What Happens When You Replace ALL Drinks Completely With Just Drinking Water?

Last updated on 23 NOV 2017

Many people underestimate the benefits of drinking water. Have you ever wondered what would happen, if you would replace everything you drink daily with just drinking water? No more coffee nor tea, no juice nor soft drinks, nor alcohol—that sounds like a real challenge—especially for those among us who rely on their daily caffeine shot in the morning to get their engine up and running.

But apart from facing a challenge and pushing yourself out of your comfort zone for the sake of variety, what are the benefits that come with a just-water diet, that would make it worth the effort?

This is also considering that you eat reasonably “healthy” and not overload your body with processed foods and high-fatty foods.

Benefits Of Drinking Water

Your Body Detoxifies

One of the first benefits that comes with drinking just water is that your body starts to detoxify. Water can absorb the highest amounts of salt and chemicals present in your body for elimination via your urine, which should always be just a tinge of yellow, and odorless, if possible.

Of course, you can only detoxify your body, if the water you drink is clean in the first place. But since more and more contaminants can be found in our public water supply systems in the entire USA, there is no guarantee that your specific tap water is free from them. Therefore, you either have to stick to high-quality spring water (preferably filled into glass bottles), which can be a little more expensive, or you filter the water in your home yourself using a reverse osmosis filter system.

You Lose Weight

Drinking water can boost your body’s ability to burn fat. A study published in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism found that drinking about 17oz of water in the morning can increase metabolic rate by 30 percent in healthy men and women. On the other hand, dehydration will slow down metabolism by as much as 3 percent.

Soft drinks and many other beverages usually contain high amounts of calories in the form of sugar. If you cut these out, you automatically lower your daily calorie intake. Your blood sugar level will also show less and lower peaks. Consequently, the amount of insulin contained in your blood decreases and will become more stable, which is required for your body to burn fat.

You Lower Blood Pressure

While drinking water it might not instantly lower your blood pressure, it does help to decrease blood pressure over time. Many people are chronically dehydrated, which can cause problem to the body’s blood pressure.

When fully hydrated, your blood is normally about 92% water. Chronic dehydration reduces the body’s ability to transport blood efficiently, forcing blood vessels to constrict in an effort to conserve water usually lost through everyday functions like sweating and urination. The constricted blood vessels taxes your body’s ability to pump blood effectively, which results in elevated blood pressure.

You Boost Your Brainpower

The human brain consists of approximately 77% water, so if you feel a little lightheaded, drinking water would be of some help. Drinking water sufficiently can improve your levels of cognitive performance by as much as 30 percent. Just a 2% dehydration level can trigger short-term memory problems and difficulty focusing.

You Look Great

Sugar and alcohol consumption has a negative impact on your gut flora, which in turn influences the health and look of your skin. If you suffer from acne, rashes, dryness, blackheads and other skin conditions, try a just-water diet and see it bring positive changes. Water improves your gut health that will be reflected on skin.

You Become Less Caffeine-Dependent

Caffeine is a drug. Its excessive intake can result in physical dependence. Let’s be real for a second, how many of us have to have at least 1 cup of coffee in the morning, before their brains start to form thoughts? How many of us have another cup first thing in the office and another one during lunch break?

If you leave out all caffeine including certain caffeinated teas, you can train your body to become less dependent on it. By the way, a common symptom of dehydration is tiredness. So maybe what you are lacking in the morning isn’t caffeine, it’s water!

You Feel Refreshed And More Energy

Although water doesn’t contain any calories, it empowers your muscles and energizes your whole body, because many enzymatic processes depend on it.

Dehydration leads to fatigue because it impacts the flow of oxygen to the brain and causes your heart to work harder to pump oxygen to all your bodily organs, making you more tired and less alert. By staying hydrated you stay alert and energized.

If you feel sleepy in the afternoon, drink some water that will help with your blood circulation, thus reducing the tiredness and sleepiness.

You Burn Fats And Build Muscles

If you regularly work out in the gym trying to put on some muscles, drink plenty of water.

Water plays a major role in cell volumization. This is where nutrients are pulled inside of the muscle cell causing a multitude of reactions that leads to muscle growth. Water is very important in many processes including digestion, transportation and the absorption of nutrients.

You Protect Your Teeth

Lemonade like 7UP (pH value: 3.2) and diet coke (pH value: 3.28) are beverages that are highly acidic, but so are boxed fruit juices (pH values: from 2.9-4.2).

If the pH milieu in your mouth is acidic too often, it can damage your enamel and even lead to an irreversible loss of tooth structure due to chemical dissolution. When you drink nothing but just water, you allow your teeth to get a break and fully repair themselves.

You Save Money

This might not be something that pops into your head immediately, when you think about the benefits of drinking nothing but water, but it also helps you to save some money, since water is the cheapest beverage that you can buy, or almost free!

Take Home Message

There is a whole range of benefits that come with replacing all other drinks with pure water. If I took a look at our list, I’m convinced that the experiment is worth trying, even if for people that aren’t the biggest water-fans. After all, you will not only look and feel better, but also have more energy during the day, because you do your body something good.

If you have benefited from drinking just water for 14 days, how about making it a lifestyle?

About Sara Ding

Sara Ding is the founder of Juicing-for-Health.com. She is a certified Wellness Health Coach, Nutritional Consultant and a Detox Specialist. She helps busy men and women identify their health issues at the root cause, in order to eliminate the problems for optimum physical/mental health and wellbeing.

Read more