The Big Deal About Water Is?
So what's the big deal about water? We're always being told that we should drink more, but why? Well, put simply - without water, we'd die. Although death from dehydration is rare in the Western developed world, plenty of the symptoms you're experiencing right now could be down to not drinking enough.
About seventy percent of our bodies is made up of water. That's an incredible amount and provides you with just a hint of how vital water is for us. Our bodies use water to keep running efficiently and the human body very cleverly rations water out to where it is needed and keeps some in reserve in case of drought - more efficiently than a hosepipe ban in August! The regular supply of water helps to regulate several bodily functions - many of which you will probably never before have associated with drinking enough water.
Water is in every cell and every tissue on your body. It maintains your healthy muscles and helps you keep your young-looking skin; it lubricates joints and organs and regulates body temperature. You can't function without it. Water is the main ingredient in all your bodily fluids-blood, lymph, digestive juices, urine, tears, and sweat. Water is involved in almost every bodily function: circulation, digestion, absorption, and elimination of wastes, to name a few.
Drinking water is a great habit to get into. It can not only help to keep you healthy, when healthy problems arise, water can also help cure you - far more cheaply than using expensive pharmaceutical drugs. You can even counter the effects of these over the counter and prescribed drugs with water. Just think about it - what does it make more sense to put into your body - a man-made drug that bears no real chemical resemblance to the human body - or the very thing that already makes up seventy percent of our bodies?
Hard water that is alkaline is better for drinking. No, I don't mean that really hard water that actually tastes metallic - I mean water that are on the hard side rather than soft. Why? Because those ions that make the water hard are also essential minerals, i.e. they are good for you. Also, water is often softened by replacing the magnesium and calcium ions with sodium ions. This extra sodium may not be good for people with heart disease or who are on sodium restricted diets.
Alkaline water carries the electrolytes, mineral salts that help convey electrical currents in the body; the major minerals that make up these salts are sodium, potassium, calcium, magnesium, and chloride. In short, water is quite important for self-regulation within the body, ensuring that everything stays in balance.
Water helps to transport your waste products through your guts and helps you expel them. That helps prevent you getting constipated. Water also helps feed your body. You can bet most people will never have thought of this, but it's water that carries most of the vitamins and minerals that are left when food is broken down, so that it can be absorbed into the parts of the body that need it. Without water, you can't absorb nutrients and minerals into your bloodstream - or anywhere else for that matter - and so a lack of water means you are not properly nourished either.
So, from head to toe, you need water to properly regulate your body's functions.
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Your body is estimated to be about 60 to 70 percent water. Blood is mostly water, and your muscles, lungs, and brain all contain a lot of water. Your body needs water to regulate body temperature and to provide the means for nutrients to travel to all your organs. Water also transports oxygen to your cells, removes waste, and protects your joints and organs.
Signs of Dehydration
You lose water through urination, respiration, and by sweating. If you are very active, you lose more water than if you are sedentary. Diuretics such as caffeine pills and alcohol result in the need to drink more water because they trick your body into thinking you have more water than we need.
Symptoms of mild dehydration include chronic pains in joints and muscles, lower back pain, headaches and constipation. A strong odor to your urine, along with a yellow or amber color indicates that you may not be getting enough water. Note that riboflavin, a B Vitamin, will make your urine bright yellow. Thirst is an obvious sign of dehydration and in fact, you need water long before you feel thirsty.
How Much Water do You Need to Drink?
A good estimate is to take your body weight in pounds and divide that number in half. That gives you the number of ounces of water per day that you need to drink. For example, if you weigh 160 pounds, you should drink at least 80 ounces of water per day. If you exercise you should drink another eight ounce glass of water for every 20 minutes you are active. If you drink alcohol, you should drink at least an equal amount ofwater. When you are traveling on an airplane, it is good to drink eight ounces of water for every hour you are on board the plane. If you live in an arid climate, you should add another two servings per day. As you can see, your daily need for water can add up to quite a lot.
Twenty percent of your water need will come from the foods you eat. The rest of your water need should come from the beverages you drink. Water is the best choice. Sodas have a lot of sugar in them, so if you drink sodas, you may take in more calories than you need. Herbal teas that aren't diuretic are fine. Sports drinks contain electrolytes and may be beneficial, just look out for added sugar and calories that you don't need. Juices are good because they have vitamins and nutrients.
Caffeinated beverages will also add to your daily water need. Even though caffeine is a diuretic, if you regularly consume caffeine, your body will regulate itself to that diuretic effect.
Drink Enough Water
It may be difficult to drink enough water on a busy day. Be sure you have water handy at all times by keeping a bottle for water with you when you are working, traveling, or exercising. If you get bored with plain water, add a bit of lemon or lime for a touch of flavor. There are some brands of flavored water available, but watch for extra calories.
Water is without doubt THE most important nutrient available to us....and one of the most frequently deficient!
Water bathes all your cells, it gives then the rigidity to form structures; enables the transport of other nutrients; dissolves both nutrients and waste; provides mechanisms for controlling heating and cooling.
Yet, many people are do dehydrated (lack of water) that they are ill as a consequence. in his important book, Your "Body's Many Cries for Water", Dr F Bathmanghelidj reports how many "diseases" can be attributed to chronic dehydration and how treatment with drinking water, our most important nutrient, can resolve them completely.
When we don't drink enough, our tissues and cells start to sag and become limp - think of how a balloon appears after losing some of its air and you'll have the right idea. This not only means that they lose their structural strength, it may also mean that they can't function properly and may even stop functioning altogether.
It is in this way that most cases of back pain can be successfully treated using drinking water - the pillow-like "discs" between the backbones become dehydrated and shrivel, allowing the bones to rub against each other and the tissues in-between, causing pain, swelling and discomfort. Just "re-inflating" the discs with ample water can be enough to totally reverse the process.
So it is with many other diseases of water loss. Electrolytes can't be transported properly, nutrients and waste don't go where they are supposed to or are left to build-up, heat-loss becomes difficult and cell function reduces.Left unchecked, this situation would quickly lead to coma and death.
Fortunately, we have defense mechanisms to protect against this scenario. The thirst reflex is intended to let us know when we need to drink. In babies, it is in excellent form and they regularly let us know when they are thirsty.
However, as we go through life nowadays, we start replacing our water intake with sodas, coffee, tea, alcohol, squash and fruit juices. The fact is that these contain other substances that reduce our water absorption, retention and increase excretion. In the case of alcohol and caffeinated drinks (many sodas, tea and coffee), these actively stimulate the kidneys to produce more urine, causing further water-loss.
In fact, in many people nowadays, the body has become so chronically dehydrated that it has given up, and the thirst reflex just doesn't work anymore. It never gets a response and so "switches off" until the body reaches a critical state of severe dehydration and water loss, only kicking in as a last gasp effort to maintain life - that is what most of us call "thirst".
In contrast, when people who have chronically low water intake feel they are "hungry", they are probably only thirsty! The thirst reflex is now so poorly effective that it tries to stimulate water intake in any way it can. Water taken in as solid food (any foods are over 50% water) is better than none at all! If only we would drink water instead of eating, we would not only consume less (and therefore have less weight problems), we would also be a lot healthier.
So what can we do about this problem?
In most cases, it is simple. Drink clean, unadulterated (and free from chemical additives like chlorine and flurine) water. In most cases (and here, we speak from personal experience) after a day or two of consuming two to two and a half liters of water a day, the thirst reflex will suddenly switch itself back on and you will feel thirsty continually until you have supplied the water your body needs - on average around 3-4 liters a day for a woman and 4-5 liters for a man. (in hotter climates, more may be necessary)
That is not to say you can do this overnight - most people need to start adding about a glass a day to their water intake until they achieve an appropriate amount or their body responds by stopping to feel thirsty.
The health benefits of drinking more water are immense.
- You will have more energy
- You will "feel" better
- Many chronic health problems will just "go away"
- You will flush out more toxins, contributing to long-term health
- Your immune system will benefit, enabling you to "fight off"
more bugs and illnesses - "Hangovers" will become a thing of the past! (most people get hangovers because they START drinking whilst already dehydrated!)
Doesn't this sound like a significant change in your life? You bet!
What's that?You're worried about peeing all the time? So what! Urine takes lots of toxins with it and is a major cleansing system for the body. In fact, if your urine is anything except almost clear and VERY pale yellow, you ARE already dehydrated and need to drink more water. This is a small price to pay for the health benefits you WILL receive.
Remember, your daily water intake should be IN ADDITION TO any sodas, beers, squash, fruit juice or tea and coffee you drink.
If your water is chlorinated and/or has added fluoride, you MUST filter it to remove these poisons. fluoride serves no purpose and is only there so the paper mills and aluminum smelters don't have to pay for getting rid of their waste! Chlorine is there to kill bugs in the pipes, and, once it has reached you, serves no useful purpose. To get rid of it, leave a jug of water in the fridge and it will evaporate.
Even better, get a water filter - either a simple jug-type or an expensive, but worthwhile whole-house system. These will remove all of the unwanted chemicals from your water and leave you with pure, sweet, drinkable water. You can even get a shower filter or a sports water-bottle with built-in filter now, so you can refill it anywhere and get the benefits of filtered water as if you were at home
Aquarius Ph Alkalizing Machine…These Machines come With A Five Year Warranty And Are NOT multi-level marketing…I get them straight from the manufacturer.
Visit any one of the links or call me for more info on how to save on your bottled water bill and start rebuilding your health today!
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