Sunday, October 14, 2012

Top 7 Health Benefits of Warm or Hot Water

Water is very important for survival. From doctors to dieticians, every expert advices to drink 7-8 glasses of water regularly. While some people prefer cold water, there are many dieters who drink hot or warm water. It is believed that hot or warm water is good for the body as it has many health benefits. Lets brief out the health benefits of drinking hot or warm water.


Health benefits of warm or hot water:

Benefits Of Drinking Hot Water Cleansing and purifying: One of the most important benefits of drinking hot water is, it is effective in cleansing the body. Poor digestion can be easily treated by having a glass of hot water twice a day. Drink a glass of hot water early in the morning. This will flush out toxins from the body and cleanse the system. You can mix hot water with honey or lemon for best results.


Cures constipation:
This is a common stomach problem that develops due to water scarcity in the body. The stool deposits in the intestines and reduces the bowel movement. This makes you suffer from constipation where passing out stool is difficult and sometimes extremely painful. Have a glass of hot water empty stomach in the morning to improve bowel movements and cure constipation. Hot or warm water breaks down food particles and passes them out through intestines.


Aids weight loss:
Many dieticians ask you to drink a glass of hot water with lemon and honey every day to lose weight. Well the advice is very helpful in shedding extra pounds. Hot water breaks down fat deposits from the body and helps in weight loss. Have a glass of hot or warm water with either lemon or honey or both, after every meal. Lemon has pectin fiber that controls food craving and is ideal for people who are on alkaline diet.


Good for cold and cough:
Irritation in the throat due to cough or tonsil can be really painful. One of the health benefits of drinking hot or warm water is, it reduces throat pain, liquifies thick cough and helps it come out easily.

Increases sweating:
When you drink a hot beverage, you sweat a lot for sometime. This is because when we drink hot water or any other beverage, the body temperature rises and the water tries to cool down the temperature through sweating. Sweating helps clean the skin cells by taking out excess water and salt from the cells and body.


Improves blood circulation:
When you drink hot water, the fat deposits in the body burns and the built up deposits in the nervous system also breaks down. This improves blood circulation in the body and also flushes out harmful toxins.


Reduces body pain: Drinking a glass of hot water with carom seeds is an effective home remedy to cure menstrual cramps. If you have stomach pain, headache or body pain, have a glass of hot water to get instant relief.


These are few health benefits of hot and warm water. Ideally, hot water is more effective but, many people prefer warm water on a regular basis.

4 Surprising Secrets About Bottled Water

Bottled-Water Secret #1: It doesn’t taste any better

In a 2010 study published in the Journal of Sensory Studies, researchers asked people to rate the taste of six bottled mineral waters and six types of tap water. They found that, overall, bottled water didn’t perform any better than the stuff from the tap. The reason: It’s mineral concentration, not "water purity," that influences flavor. The study’s participants preferred water with medium mineralization, which they described as “tasteless” and “cooler,” but whether it came from a bottle or the tap made little difference. What is clear: By filling your belly, drinking water before meals can help you lose a ton of weight. In fact, it's one of the 20 Habits Skinny People Live By.


Bottled-Water Secret #2: It’s not necessarily pure

 The Natural Resources Defense Council recently tested 1,000 bottles of water and discovered that about 22 percent of the brands in the study contained chemical contaminants at levels above state health limits. And in 2011, California State University researchers tested six brands of bottled water and found that while none contained more than the legal level of contaminates, all six exceeded California public health goals for arsenic. There’s also substantial research showing that when certain plastic bottles are heated at high temperatures, chemicals from the plastic can leach into a container’s contents (a good reason not to store cases of water in the garage this summer). The takeaway: Don’t let label jargon like “pure” and “natural” fool you. Unlike bottled water, tap water is subject to strict federal, state, and local guidelines, making it a safer beverage choice.


Bottled-Water Secret #3: It may be glorified tap water

Exotic names and labels conjure up images of tropical waterfalls and mountaintop springs, but in reality, roughly 25 percent of all bottled water comes from municipal water sources. Coca-Cola’s Dasani, for example, is nothing but purified tap water with added minerals. And Pepsi’s Aquafina? Another bottle of city water. I don’t know about you, but if I’m going to be drinking tap water anyway, I’d rather save some cash and drink the free version. For more beverage secrets, including detailed list of the worst drinks in America, pick up a copy of Drink This, Not That!


Bottled-Water Secret #4: It’s hurting our planet

Most water bottles are made of a plastic called polyethylene terepthalate, or PET. There are two problems with PET bottles. Problem 1: They take a boatload of crude oil to produce. University of Louisville researchers estimate that around 17 million barrels of oil are used each year to produce PET water bottles—a major reason why bottled water costs roughly four times as much as gasoline. Problem 2: We’re chucking our water bottles in the trash, instead of the recycling bin. According to the Container Recycling Institute, nearly 90 percent of the 30 billion PET water bottles we buy annually end up in landfills—a huge problem when you consider that PET bottles take from 400 to 1,000 years to decompose. The bottom line: We should all take a cue from environmentally conscious activists like the folks at the University of Vermont—which recently banned bottled-water sales on campus—and opt for the tap whenever possible.