[Newsletter] The Smartest Coach in the Room

Drinking water with meals harms digestion?? Every Saturday, The Smartest Coach in the Room delivers helpful takeaways on the hottest nutrition and health topics and the world’s most effective coaching techniques. (Did some amazing friend forward this to you? [Subscribe here]( Ever heard this advice before? “Don’t drink water with meals, or you’ll dilute stomach acid and enzymes won’t work as well.” Should you put down that glass of water (and tell your clients to do the same?) In a nutshell is: Nah. Drinking water is fine, and evolution is smarter than Internet health advice. (If you’d like some detailed science, keep reading. If not, simply consider this myth busted.) 🚰 Why drinking water won’t interfere with stomach acid. Quick science lesson: We measure acidity using pH. Substances with a low pH are acidic, while substances with a high pH are alkaline. (Pure water is neutral, around 7.) The stomach’s main acid is hydrochloric acid, or HCI. When acid secretion is at its highest during digestion, the stomach has a pH nearing 1, about the same as battery acid. This helps break down food (and kill most pathogens). How much water would affect stomach function? We produce about 1500 mL of HCI per day, but let’s say you have about 100 mL of HCI in your stomach at a specific moment when you’re eating. And let’s say, table-side, you drink a generous 900 mL (4-ish cups) of water. Running calculations on pH and dilution (we’ll spare you), drinking 900 mL of water will increase the pH to 1.8. (Still super acidic.) To increase your stomach pH to over 3.5—the point where some enzymes such as pepsinogen don’t work as well—you’d have to drink over 50 liters of water. [A GIF of Kermit the Frog reacting to water being poured over his head.] Takeaways for coaching 🦠 If a client is struggling with digestion, drinking water probably isn’t the culprit. (If it is, they should see a gastroenterologist.) You can learn more about digestive health [on our blog](. 🧐 Counsel clients to be skeptical of what they read or hear. Just because your colleague in finance wags her finger at your Stanley tumbler of water at lunch, doesn’t mean she’s right. You can also check out our [Level 1 Nutrition Coaching Certification]( where you’ll learn the *actual science* behind good nutrition advice, along with the art of coaching. [Become a Certified Nutrition Coach - Join the presale list for the #1 rated PN Level 1 Nutrition Certification]( Cheers, Camille --------------------------------------------------------------- Camille DePutter Co-author of PN’s Level 1 Certification textbook Precision Nutrition (Home of the World’s Top Nutrition Coaches) --------------------------------------------------------------- What did you think of this email? Precision Nutrition Business Insider's #1 Choice for Nutrition Certifications in 2022 --- To view this email as a web page, click [here.]( Precision Nutrition Inc. 18 King Street East, Suite 1400 Toronto, ON, M5C 1C4, Canada Finally, nutrition makes sense. Visit us at [www.precisionnutrition.com]( today. Follow us on [Unsubscribe or Manage Preferences](