A Healthy Living (You & Water)

Our body's most important nutritional requirement is oxygen. Humans may live five to six weeks without food, a few days without water, but only a few minutes without air. Just as fire in a furnace cannot be kept up without enough air to supply the necessary

You & Water

Toxic waste builds up in the body):' when we do not drink enough water. The body of a newborn contains more than 80 percent water. The amount of water in the tissues lessens with advancing age. More than 60 percent of our body is made up of water.

Humans have lived 81 days without food, but they will die in 5 days without water. If you lose just 5 percent of the total amount of water in your body, you will start to hallucinate, become disoriented, and experience twitching muscles. If you lose 15 percent of your total water, your life is endangered.

The parts of the body that suffer most from dehydration are those without direct vascular circulation, such as the joint cartilages in fingers, knees, and vertebrae. Chronic pain is often an indicator of chronic dehydration. When any of your joints begin to signal aching pains that come and go, this may be a sign that your body is severely short of water. Often, though, the signs of water deficiency in joint cartilages are not recognized for what they indicate and painkillers are prescribed. This frequently results in a dependence on addictive medication, and permanent damage to cartilage separation of the joint bones.

According to Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj, dehydration can cause disease. "Dry mouth is not the only sign of dehydration and waiting to get thirsty is wrong. Pain in the body is a crisis call of the body for water. Thirst should be prevented. When [the] body does not receive enough water and you have pain that is a sign of dehydration:

Dr. Batmanghelidj also explains that, "Chronic pain of the body which cannot
easily be explained as injuries or infection, should first and foremost be interpreted as signal of chronic water shortage in the area where the pain is registered. These pain signals should first be considered and excluded as primary indicators for dehydration of the body before any other complicated procedures are forced on the patient:

How Do I Know If I Am Drinking Enough Water?

Contrary to popular belief, thirst is not a good indication. By the time you are thirsty, it means your body has already lost more than 3 percent of its water. If your urine is a strong yellow color, you are not drinking enough. Ideally, your urine should be almost colorless. Regular intake of water throughout the day is important because when a large amount of water is ingested, it is practically completely eliminated by the kidneys in the succeeding few hours. That is why; to meet your daily ration of water intake, a lot of water all at once is not the solution. Drinking one glass of water every waking hour or so throughout the day is best. When you are tired, just drinking a lot of plain, cold water will help revitalize you during sluggish periods of the day. You will need to drink even more than that if you sweat much or if the weather is hot. This will increase your endurance. Carry your water supply with you and use it and no other liquid to quench your thirst. A good estimate of the minimum amount of water one needs 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.

Upon rising, to jump-start your day on the right track, make it a habit to drink two to four glasses of warm lemon water. For each glass squeeze the juice of half a lemon. Lemon water is alkalizing and detoxifying. If you are not having daily bowel movements (ideally one after each meal), you may need to up your water intake (also make sure you are getting daily exercising and eating plenty of fruit, vegetables and whole grains).