Importance of water:

The primary function of water in the body is not merely to fill the empty spaces (its structural role) but also to transport nutrients like oxygen, glucose, minerals, etc., to the cells and expel their waste products (its transporter role). It perform this transporter role through OSMOSIS. People’s misconception is that water is a passive solvent and not an “essential nutrient”. But our body requires a certain amount of it every day for proper organ functioning, and no other fluid (juice, milk or beverages) can be a substitute for water. When you take other liquids, you deceive the body by quenching the thirst, as these fluids act as diuretics and dehydrate the body. 

Drink water whenever you feel thirsty. Its requirement depends on the type of body and how it responds to water. Your daily water intake will be satiated if you have enough water whenever your body asks for it. Stop when you feel satisfied, and your thirst has reduced relatively. However, most of us have a question to decide when to drink water. Here I focus exclusively on the right way of drinking in correlation with meals rather than the general ones. To primarily address the question-“Is it good to drink water after eating or before”?

According to Ayurvedic scriptures, we need to take water between meals and not before or after eating food. Doing so can cause ill effects.

Drinking water immediately before food – reduces digestion

Inference: Even though western medicine suggests drinking water before meals for better gastric health, Ayurveda rejects it. A renowned ancient Ayurvedic doctor Vagbhata When you think about food, your mouth automatically starts drooling, and your stomach starts preparing the digestive juice to digest the food consumed. In such a situation, if you take fluids right before eating, your saliva and digestive juices needed for digestion get dissolved. Also, it makes you feel full, and indeed you would end up eating less. Once you drink, you may again feel hungry for some time, which can trigger excessive eating and colon bloating. Hence you should take water for at least 20-30 minutes before eating anything.

Drinking water immediately after food – is equivalent to poison, as it inhibits the natural absorption of nutrients and makes you obese.

Inference: Our stomach stimulates digestive juices to consume the food. At this time, when you take liquid after eating food, the digestive juices get diluted, and the food gets decomposed and remains undigested, resulting in gas or spiking insulin levels. If you are unaware of the consequences, it can lead to heartburn, obesity and diabetes mellitus. According to the Ayurvedic text Ashtanga Hrdyam, approximately 103 types of diseases directly arise due to food indigestion. A few among them include acidity, hyper acidity-ulcer, peptic ulcer, piles, high LDL cholesterol, cancer, Increase in cholesterol/fat etc. 

Therefore, the ideal way to drink water should be after about 1.5 hours of eating food. Nevertheless, this duration differs depending on the geographical location. For instance, in colder climatic zones like Uttaranchal, the best period could be 2.5 hours. Also, you can have liquids up to 40 to 50 hours before the meal. Check https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OKpzukNo3Gw 

Is it good to drink water after eating rice/roti?

If you consume different types of food, like rice, ragi and roti, it is okay to drink in the interim but keep a tab to have no more than 2 to 3 mouthfuls. It also applies to people who have difficulty swallowing. After the meal, you can have 1-2 sips of water to clear your throat. Meanwhile, if you get thirsty after your meal, try having 

• Any seasonal fruit juice after breakfast.

• Buttermilk after lunch

 And milk after dinner. 

You may think why it is so specific about what to drink after a meal. These drinks are advised at those particular times because the enzymes needed to digest these drinks will only be present in the stomach. If you have a habit of drinking milk in the morning, consume it with amla.

Besides, avoid drinking chilled liquid after a heavy lunch or dinner. If you have chilled beverages, there will be a delay in digestion. Also, after a heavy meal, you can have a glass of some warm or room temperature fluid but not an excessive quantity.

The bottom line is to keep a 30-minute window period before and after meals.