This year a friend of mine decided to give up drinking any fluids with meals because he believed it was bad for his digestion. Problem was, he never had enough explanation to back up his theory.
So for those of you who are curious, here’s the explanation-
Why you give your stomach a tough time when you drink fluids with meals
Our stomach is actually really intelligent. It seems to know exactly what type and what amount of foods are in there, and it releases the right amounts of gastric juices accordingly.
Thing is, if what we’ve put into our stomach is too liquid then the gastric juices won’t work, and the stomach knows this. So what happens is the water component is absorbed through the walls of the stomach until the contents are concentrated enough for the digestive juices to act. But when this happens, the concentrated part that’s left usually ends up being even thicker than food usually is in the stomach.
But why is this bad?
Putting anything into your stomach that causes a bit of digestive chaos of course is not going to be that great for you or your body.
And when this process happens we are in fact delaying digestion and and possibly causing some foods to be absorbed through the walls of the stomach before the digestive juices get a chance to do their thing.
And why is this article in a skin care blog??
You may have gathered by now that I write and talk a lot about food and nutrition in this blog. This is because treating acne and taking care of our skin is something we must do holistically – which means taking care of the inside out and vice versa.
Digestion is particularly important to our skins health because a clogged up digestive system often shows up on the skin with clogged pores and blemishes. So it’s in our best interested to watch what we put into our bodies and to take care of our digestive health.
And I know that this is just ANOTHER rule that we need to look out for. But to be honest, I’ve known this information for a while now and I haven’t been that disciplined with it (yet). I’d much rather you focus your energy on making bigger changes like switching to brown rice, eating more vegetables, drinking more water etc. It all depends where you are on the healthy eating scale and how much improvement you’re comfortable with making in your diet at this time.
It just helps to at least be aware of what’s good and what’s bad for your body so you can make decisions accordingly. If you’re not dying of thirst and you think you can handle your next meal without drinking any fluids, then go for it! But remember, you don’t have to be perfect and you don’t have to follow all the rules 
19 responses ↓
hey fran! i have also read and heard this before and just knew that it messed with digestion. so thanks for the ‘why’ it messes it up! however, i was wondering about drinking water before or after? is there a certain period of time i should stop drinking water before i eat? and after i eat? i think i heard 30 min. but not sure if this is accurate or gives the body enough time to digest the food.
thanks love!
I can certainly attest to this advice.
My skin health is always a reflection of my digestive health. I have Irritable Bowel Syndrome, which means my stomach reacts quite dramatically to a plethora of tiny factors. When it’s not happy, my skin isn’t happy. When my stomach is happy, my skin is perfectly clear.
I haven’t given much thought to drinking/ not drinking during meals. I usually don’t drink because it just feels odd. I eat when I’m hungry. I drink when I’m thirsty. These two don’t often happen simultaneously.
this is a big deal to me right now. i would drink with a meal and get VERY gassy for hours. no stomach cramps though. when i stopped drinking, it stopped the gas. very odd.
Gillian McKeith recommends this as well, she says it really hampers our digestion.
For several years now, I’ve drunk hardly any fluid with my meals. My family thinks I’m weird. I always heard it sort of floods your digestive system or something. I’m glad to see I’m not crazy! I try to wait a couple of hours after meals before I drink water too, so sometimes if I want to drink any water, I need to time it just right (or I don’t worry about the timing). If I still feel a lot of food in my stomach, then I probably won’t drink.
Hi kristin, I had dinner with a friend of mine last night who’s been following this rule for years. He said he tries to allow for 15 minutes before and 20 minutes after eating, but ideally 1 hour after eating is better.
This is very interesting. I am going to give it a shot and try not drinking any fluids with my meals till later. Thanks for all the info!
OH my GOSH Fran i’m so glad you wrote abou this. Can you believe this one of my main causes of stomach aches and bloating lack of digestion and probably other problems that resulted with acne. And i was just talking about this yesterday! I’m so glad you wrote about this!!
<3
Also.. as much as there are so mnay other rules that are more important this was a big problem for me because i eat a lot of healthy foods and smaller meals through out the day(very important not to just eat 2 or three huge meals) so why was i getting so bloated and feeling tired ? Because i was drinking a tall glass of water with my meals… especially with big meals.
Try to drink water immediately after waking up and before and after exercise and through out the day and have a couple little sips with meals or none at all and wait an hour before drinking if you can or if you don’t feel dehydrated.
Drinking water is so important so id you have to than ok… However… do not drink other liquids with meals!.. WATER
Hi Fran,
For the last 10 years, I’ve been drinking water 45 minutes to one hour AFTER a meal. I have a lot of people commenting on that when I eat with friend’s at a restaurant. They always wonder how come I’m not dying … I tell them that I have 10 years of training.
If your digestive system is filled with water, you won’t digest properly and THAT means that food will stay trapped inside your body and can convert to fat unless you burn it off!
This is a great point and some are on either side, but I believe this idea of waiting 30-60 minutes after a meal and avoiding drinking just before a meal … makes sense to me!
Fran,
Just to let you know, I tried clicking on the button to edit WAY before the time-out and I wasn’t able to.
(i had to right click to edit,figured it out too late)
Also i wanted to mention in addition to what i said yesterday….
In China and I’m sure other parts of the world, it is very well known to drink only Hot liquids during,before and after meals
<3
my naturopath told me to stop drinking 30 mins before my meal, and to wait 30 mins after, as well. basically you’re diluting the hydrochloric acid in your stomach if you drink water. sipping is allowed but, preferably, you shouldn’t. she did recommend pouring a tablespoon of apple cider vinegar into 1/4 cup of water and drinking the mixture 15 mins before my meal. anyways, i think this is good practice because now i REALLY chew my food and eat slower, which you should do regardless. and, yes, i think this goes with eastern medicine, don’t drink heaps of water during your meal.
Wow, this is exactly what I wanted to know for a long time!! But, how about soup, wine, and something like that? Should I avoid drinking them during a meal as well?
My boyfriend’s mom who is Chinese always asks me to drink soup before dinner though…like an hour before we eat dinner.
Hi vivienne, soup is really good for you so definitely don’t stop eating/drinking it
Wine counts as a drink so it’s best not to drink wine with your meals.
This is really interesting! Do you have any medical/scientific sources?
Hi Fee, I got most of the information from an article by Roger French from the Natural Health and Vegetarian Life magazine.
Wow, you guys severely underestimate the ability of your stomachs.
I’m sure after million years of evolution, the human body is able to digest food just fine with water.
I would personally need a better source before I believe this. Not saying it’s not true, just saying I need more reliable information before I would accept it as fact. I would tend to think Anthony is right.
Eat Smart Age Smart, whoever told you food gets trapped in your body and turns into fat if your digestion is sub-optimal is simply wrong. It sounds like they have an oddly childish idea of how the digestive system works, like: food goes in, food stays there, food weighs you down. Actually, it’s digesting food well that will allow your body to use the most calories from it. If water does indeed hamper digestion, a more likely effect would be that your body won’t be able to utilise all the nutrients from your food.
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