Drinking Water after a Meal

[Sully]

I once read that its not a good idea to do that. Although, I read that after a tiger gorges itself, it then drinks plenty of water after the feast.

Opinions?

[Raw Kyle]

I've heard it dilutes stomach acid and maybe moves food through the system before it can digest well. I feel bloated if I drink a lot during or after eating so I try to drink in between or before meals.

[goodsamaritan]

I do not drink water just before or just after a meal.
I have experienced reduced digestion when I do that.
Raw paleo food is hydrating so I don't see a need to drink anything.

I drink my fluids, usually coconut juice during other times of the day.

[Guittarman03]

Haven't really noticed any problems drinking a little water after a meal, but I make sure not to drink too much.  After a meal of heavy meat, I usually am a little thirsty.  If I eat cooked food, I will be so thirsty during and after the meal, but so long as I stick to the diet, I don't really drink that much water despite living in 5-10% humidity most of the time.  I drink about 1 fresh young coconut a day and if I exercise, 1 liter of naturally carbonated mineral water (Gerolsteiner) with lemon/lime during the workout.   

[lex_rooker]

I think that this is pretty much nonsense.  Do you really think our paleo ancestors agonized over diluting their stomach acid by drinking water after eating?  Do you think they measured the water they drank to make sure they got the proper number of ounces per day so they didn't become dehydrated?  This is all just so much useless hand-wringing as far as I'm concerned.

When it comes to supplying the body what it needs, and determining when it needs it, I believe that the body has far more wisdom than the mind.  I drink when I'm thirsty and then I drink until my thirst is satisfied.   This simple strategy has been successful for our species for millions of years so why complicate it with a lot of silly made-up rules.

Lex  

[TylerDurden]

I drink a little water after  while I'm eating. Too much and digestion suffers, but a little is perfectly OK.

[Sully]

I drink when I'm thirsty and then I drink until my thirst is satisfied.   

Lex 

Thats what i do also.

Thanks for the input everyone!

[Raw Kyle]

I agree with you lex but my concern would be that in paleo times we didn't have access to water and food like we do now, so drinking when your thirsty or like people do now eat when they're hungry (snacking all day long) doesn't work well. I would think in paleo times people would somehow obtain some water whether it was collecting it or going to a lake or river and drink their fill, then probably not drink while eating but perhaps after wards as thirst warranted. Without access to the numerous amounts of containers we have today water was probably drank more like animals take it in, at intervals throughout the day and in moderate to large amounts.

[Guittarman03]

Probably depends alot on your location.  For example, east Texas has alot of streams, and finding water is not all that difficult.  Of course that would change if you were in west Texas.  So if you lived in a location with easy to find and many sources of water, you might drink oftern.  If not, you'd probably have to take what you can get when you can get it.

But I'm with Lex on this one.  The body has a wonderful mechanism to let you know when it's time to drink, it's called thirst.  Also, think about it - yes water will temporarily dilute stomach acid, but, and this is a guess here, won't it just quickly transpire out of your stomach into the blood stream and surrounding organs?  (Just like alcohol passes straight to the blood too)?  So it might delay digestion for a couple minutes, but unless you're chugging inordinate amounts of water, shouldn't be much of a problem.  But I don't understand the bio-chem there, so it's mostly a guess. 

[boxcarguy07]

paleo people probably preferred posts by potable ponds...