The Importance of Water

With temperatutes hitting the 90s this week on the East Coast, the topic of hydration is top of mind for most. A common question I am asked is do other liquids such as tea, coffee, lemonade which are made with water, count as water?  I wanted to share an article I received from a great publishing and education resource, Nature's Field by Tree of Light Publishing to help shed some light on the importance of water. I hope you find it as useful as I did.

Nature's Field - June 7th

Water is the foundation of life, and next to air, the most important nutrient you need to stay alive. Yet, when it comes to healing the body, people don’t often think of water as a “cure” for disease. Water, however, may be one of the cheapest and most important disease cures you’ll ever use.

While being held as a political prisoner in Iran Dr. F. Batmaghelidj discovered that water alone can help to heal many chronic ailments. Having no medicines to work with, he learned that peptic ulcers could be healed with water alone. Following his release from prison, he continued his research on the healing power of water. In his book, Your Body's Many Cries for Water, he claims that the body signals its water shortage by producing pain.

He also explains that drinking more water can heal numerous diseases including asthma, arthritis, hypertension, angina, adult-onset diabetes, lupus and multiple sclerosis. In fact, Dr. Batmagheldi has linked dehydration to about 90 different diseases.

Most people think that they don’t need to drink water unless they are thirsty and/or they believe that they can get adequate water from drinking other beverages such as coffee, tea, soda, energy drinks, fruit juice and milk. As a result, they don’t consume enough water.

Thirst is not an adequate indicator of dehydration because most of the water loss in your body (66% in fact) takes place inside of the cells. Another 26% takes place in the extracellular fluid or lymphatics and only 8% is lost from the blood. Thirst is regulated by the amount of water in the blood, which means you might drink enough to rehydrate your blood (so you don’t feel thirsty anymore), but this doesn’t mean you’ve replaced the water lost from inside your cells.

Furthermore, many of the beverages people drink are diuretics. This means they cause the body to flush more water than they contain. Coffee, tea, soda pop and alcohol are all diuretic in nature, which means that if you drink these beverages you need even more water than normal to replace the water you have lost.

Beauty and Hydration

After reading several of Dr. Batmaghelidi’s books, I came to realize that aging is largely a process of increasing dehydration. Little children have a lot more water in their cells than adults do. To understand this, think of the difference between a grape and a raisin. A raisin is just a dehydrated grape. Hydrated grapes are plump and juicy and round, while the dehydrated raisins are dry, shriveled and wrinkly. That’s the difference between hydrated cells and dehydrated cells.

Just look at the difference between a young person’s face (round and soft) and the face of someone who is aging (dried and wrinkly), as shown in the photos below. The same effect is taking place. The wrinkles are happening because the body is no longer hydrated and the cells are no longer plump and juicy.

Since I learned this, I’ve noticed that people who consume a lot of dehydrating beverages (coffee, tea, soda and alcohol) wrinkle more and age more quickly than people who drink a lot of water instead. This means water is a beauty as well as a health secret.
Water and Disease

In a survival situation, finding water is far more important than finding food, as you can live for several weeks without food, but can die in just a few days from dehydration. Yet, when people are sick they usually think of food (diet, herbs and supplements) before they consider water as a cure.

A lot of my success in healing has come from the use of herbal hydrotherapy, the combination of water and herbs. If you think about it, before the advent of capsules, tablets and tinctures, herbs were typically administered as infusions (teas) or decoctions, which means they were taken with water! Swallowing herbs (and supplements) without drinking extra water to rehydrate them won’t give you the same results. Nutrients have to be hydrolyzed (broken down by the action of water) in order for the body to use them. People who are dehydrated simply will not get the expected results from taking herbs and supplements.

In fact, if you think about it, many herbs work by moving water around. Decongestants move water to the lungs to break up thick, hard mucus. Laxatives cause the colon to retain more water to stimulate bowel movements. Diuretics flush water through the kidneys while lymphatic herbs increase water flow through the lymph. So, taking too many herbs and supplements without drinking adequate amounts of water isn't going to improve any one's health very much.

Are You Dehydrated?

Most people in America don’t drink enough water. In fact, they drink just about everything except water. Unfortunately, many of the beverages Americans consume regularly, such as coffee, tea, caffeinated sodas, energy drinks and alcohol are diuretics. This means that instead of adding water to the system, they flush water away and contribute to dehydration.

When we don’t drink enough water, the kidneys have to strain harder to eliminate waste. The waste also becomes more concentrated in the urine, which irritates the urinary passages and bladder. Higher acid increases pain and causes headaches, joint pains and more.

Dehydration also adversely affects the brain. The brain is 85% water and much of the energy produced by the brain is dependent on proper hydration. Even slight decreases in brain hydration can create problems with memory and focus, anxiety, depression and other mood problems. Considering the number of kids drinking large quantities caffeinated sodas and energy drinks, it’s no wonder so many of them have learning and behavioral problems.
Histamine is a hormone used to ration water, so dehydration leads to higher levels of histamine and more problems with allergies and asthma. And this is just the beginning. As previously mentioned, Dr. Batmaghelidj has linked over 90 health problems with dehydration.

Water Therapy: A Simple Way to Improve Your Health for Free
Dr. Batmaghelidj says that thirst is not a reliable indicator of dehydration. His message is, “You are not sick, you are thirsty. Don’t treat thirst with medication.”

Most people need about two to three quarts of water each day. A good rule of thumb is one half ounce of water per day per pound of body weight. Furthermore, this should be purified water so that chlorine, fluoride, heavy metals and other containments have been removed. Purified water tastes better, too, which encourages you to drink more.

It is also important to get some natural salt with your water, especially if you suffer from allergies, asthma or digestive problems. NSP’s Sea Salt is a great natural salt to use.

To learn more, watch the first session of my new ABC+D course. It talks about the fundamental principles of creating good healthy, including adequate hydration and other ways to improve your health that won't cost you anything except a little effort.