WATER
Water is the second most important thing your body needs to live, right behind oxygen. You can live without food for weeks, but you can only survive for a few days without water. Everything in your body takes place in water. You need fluids for cellular function, to transport fuel and oxygen to the cells, to remove body waste, and to regulate your body temperature.
Our bodies are about 70% water. The bloodstream that carries nutrients, oxygen and hormones throughout is about 85% water. It also carries waste to the kidneys for removal. You need water for the kidneys to function properly to remove the waste. We need to keep our bodies hydrated to keep waste from accumulating. The brain is about 80% water and uses about 20% of blood flow even though it accounts for only 2% of our body weight. Dehydration leaves the brain with less energy and can even lead to depression.
Besides all of the other functions of water in our bodies, water helps maintain blood pressure and is important to keep our pH levels at optimum levels. Water itself is close to neutral on the pH scale, helping us maintain a slightly alkaline pH.
If you want beautiful, smooth skin you must keep hydrated. Water will keep your cells functioning, helps conduct the electrical charge of energy at the cellular level and is important in cooling us on a hot day and preventing sunburns. There are so many reasons to drink plenty of water.
Coffee, tea, sodas, juice from concentrate and beer are not water. Though water may be a component to the production of these drinks, they have a diuretic effect, causing the body to lose water. We already lose water through sweat, breathing, urine and waste removal. We don’t need to cause additional fluid loss.
Drugs can have a negative affect on water concentrations. When I took high blood pressure medicine it caused my body to deplete potassium and thus retain water, increasing my blood pressure. The doctor then prescribed a water pill and potassium pill to remove the water to lower my blood pressure and restore potassium. If I didn’t take medicine in the first place, but supplemented my potassium intake it seems it would have kept my blood pressure regular naturally. I could avoid three pills daily. No wonder the drug companies make a fortune. If you take one you may have to take more to counter the side effects.
How much water should you drink daily? Half of your body weight in ounces is a good start. That means if you weigh 150 pounds you should drink 75 ounces of water throughout the day. That amounts to drinking 5 of the 16-oz packaged plastic water bottles daily. I reuse my plastic bottles daily, filling them up each night to get them nice and cold and ready for the next day. (I use the bottles for at least 2 weeks before recycling them. This saves a lot of money. By the way, many people say you should drink the water at room temperature. There is no statistical data to support this unless you eat a high fat meal followed by cold water. The cold water causes the fat to solidify, disrupting digestion.)
When using this program it is very important to drink plenty of water. The more water you can drink daily, the easier it is for your body to re-create an alkaline balance to your body fluids. The first few days will require more restroom visits and maybe some loose stools, but it passes after a few days as your system adjusts. The first few days I went all out and drank about 192 ounces daily. I found 150 ounces to be a much better fit after a few days. That is one more bottle per day than the formula above suggests. If you sweat more from summer heat or exercise, you may want to replenish the fluids lost with more water.