, slurred speech, difficulty swallowing, difficulty breathing, a thick-feeling tongue, dry mouth, and muscle weakness. People with botulism poisoning may not show all of these symptoms at once.
These symptoms result from muscle paralysis caused by the toxin. If untreated, the disease may progress, and symptoms may worsen to cause paralysis of specific muscles, including those used in breathing and those in the arms, legs, and the body from the neck to the pelvic area.
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Peter Stormare Reveals His Sweet Side in the Rom-Com Food and Romance
When picturing Peter Stormareaudiences might imagine the cold-blooded hitman of Fargo feeding Steve Buscemi into a wood chipper, or perhaps the angry wrench-wielding Russian cosmonaut in Armageddon (alongside a panicked Steve Buscemi), or even the nihilist who drops a ferret in a bathtub The Big Lebowski (again, with Steve Buscemi). Apart from apparently being Buscemi’s best wing man, the Swedish Stormare has become an iconic character actor especially known for his unsavory, often comically angry or intimidating characters. From his work as a Russian gangster in John Wick 2to the Viking vampire Godbrand in Castlevaniato play the devil himself in ConstantineStormare can be intense.
That’s why it’s so surprising to see him playing the love interest in a downward sweet romantic comedy, the new Swedish film Food and Romance. What’s even more incongruous is just how optimistic, kind, and ebullient Stormare himself is when talking about the film and his life. The 69-year-old actor (and creator of the hilarious little series Swedish Dicks) is inspiring enough to give motivational speaker Tony Robbins a run for his money, something which runs perfectly parallel to his new film. Food and Romance is, in many ways, an inspirational rom-com about how it’s never too late to pursue your dreams and chase after the love you want. Stormare spoke to MovieWeb about the film and how its themes relate to his own life.
Food and Romance is a Sweet Swedish Rom-Com
Food and Romance (also known as Tuesday Clubor Tisdagsklubben, in Swedish) follows Karin as she’s forced to evaluate her seemingly perfect bourgeois life. Karin had different plans for this life, though — “I dreamed of working with food, but then I got pregnant early,” she says. Despite being an excellent home cook, Karin never pursued her passion; it’s hard and time-consuming enough to be a professional chef, but growing that career as a woman with a family is extremely difficult. Decades later, though, and with a cheating husband and adult progeny, Karin decides to give herself a second chance at food and romance.
The film feels very knowledgeable about the experiences of women, having been written and directed by different women who focus much on Food and Romance on the nourishing female relationships Karin has. Stormare enters the scene as Henrik, the international chef who leads the highbrow cooking class (with a focus on Asian cuisine) that Karin and her friends join. Henrik initially seems like the kind of intense character Stormare has mastered, but as he falls in love with Karin, he’s gradually revealed to be a sweet, lonely man who ultimately doesn’t want to lose out on the new lease on love and life that Karin offers.
It was surprisingly organic for Stormare and Marie Richardson, who played Karin, to create a chemistry of kindness in Food and Romance. “It was pretty easy,” said Stormare, “because Marie, the lead actress, and I were from the same region up in northern Sweden, and I got into the acting academy in Stockholm, and she got in like two years after me. Of course, we became friends, being from the same area. This is like 100 years ago now, but I got into the National Theatre, and she got in too, and I vouched for her. Not only was she very beautiful, she was extremely talented.”
“We became friends, and we worked together,” continued Stormare. “Not much, but we did some things on stage, but then I left the National Theatre, but we stayed sort of friends. And she called me a couple of years ago and said, ‘There’s this project about three women and the love interest , Are you open?’ I said, ‘That sounds fantastic, Marie. You and I, playing lovers? Yes!'”
Peter Stormare Was the Perfect Fit for Food and Romance
The closer Stormare got to Food and Romance, the more he realized how compatible he was for the film, and not just because of his long friendship with Richardson. “I talked to the director, and she talked about the backstory of my character Henrik,” said Stormare. “She said that he’s been all over the world, but he was in Japan for a long time, and he really loves the Japanese. And I said, ‘I’m married to a Japanese woman. I worked in Japan.’ She hadn’t known that, so it was like all these circles were coming together.”
“I thought the character was lovely, a guy who is lost and finds love by the age of 65. Movies like this are done by Hollywood,” Stormare explained, “they’re all guys, and all the guys are doing a heist or robbing banks or something.They’re