There is a popular perception that drinking water while eating your food or immediately after it could affect your digestion. Many Ayurveda experts also suggest waiting for at least half-n-hour after meals before having water. But sometimes while you successfully resist urge of having water at meal time, you may completely forget having it for hours and in this entire process lose 2-3 hours of the day. This could leave one dehydrated. So, should you really avoid water before, during and after your meal? Nutritionist Bhuvan Rastogi in his recent Instagram post says there is no scientific evidence to support that one should not have water around meal time. (Also read: 5 rules for drinking water as per Ayurveda)
“Many believe that drinking water with or even around food dilutes digestive enzymes and affects digestion. There is absolutely no scientific evidence to support this as of now, so consider this as inconclusive,” writes Bhuvan Rastogi.
“Another logic that plays in water with food argument is we already have a lot of fluid in our diet and it works well. We already have soups. Salads are pretty much chewing water. In a traditional diet, green vegetables are very high in water and gravy for vegetables is obviously water. We have chaach with meals which is ⅞ parts water and ⅛ parts curd,” adds Rastogi.
The nutritionist says not having water post meals can actually backfire as it could reduce our overall water intake.
“On the other hand, as so many of us follow this, having no water an hour before and for 2 hours after each meal, many are dehydrated. They are unable to complete their water intake of 3 or 4 litres every day. Dehydration is already proven to lead to dire consequences, such as chronic constipation, acidity, proven increased chances of kidney stones, UTIs etc,” he says.
Rastogi says our first priority should be drinking enough water and not having water around food much lower. He adds that if someone can manage both it’s fine, but one should focus on adequate water intake.
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