I completely agree. It feels as though the layer of saliva and other fluids in the mouth and throat are often removed when drinking copious amounts of water. These fluids retain moisture much better.
Regarding your diet, eliminating the fibrous and drier plant foods does not help with that either. The animal foods lack fiber and thus need less water for digestion and transit while carbs are pretty taxing on this. However, fruit and vegetables contain enough water themselves to counteract this. Even nuts can be a pain sometimes although I rely on them a lot because I really enjoy them and find that their mineral profile is pretty desirable as well as the energy that they give me.