Water and Optimal Health - Things You Might Not Know
Water - A Valuable Health Resource Our bodies are made up of about two-thirds of H2O require lots of it to function properly.
When we consider what happens to a human body that has been cremated, we know what is left once all the water is removed--just a pile of ash and bones.
That should give us some idea of how important it is to properly hydrate our bodies.
The kidneys excrete water at the rate of two to three pints daily.
Water is also lost in other ways, such as through perspiration.
One thing is for certain, people who suffer from constipation habitually drink too little water.
Scanty and highly colored urine is one of the evidences that the tissues are in need of water.
Dryness of the skin is another evidence of the need for more water.
One should not rely on thirst as a signal that he is in need of a drink of water.
Eighty percent (80%) of Americans are dehydrated! Before people really started becoming health conscious, buying water in a bottle was considered by some as an extravagance.
But the fact is, most Americans do not drink nearly enough water, and the reason is mostly likely because they are busy quenching their thirst with soda pop and other unhealthful beverages.
There does seem to be a controversy over which is the best water to drink, but that decision is left to the individual.
Whatever the choice may be, it should be pure, filtered water and not tap water.
Tap water usually contains chlorine and fluoride, which are poisons to the human body, despite the hype.
Distilled and RO (reverse osmosis) are empty waters, that is, their minerals have been removed.
Empty water tends to leach out heavy metals, so on a temporary basis can be very helpful.
But if you choose to drink them on a long-term basis, make sure that you are replacing your trace minerals by eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
You can also take a whole plant food supplement to ensure that you are getting all the nutrition your body needs every single day.
There is also structured water.
This is the water that comes from plants.
Plants absorb minerals from the ground that would be unusable by our bodies, but the plants convert them into a form that is very assimilable by our bodies, so this structured water is what we get when we eat lots of plant foods.
Dr.
Norman Walker seemed to be onto something of great value with his idea of juicing fruits and vegetables.
Since he lived to a ripe old age of 118 years of age, it is safe to say that he was, and many people have benefited from that knowledge as a result.
As odd as it may seem, some people do not like the taste of water, no matter how pure it may be.
For those people, it might be helpful to add a little juice to improve its lack of flavor.
Lemon juice is commonly added to water in restaurants for this reason.
Lemon juice in water before a meal also helps aid digestion, and is a good health practice.
People who use salt in their diet require more water than those who adhere to a low protein diet and who use little salt.
Incidentally, it works both ways.
If you drink lots of water, make sure you do have enough sodium in your diet.
Celtic sea salt is the best because it still has all its other minerals, whereas processed table salt does not and is actually considered an anti-nutrient.
What about Drinking Water with Meals? It is not recommended that a person drink liquids with meals.
A little water is alright, but if you drink too much liquid with your meals, it will dilute the digestive enzymes and therefore tend to impair digestion.
A good rule of thumb is to drink your liquids at least 20 minutes or more before meals.
How Much? It is commonly said that a person should drink at least 8-10 glasses of pure water (not coffee, tea, etc.
) per day.
Actually, if you drink 1/2 oz.
for every pound of body weight, you will be drinking about the right amount.
So a person weighing 128 lbs.
would need 64 ounces of water per day.
A person can drown by drinking too much water, but we are not talking about amounts that will cause drowning.
Incidentally, the body cannot absorb the minerals (inorganic materials) that are available in tap water or spring water.
They must first be converted to an organic state and this happens only after they pass through plants.
The best way to tell if you are getting enough water is to note the color of your urine.
If it is clear, then you are probably getting enough.
If it is yellow, then you are not, and the darker the yellow color, the more dehydrated you are and the more in need of water you are.
What Kind? Regardless of what you end up doing, please do not drink tap water.
Tap water contains poisons such as chlorine, fluoride and other contaminants.
Chlorine added to the water to kill bacteria.
It is added to swimming pools for the same reason.
But it is an equal opportunity bacteria killer.
Your body contains good bacteria that are necessary to your good health.
But when you drink chlorinated water, it kills the good bacteria as well as the bad.
The fact that chlorine is also absorbed through the skin is one of the reasons that the cancer clinics in Mexico (which have a good success rate for curing cancer) do not use chlorine in their swimming pools.
Instead, they use ozone.
For this reason, it might also be good to consider using a filter in the shower.
A wonderful morning drink (that can be repeated during the day) is to add 1 tablespoon of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of raw honey, and 1/4 teaspoon (to start, working up to a full teaspoon over a period of a week or two) of cayenne to about eight ounces of distilled water.
(If you add a little boiling water, the hot water will help the honey dissolve.
) Do not substitute anything for the honey; do not substitute tap, spring, or well water for the distilled, and under no circumstances should you ever use white vinegar.
Use the formula exactly as given.
You will find that you'll come to enjoy this drink.
The apple cider vinegar (Braggs is a good choice) is good for the digestive system and it adds more alkalinity to your body and helps its pH stay in balance.
Since most people are too acidic, this is very helpful.
The cayenne is good for the arteries and circulation, among other things.
Hot and Cold Water Hydration One of the very best things you can do for your body, especially to increase circulation is hot and cold water therapy.
Here's how to do it: In the shower, turn on the water as hot as you can stand it for about 15-30 seconds.
This feels great! Now, turn the hot water off.
This is the part everyone hates, especially in the winter! You will actually gasp for air when that cold water hits your body, but let it run on you for a full 15 seconds.
Then switch back to the hot again.
What happens? The first thing that happens is you probably start gasping for breath because it is so cold.
This forces more oxygen into your lungs and into your blood.
Oxygen is the thing our bodies need the most.
You can go without food for weeks on end.
You can go without water for a few days.
But you can only go without oxygen for a few minutes at most, and then you die.
The first thing alternating water therapy does is cause you to intake more oxygen.
Now repeat this process about 7 or 8 times, and do it every day.
By the time you get out of the shower, you should be feeling great.
If you have an infected area of your body, do the therapy directly on that body part.
You'll be amazed at how quickly it will heal.
It is o.
k.
to yell, scream, holler, gasp, whatever, in the shower.
Just do not wake the neighbors if you get up early! So if you are wimpy when it comes to the blast of cold water, go ahead and holler if it helps.
You can do this in the shower every morning and it's a great way to wake up and get moving.
Good circulation is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is healing damaged areas of your body.
It cannot heal if blood cannot get to it.
This is the key.
By alternating hot and cold water, your blood either comes quickly to the surface with the cold water, or is driven deep into your tissues by the warm water).
By alternating the temperature, you are in effect exercising your arteries and veins by constriction and relaxation, in addition to bringing the blood to the areas where it is most needed.
If you are ill, this will help you get well much faster, and if you are healthy, it will help keep you that way.
If you are feeling wimpy and don't want to do it, think about this.
The cold part of this therapy--which is the part most people don't like--takes a maximum of one minute if you do the rotation four times (four times 15 seconds).
Surely, anyone can endure a little discomfort for one minute out of the 24 hours given each day.
If this is still too tough, think about all the people who are ill or in pain 24 hours out of every day and then be thankful that you are not! Think about all the people in the world who do not even have hot and cold running water.
That should make it a little easier perhaps.
Get a Shower Filter We have briefly discussed the chemicals such as chlorine and fluorine that are in tap water.
Since the skin quickly absorbs whatever lands on it, it stands to reason that if a person should not drink tap water, then neither should he bathe in it.
Shower filters will easily solve the problem.
This may be a new concept to some people.
There was a teaching ground around awhile back that the skin is a barrier, but the fact is, it is a carrier.
That is why nicotine and other types of skin patches work.
You may want to think twice about swimming in a public swimming pool or any pool that has been chlorinated and be careful about what lotions you put on your skin.
Do you know what chemicals they contain? Pure coconut oil is a good substitute for commercial products.
Copyright © 2009 Jayne Baer.
All rights reserved.
When we consider what happens to a human body that has been cremated, we know what is left once all the water is removed--just a pile of ash and bones.
That should give us some idea of how important it is to properly hydrate our bodies.
The kidneys excrete water at the rate of two to three pints daily.
Water is also lost in other ways, such as through perspiration.
One thing is for certain, people who suffer from constipation habitually drink too little water.
Scanty and highly colored urine is one of the evidences that the tissues are in need of water.
Dryness of the skin is another evidence of the need for more water.
One should not rely on thirst as a signal that he is in need of a drink of water.
Eighty percent (80%) of Americans are dehydrated! Before people really started becoming health conscious, buying water in a bottle was considered by some as an extravagance.
But the fact is, most Americans do not drink nearly enough water, and the reason is mostly likely because they are busy quenching their thirst with soda pop and other unhealthful beverages.
There does seem to be a controversy over which is the best water to drink, but that decision is left to the individual.
Whatever the choice may be, it should be pure, filtered water and not tap water.
Tap water usually contains chlorine and fluoride, which are poisons to the human body, despite the hype.
Distilled and RO (reverse osmosis) are empty waters, that is, their minerals have been removed.
Empty water tends to leach out heavy metals, so on a temporary basis can be very helpful.
But if you choose to drink them on a long-term basis, make sure that you are replacing your trace minerals by eating lots of fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, nuts and seeds.
You can also take a whole plant food supplement to ensure that you are getting all the nutrition your body needs every single day.
There is also structured water.
This is the water that comes from plants.
Plants absorb minerals from the ground that would be unusable by our bodies, but the plants convert them into a form that is very assimilable by our bodies, so this structured water is what we get when we eat lots of plant foods.
Dr.
Norman Walker seemed to be onto something of great value with his idea of juicing fruits and vegetables.
Since he lived to a ripe old age of 118 years of age, it is safe to say that he was, and many people have benefited from that knowledge as a result.
As odd as it may seem, some people do not like the taste of water, no matter how pure it may be.
For those people, it might be helpful to add a little juice to improve its lack of flavor.
Lemon juice is commonly added to water in restaurants for this reason.
Lemon juice in water before a meal also helps aid digestion, and is a good health practice.
People who use salt in their diet require more water than those who adhere to a low protein diet and who use little salt.
Incidentally, it works both ways.
If you drink lots of water, make sure you do have enough sodium in your diet.
Celtic sea salt is the best because it still has all its other minerals, whereas processed table salt does not and is actually considered an anti-nutrient.
What about Drinking Water with Meals? It is not recommended that a person drink liquids with meals.
A little water is alright, but if you drink too much liquid with your meals, it will dilute the digestive enzymes and therefore tend to impair digestion.
A good rule of thumb is to drink your liquids at least 20 minutes or more before meals.
How Much? It is commonly said that a person should drink at least 8-10 glasses of pure water (not coffee, tea, etc.
) per day.
Actually, if you drink 1/2 oz.
for every pound of body weight, you will be drinking about the right amount.
So a person weighing 128 lbs.
would need 64 ounces of water per day.
A person can drown by drinking too much water, but we are not talking about amounts that will cause drowning.
Incidentally, the body cannot absorb the minerals (inorganic materials) that are available in tap water or spring water.
They must first be converted to an organic state and this happens only after they pass through plants.
The best way to tell if you are getting enough water is to note the color of your urine.
If it is clear, then you are probably getting enough.
If it is yellow, then you are not, and the darker the yellow color, the more dehydrated you are and the more in need of water you are.
What Kind? Regardless of what you end up doing, please do not drink tap water.
Tap water contains poisons such as chlorine, fluoride and other contaminants.
Chlorine added to the water to kill bacteria.
It is added to swimming pools for the same reason.
But it is an equal opportunity bacteria killer.
Your body contains good bacteria that are necessary to your good health.
But when you drink chlorinated water, it kills the good bacteria as well as the bad.
The fact that chlorine is also absorbed through the skin is one of the reasons that the cancer clinics in Mexico (which have a good success rate for curing cancer) do not use chlorine in their swimming pools.
Instead, they use ozone.
For this reason, it might also be good to consider using a filter in the shower.
A wonderful morning drink (that can be repeated during the day) is to add 1 tablespoon of raw, unfiltered apple cider vinegar, one tablespoon of raw honey, and 1/4 teaspoon (to start, working up to a full teaspoon over a period of a week or two) of cayenne to about eight ounces of distilled water.
(If you add a little boiling water, the hot water will help the honey dissolve.
) Do not substitute anything for the honey; do not substitute tap, spring, or well water for the distilled, and under no circumstances should you ever use white vinegar.
Use the formula exactly as given.
You will find that you'll come to enjoy this drink.
The apple cider vinegar (Braggs is a good choice) is good for the digestive system and it adds more alkalinity to your body and helps its pH stay in balance.
Since most people are too acidic, this is very helpful.
The cayenne is good for the arteries and circulation, among other things.
Hot and Cold Water Hydration One of the very best things you can do for your body, especially to increase circulation is hot and cold water therapy.
Here's how to do it: In the shower, turn on the water as hot as you can stand it for about 15-30 seconds.
This feels great! Now, turn the hot water off.
This is the part everyone hates, especially in the winter! You will actually gasp for air when that cold water hits your body, but let it run on you for a full 15 seconds.
Then switch back to the hot again.
What happens? The first thing that happens is you probably start gasping for breath because it is so cold.
This forces more oxygen into your lungs and into your blood.
Oxygen is the thing our bodies need the most.
You can go without food for weeks on end.
You can go without water for a few days.
But you can only go without oxygen for a few minutes at most, and then you die.
The first thing alternating water therapy does is cause you to intake more oxygen.
Now repeat this process about 7 or 8 times, and do it every day.
By the time you get out of the shower, you should be feeling great.
If you have an infected area of your body, do the therapy directly on that body part.
You'll be amazed at how quickly it will heal.
It is o.
k.
to yell, scream, holler, gasp, whatever, in the shower.
Just do not wake the neighbors if you get up early! So if you are wimpy when it comes to the blast of cold water, go ahead and holler if it helps.
You can do this in the shower every morning and it's a great way to wake up and get moving.
Good circulation is important for a number of reasons, not the least of which is healing damaged areas of your body.
It cannot heal if blood cannot get to it.
This is the key.
By alternating hot and cold water, your blood either comes quickly to the surface with the cold water, or is driven deep into your tissues by the warm water).
By alternating the temperature, you are in effect exercising your arteries and veins by constriction and relaxation, in addition to bringing the blood to the areas where it is most needed.
If you are ill, this will help you get well much faster, and if you are healthy, it will help keep you that way.
If you are feeling wimpy and don't want to do it, think about this.
The cold part of this therapy--which is the part most people don't like--takes a maximum of one minute if you do the rotation four times (four times 15 seconds).
Surely, anyone can endure a little discomfort for one minute out of the 24 hours given each day.
If this is still too tough, think about all the people who are ill or in pain 24 hours out of every day and then be thankful that you are not! Think about all the people in the world who do not even have hot and cold running water.
That should make it a little easier perhaps.
Get a Shower Filter We have briefly discussed the chemicals such as chlorine and fluorine that are in tap water.
Since the skin quickly absorbs whatever lands on it, it stands to reason that if a person should not drink tap water, then neither should he bathe in it.
Shower filters will easily solve the problem.
This may be a new concept to some people.
There was a teaching ground around awhile back that the skin is a barrier, but the fact is, it is a carrier.
That is why nicotine and other types of skin patches work.
You may want to think twice about swimming in a public swimming pool or any pool that has been chlorinated and be careful about what lotions you put on your skin.
Do you know what chemicals they contain? Pure coconut oil is a good substitute for commercial products.
Copyright © 2009 Jayne Baer.
All rights reserved.