8 Foods That Can Make You Dehydrated and Feel Extra-Thirsty

When you think of hydration, your mind might immediately go to what kinds of beverages you are (and aren’t) drinking. But did you know that the foods you eat can also have a major impact on your hydration status? While some foods contribute to our overall hydration, adding water themselves and/or electrolytes (which help the body regulate and circulate water), others can actually have a dehydrating effect, requiring us to play catch-up to make up for those losses. But what makes a food dehydrating, and what are some of the top culprits that can dehydrate you further? Read on to learn more.

Why Hydration Is Important

Our bodies are made mostly of water, at least 60 percent, and without this major macronutrient, we wouldn’t be able to function properly. Just some of the benefits water has on our health and bodily functions include:

• Assisting brain cells in effective communication with each other
• Lubricating joints
• Helping the body to detoxify and rid itself of waste 
• Promoting saliva production, digestive regularity, healthy gut bacteria vitality, and preventing constipation
• Regulating body temperature
• Maintaining moist tissues throughout the body but especially the skin, eyes, nose, and mouth—preserving these protective barriers from outside stressors or irritants
• Facilitating oxygen delivery to our cells
• Aiding in nutrient metabolism and absorption
• Promoting healthy liver and kidney function
• Protecting the structures of the central nervous system, like the spinal cord

Knowing all this, you might imagine how dehydration can impact the body negatively on multiple fronts. It’s completely natural for your body to experience water losses throughout the day by way of our excretory systems, including going to the bathroom, sweating, and even breathing. The key to avoiding dehydration, preserving all these important functions of water, is to ensure that you’re consuming more fluids than you’re losing throughout the day (and choosing hydrating foods).

Interestingly enough, feeling thirst is actually the first clue that you’re slightly dehydrated. More serious symptoms of dehydration include dizziness, headache, migraine, insomnia, brain fog, fatigue, unusual mood swings, decreased immunity, gas, bloating, constipation, dark-colored urine, and less frequent urination. Extreme dehydration can result in dangerously low blood pressure levels, seizures, and even kidney failure. 

Typically, however, dehydration of this level is only caused by extenuating circumstances like serious illness or unusually prolonged bouts of strenuous exercise without hydration.

Many Americans operate at low levels of dehydration in their day-to-day life. But this problem has an easy solution: prioritizing hydrating fluids and foods while avoiding or moderating their more dehydrating counterparts. Ideally, we should be drinking anywhere from eight to 12 cups of water per day (64 to 96 fluid ounces)—though every individual is different—and with this goal, you can rest assured that you’re on track to be well-hydrated.

What Can Make a Food (or Drink) Dehydrating?

There are some key nutrients and dietary components that contribute to dehydration, including the following:

High Sodium

You may not be shocked to find that this often-discussed mineral is a classic dehydrating nutrient, when consumed in excessive amounts. When we eat foods with large quantities of sodium (in the most common form of salt), this nutrient concentrates in the bloodstream. When there’s too much sodium in the blood, it affects its salinity and pH levels. The body wants to be in equilibrium, with similar salinity levels in both our cells and blood. So, it will pull water from our cells into the bloodstream to return the pH and salinity to normal, or at least lower, levels. Not only will this result in the increase in blood pressure sodium is so well-known for, but it can also cause dehydration as our cells are depleted of their water to correct for this imbalance.

Large Amounts of Protein

Though high-protein diets are all the rage these days, there are some downsides to these popular ways of eating. When consumed in very high amounts, protein can have a dehydrating effect. This important macronutrient breaks down into nitrogen in the body where more water is required to metabolize it when compared to other nutrients. Eating excessive amounts of protein can also be taxing on the kidneys, causing it to excrete more fluids (in the way of urine) as it rids the body of the excess nitrogen, producing a diuretic effect. Both of these processes can result in the nagging symptoms of dehydration.

Added Sugar

A lesser known diuretic in the diet is added sugar. This is related to some of the same reasons as sodium and protein, above. When there’s an excessive amount of sugar in the bloodstream, osmosis (or movement of water) will occur, pulling water from the cells into the blood to bring more homeostatic sugar levels between the two structures, dehydrating us. The kidneys then work to filter that blood and excrete it, resulting in the diuretic effect found with this common sweetener.

Other Common Food Causes of Dehydration

There are a few other common dehydrating nutrients to be aware of. The mineral potassium can also serve as a diuretic in the body when consumed in super high amounts, as does the amino acid asparagine. Then, any food components that are known to cause diarrhea, like the artificial sweetener sorbitol for example, will also cause high water losses that can result in dehydration.

Foods That Can Contribute to Dehydration

Despite that brief Magic School Bus science detour, all this information does translate into food. Here are some of the most common dehydrating foods available: