Discovering the Fountain of Youth: How Water Can Keep You Looking and Feeling Younger

Zach: [00:00:00] Do you ever feel tired, have headaches, have trouble concentrating, have digestive problems, skin problems, and get sick all the time? A k a feel like a piece of shit all the

Jeremy: All the time.

Well, today we're gonna talk about the one simple thing you can do right now. to help you start solving most, if not all of those issues.

Zach: So with all the things that we do to make our lives better, right? We're working out and trying to eat right and do all the things, and like all those bits and pieces, like sometimes they fall away and you don't even realize it until, , it's like gone. Gone. And. You know, you have this, this realization and you're like, oh, I've got this problem [00:01:00] because I stopped doing that thing and I had that realization with water the other day.

I have literally,

Jeremy: like H two O out of the tap. Just water.

Zach: Just water because I don't know why, but I was drinking probably equal parts. Coffee to water. , and I don't drink a lot of coffee, so I'm talking like 16, maybe 24 ounces of water a day is all I was drinking. And I don't know how I got there. I just, I would drink a whole huge thing in the morning after coffee with all of my supplements, and then I'd go throughout my entire day without even thinking about drinking water.

And I was just trying to figure like I was tired, irritable, I had headache all the time. I had no motivation. Like my progress in the gym was, was lacking focus, clarity, like all these things. And I was like, why do I feel like shit all the time? I'm doing all the right stuff. And I just had that epiphany of like, [00:02:00] oh, you're not drinking any water.

Like at all

Jeremy: Yeah, that glass a month is really not serving you the way you thought it would.

Zach: And after like having that realization, I was like, okay, how much water do I actually need? Because it's been a while since I've actually looked and like the number's staggering. For somebody, I'm about 200 pounds, but I have a really active lifestyle, so like I need about 200 ounces of water a day.

And I'm literally drinking like a 10th of that, a 10th. So for the last few days since I've had this realization, I've literally been drinking minimum 128 ounces and trying to get the full 200 in, it's only been three days, , night and day difference.

Jeremy: tell me more. How has it made such a big difference? What have, what have you

Zach: I don't, so I don't feel as tired, like at the gym. I just feel like I'm moving a little bit more. I'm not going for food all the time. Cuz I'm really full from all the water in my stomach. Right. I'm just not eating as much mental clarity. [00:03:00] I feel like I'm a little bit more focused.

I mean, I even wrote all my show notes for this one before we sat down to

Jeremy: What? That's never happened before on the history of

Zach: never happened. That's, it's usually all you, and I just feel clearer. I just feel mentally clear and not as tired.

Jeremy: One of the other upsides that, that you haven't mentioned yet is all the extra steps you're getting in by going to the bathroom every three minutes.

Zach: see that's actually the thing that really got me for, so for the first day, you would think that with all that water I was drinking, I would've gone to the bathroom a whole lot more. But I think I was that dehydrated where my body was like, Like sucked it all in. Cause I didn't go to the bathroom as much as I thought I was going to.

Now on day three, yes. It's like every 30 minutes I'm rolling through there and being like, well, I'm passing by it. I should probably just go.

Jeremy: I'm gonna be back here in a minute anyways. What's the difference? I might as well stop by.

Zach: In addition, like as, as I was going through this myself and realizing, oh, I do need to drink water, like, [00:04:00] I don't think everyone knows, like all the bene like why we drink water. Right. Do you know why we drink water?

Jeremy: Uh, I, I heard it's good for you and stuff.

Zach: Yeah, but what are the things that it can do for you?

Jeremy: You know, I, scientifically, I don't know. I mean, automatically, I just think, like you said, hydration. Well, but why do we need that? Well, I, I assume it has something to do with the fact that we are mostly water beings, and so we need more of it to function properly, to make our blood flow the way we want it to, to replenish the, the things that our muscles lose throughout the day.

But, but I wanna just quickly say the thing that, that I think is so interesting about this. I know we're just talking about water, which just seems like, yeah, I know water's good for me. I should do more. And I'm, I'm curious to hear more, but I'm listening to you and I'm going, yeah, me too. I don't drink enough water like nobody does.

It's not fun. It's one of the easiest things you can do to feel better. But none of us does it. , it's so silly how such a civil solution to so many problems. It's just a, a tap away

and we just don't do it.

Zach: I know, and I, [00:05:00] I had a big struggle with my, because I, I'm not a water sipper, like I don't, I just

Jeremy: Chug it. You gotta chug it.

Zach: I go out and I fill up a 2024 ounce. Bottle that I have and I just down the whole thing, put it on the counter, , mark it off on my whiteboard that I hit one more and hit the bathroom on my way back to my desk to go, to go back to work.

But it is amazing, like even just like a little bit of mild dehydration can give you headaches cause dizziness, dry mouth and fatigue and , If it gets beyond mild dehydration, like you can literally start to damage your organs. So it's kind of important. Like, I mean, it, it's relatively important. , but your body's 60% water, right? So like, It is critical for like all the functions of your body. It regulates your body temperatures, lubricates your joints, it transports all the nutrients and all the oxygen that you need like throughout your body, like you said earlier, with your blood, right?

It mixes and just [00:06:00] transports everything around your body. If you don't have enough water, you're not getting the things you need to the rest of your parts of your body, and you're gonna feel like shit. Like I have.

Jeremy: Are you doing anything to hack your water or are you literally just drinking water?

Zach: the only hack is that I only drink filtered water from my, from my refrigerator. I, for some reason, tap water tastes different.

Jeremy: Well, it's cuz of the rusty pipes that it's, uh, being pumped into your house from is probably the reason, the thing I've been doing lately. Uh, because this has become more and more of a thing on the innerwebs and I got curious about it. I've been adding salt to my water, which seems counterintuitive because you've always heard.

You can't drink the salt water that'll just dehydrate you. But it turns out that when you add salt to water, it's replenishing the sodium that you lose when you're peeing 45 times a day or you're in the gym, sweating it all out, all that sodium that you're losing, that's where you really get dehydrated.

So when you add just, it's like a quarter of a teaspoon per glass of water or whatever, , it helps you stay more hydrated there. There's this guy that I love online and his name escapes me right now, but I follow him religiously on, on [00:07:00] Instagram, , and he was saying, the ultimate pre-workout drink is salt water.

So ever since I saw that, I've been doing that and, uh, I, I, you know, I'm still drinking my, my solid 1620 ounces a day because it's that, and my, you know, my ag one morning drink. So I can't sit here and say, man, it's really turned the corner and I'm feeling better in all the things, but it is something that I'm starting to pay more attention to.

And now that we're having this conversation, I'm sure it's gonna be, you know, agenda item number one every day when I wake up now is, am I getting enough water?

Zach: Yeah, so the salt, I mean, like, it, it, it literally replaces the electrolytes that you're peeing out. , and, and you need those, you get that a lot , if you're doing the keto diet because , the. Keto process in your body, like pees out all of your electrolytes along with the ketones.

So yeah, that was a huge thing was just you had to eat salt when you're on the keto diet, so, excellent, excellent tip.

[00:08:00]

Jeremy: The other thing you pointed out that I think is interesting too, is how often, and you and I, we talk, I don't know how many times we've had the conversation about going to the pantry in the middle of the day, probably because of stress or whatever, but. Most of the time, I think when we think we're hungry, we're, if you're like us and you're drinking, , 16 ounces of water a day, you're probably thirsty.

So if you can make , that mental switch, if you can become aware of the action of, oh, I must be hungry again. Here I am in the kitchen making the switch to water. , probably nine times out of 10 is going to solve a lot of these problems.

Zach: So it's gonna take away that emotional eating bit, right? If you just switch it out and you're like, oh, I'm gonna go chug 20 ounces of water in one shot, [00:09:00] it also makes you feel full. So if, you chug 20 ounces of water, then you eat within a few minutes, you're, you quickly realize, I'm at capacity.

So literally just drinking more water can cause you to lose weight, but it can also help you with your digestion. So like all of the stuff that happens from when the food enters to when it leaves requires significant amounts of water. So in order for that to all be working right, you need a lot of

Jeremy: Let me ask you this. Warm water, cold water, , pick a team. What sight are you on?

Zach: I can't do warm water. It reminds me of tea, and I don't like tea. I, it's gotta be cold.

Jeremy: I'm, I'm mostly the same way. Like if I'm gonna warm it up, I'm gonna warm it up and put some tea in it or make some coffee with it. , but, and correct me if I'm wrong, you've done more research on this than I have, but from everything I've seen, drinking cold water, your body has to work to heat it up , to properly, uh, integrate it into your system.

So that also, , plays a part in burning calories, right.

Zach: It absolutely can. If you're drinking [00:10:00] ice water, I. I don't want to go quite the ice water route because again, like if I'm sipping it all day, I'll do ice water, but I literally chugged 20 ounces of water in one shot. And if it's too cold, I get that weird feeling in my throat that makes me go, oh, ow mommy, my throat hurts.

Right.

Jeremy: Well, let's let, let's be honest. Ice water is not for drinking. It's for sitting in for two to 10 minutes a day.

Zach: Now let's think about this for a minute. , I can drink ice water. What am I gonna burn? Maybe an extra 50 calories. I can just throw the barbell up two more times at the gym. Right. I'm, I'm good. I don't, I don't need to like hack this to the microscopic level.

I just need to make sure that my body's got all the water that it needs first in six months, I guarantee you I'm gonna be like, no, no, no, no. I've got this really special ice cube with a little bit of salt in it and electrolytes, and it actually has some, , beta hydroxybutyrate for some ke ketone action.

Like, oh yeah, no, we, we've got this going right [00:11:00] now. I just need to drink the

Jeremy: water in glass, glass on face.

Zach: Uh, yeah, something like that.

Jeremy: like that.

Zach: You ma, you, you took a really simple thing and made it sound gross.

Jeremy: I do that. It's one of my specialties.

Zach: , but there's the immediate benefits, right? Again, like I feel better immediately, but it's gonna take a little while for like my joints and my body to like really absorb all that. Have it. But one of the things that I personally battle with is like, I have eczema and a couple parts of my body on one of my feet and on my forehead and stuff like that.

No, not quite, not yet. Um,

Jeremy: Not yet. You're working on it, but,

Zach: I, I figure, I figure it's gonna get there because like at the older I get, the more my body is like, bam, here's another problem. Bam, here's another problem. , but like, if you want healthy skin, that is one of the number one things that you need to do if you want healthy skin.

So if you've got eczema issues or you've dry skin issues or flaky skin issues or anything like that, or like even like acne on your [00:12:00] face, the more water you drink, the health your skin is gonna be. So like it's got all those longer term benefits as well that , we as beautiful, middle-aged men like to

Jeremy: Stunning, stunning. The two of us

Zach: You are, I'm not so

Jeremy: tell that to the, to the deep, deep wrinkles. I'm getting around my eyes. Uh, lately, all these zoom calls have really not done much for my self-esteem lately.

Zach: That's why you gotta use Google Meet because it's got that little

Jeremy: Oh, the filter? Yeah. Oh, that, see, there you go. Forget the water and all the stuff.

Just throw a filter up on the

Zach: for like, the briefest of moments, you see the reality of it. And then a line zooms by and you've literally got like the, the Instagram and the Snapchat. , I'm young filter. Um, it's beautiful. It's absolutely beautiful. Although I did do the Snapchat filter. My daughter and I were playing around with Snapchat and we did the filter for the old filter to see what you look like when you're old.

Jeremy: didn't look any different. Did you? Just, was it just like looking in the mirror?

Zach: I actually looked just like my dad, which was kind of scary. And I actually sent it to [00:13:00] some of my brothers and sisters and they're all like, oh, you've got more hair, but that's dad. But I was looking at it and like thinking about this show and like looking at what it did to my skin.

Like it made it a little saggier but it didn't make it super wrinkly. And I was like, oh, that's because I've been drinking water for the last 30 years

Jeremy: Okay. Now I wanna, I want a side by side. I want the picture of you now and that picture, and we're gonna put that up on the website.

Zach: deal. Okay. So just, , two more quick things on increasing your water intake, right? Um, Everyone's heard of kidney stones. One of the reasons why we get kidney stones is because we're not drinking enough water. . And I don't know about you, but even just the thought of a little rock with jagged edges coming out of the place that it comes out of,

Jeremy: Yeah. No thanks.

Zach: yeah, no, I need to go get some water right now.

I need to drink more water.

Jeremy: the stuff where nightmares are made. Yeah.

Zach: , you can prevent kidney stones, I guess. Until you've had one, you just don't know the level of [00:14:00] pain that goes into them. But everything I was reading, it's like it's within the top five of most painful things in the world. So if you don't want kidney stones increase your water intake.

And just like generally speaking, I've always, I, it would be interesting to go back and look and see the times that I've gotten sick and been chronic sick for like a long time, I wonder what my water intake was at that point in time because, Not drinking water can actually compromise your immune system even more than it already is.

So again, just go chug the water. You're gonna have a better immune system. You're gonna be healthier, your skin's gonna be beautiful. You're not gonna be passing jagged little rocks outta the little pee hole. Like it's just all around

Jeremy: I think that was an Alanis Morissette album, wasn't it?

Zach: It was close, So anyway, everyone learn from my mistake. , again, like I'm focused on lifting really heavy weights and like doing the biohacking and doing like all these really cool things with my life and my body and like just fixing me and all that. Don't forget about the little really, really, really important [00:15:00] things like the foundation, water, sleep, exercise, food. I guess there's probably another 30

Jeremy: Yeah, but that's a good place to

Zach: but water's a good

Jeremy: If, if it's day one, that's a good place to start. Just drink a little more water.

Zach: No, not a little more

Jeremy: Yeah. As, as it turns out, as it turns out, a lot more water.

Zach: Okay, so this is the general rule and it all, it's all based on your activity level, right? So my activity level is really, really high. So I'm on the upper side of the scale, but the general idea, everyone used to say it's , eight glasses of water a day.

It's not, it's actually 0.5 to one ounce. For every pound you weigh. So again, I'm 200 pounds, so it should be a hundred to 200 ounces depending on your activity level. If you're pretty sedentary, it's a hundred ounces. If you're active like me, it's definitely 200 ounces.

Jeremy: And if you're anything like me more today than you had yesterday, is probably a pretty safe place to start.

Zach: That is a good point.

Jeremy: All right. Well, I don't [00:16:00] know about you, but I'm really thirsty now. So we're gonna wrap this episode up. If you would like to learn more about this, there will be a new blog published on our website that goes deeper into all these details.

And we'll share more information in our newsletter. You can sign up for that and find all this information at our website, the fit mess.com, and that is where we will be back in just a few days with a brand new episode. Thank you for listening.