When fluid isn’t able to be properly removed from your tissues, it causes water retention (medically referred to as edema). Although long-term, significant water retention may indicate an underlying health condition (please talk to your Dr if this describes you), it generally isn’t something to worry about. Read below to learn more about why this happens and some natural ways to shed the bloat.
- Reduce Carbs:
- For every gram of carbohydrate consumed, the body stores 3 – 4 grams of water.
- Cutting back on your carbohydrate consumption is a quick and easy way to drop excess water weight.
- Get Active:
- Sweating is an effective way to reduce fluid build-up in the body.
- Exercising also stimulates blood flow and improves circulation, which can reduce water retention, especially in the legs and feet.
- Proper Balance of Electrolytes:
- Electrolytes are minerals that play a crucial role in regulating the body’s water balance. Sodium, calcium, potassium, chloride, phosphate, and magnesium are all electrolytes.
- You may need to supplement with electrolytes (without sugars, please) if you drink a large amount of water, exercise intensely or live in a hot or humid climate.
- Moderate Sodium Intake:
- One of the most impactful electrolytes in regulating blood pressure and fluid levels is sodium. Excessive or insufficient sodium intake will cause your body to hold onto water. Generally speaking, the more a person sweats, the more sodium he or she will need.
- Reduce your salt consumption when you’re not exercising heavily or in a hot or humid climate.
- Stay Hydrated:
- Ironically, drinking water can actually reduce water retention. When we are dehydrated, our body holds onto water to prevent water levels from becoming too low. The key is to find the appropriate amount for your body, however. Drinking too much water can have the opposite effect and cause water retention as a result of disrupting the balance of electrolytes.
- Our needs for fluid intake vary from person to person so listen to your body. Drink when you’re thirsty and increase your levels when exercising or in a hot or humid climate.
- Uncover Food Sensitivities:
- Eating foods that your body is sensitive to will cause inflammation, which ultimately triggers water retention. Unlike a food allergy, which produces an almost immediate reaction, a food sensitivity can take a few hours to even a couple of days to cause a reaction. The most common foods that people are often intolerant to are dairy, gluten, eggs, soy, yeast, legumes and nuts.
- The easiest and most efficient way to identify a food intolerance is the “elimination diet“.
- Improve Circulation:
- Dry brushing or rebounding (jumping on a trampoline) are great ways to increase circulation and the flow of the lymphatic system. The lymphatic system is a network of tissues and organs that help rid the body of toxins, waste and excess fluid.
- How to dry brush: Before getting into the shower, brush dry skin using long, sweeping motions always towards the direction of the heart. Start at the bottoms of your feet and brush up your legs and backside. Then move to your hands and brush up your arms to your chest.
- How to rebound: Lightly bouncing on a mini-trampoline for 10-15 minutes a day is all that’s required to reap the benefits of increasing lymph flow and removing excess fluid.
- Find Calm:
- Stress increases the hormones cortisol and aldosterone, which prompts the body to hold onto fluids.
- Make sure to find at least 10 – 20 minutes of calm everyday. Some ideas for getting into the calm zone include meditating, being in nature, taking a bath, stretching, throwing a ball with your dog or zoning out to some soothing music.
- Sleep More:
- A restful night’s sleep helps reduce cortisol levels (excess cortisol increases water retention). While the hours of sleep needed to function optimally vary from person to person, most people require somewhere between 6.5 and 9 hours of quality sleep each night. Yet another reason to prioritize this essential component of a healthy life!
- Take Herbs:
- Taking herbal teas or tinctures, such as dandelion, ginger, parsley, fennel, hawthorn, juniper, green tea and black tea are also helpful in excreting water from the body.
- You can buy single ingredient teas or tinctures or find blends formulated for water retention, digestion or detoxification (the ingredients are often similar for these types of conditions, but read the labels to find a blend of the above ingredients).