Slim

Retaining water may be a result of stress, or taxing your adrenal glands. That may actually be a sign of dehydration, that your body needs, surprisingly, more water and more electrolytes, that means a good balance of minerals. Drinking a mineral fortified bottled water can help. Gatoraid and some others be careful about because of the high sugar content which you do not need. This is also a sign that you need more rest and sleep and you are too stressed out physically or emotionally.

Also as you are aware, it may also be a result of excess sodium throwing off the potassium-sodium balance. Sodium can be a hidden content of many foods that you eat that contain high amounts of sodium without adding extra salt. Read labels of foods and look for high amounts of sodium. It might be good to choose the low-sodium versions of packaged, canned or frozen preprepared foods. Do you drink soda pop? Diet soda (and regular) contain extremely high amounts of sodium that often we are not aware of. Another thing you should do is increase your consumption of high potassium fruits and veggies such as bananas and potatoes. Another thing you can do is use a potassium chloride salt substitute if you can stand the taste. I do not like this on food and instead I stir a1/4 tsp into a half glass of water and hold my nose and drink it down as an emergency suppliment. Potassium pills are not economical nor do they contain enough potassium in them to do any good.

You may also surprisingly be lacking in protein. A lack of protein can cause you to retain water. You should as a woman be consuming at least 50 grams of protein per day. That translates into one egg and a three oz. serving of lean meat or poultry for instance. If you are a vegetarian you have to work on your diet to see that you are getting sufficient protein and that the plant proteins are balanced to include all amino acids..

A good natural way to help water retention is parsley tea. Use a tsp. of dried parsley (the kind you have in your spice cabinet) or one tblsp. of fresh crushed parsley leaves. Bring a pint of water to a boil, remove from the fire, add the parsley, let it stand for 15 minutes, and drink.. Also drink the parsley with the tea, it is good for you and doesn't taste bad. You do not really have to add anything to this tea for extra taste. If you do you might try a little lemon. Another helpful herbal tea is ginger tea.

Water pills just deplete your body of minerals, only use those as a last resort.

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