WATER!

If you want to nitpick, water is not a food. Without water, however, we would all be little heaps of ash weighing about 6.5lbs each and not having this discussion. What I mean by that is that water comprises between 45 and 75% of our bodies, depending on our sex, age, weight and health. Together with air, water is the single most important element to life on earth.

Our cells function because of the presence of water as a conduit through which nutrients flow in and toxins flow out of our bodies. Water, good clean water, is the scout and the guide for all our other nutrients. Without adequate water in our bodies, we will literally shrivel up. On our way to the dehydrated status of mummy, however, we would experience disease and pain.

Drink filtered, spring , distilled, well, or ionized water, but never ever drink unfiltered tap water. (Test and /or filter well water.) Most city or town water goes through treatment plants where a lovely cocktail of chemicals, chlorine being the most famous one, is added to clean it up. As mentioned above, water is supposed to help you rid yourself of excretive matter, not add more in! Municipalities also commonly add fluoride to tap water. We will examine this practice at another time.

How much to drink? One rule of thumb suggests that you calculate half your body weight in pounds and drink as many ounces a day as equals the total: in other words, if you weigh 150lbs, then you need to drink 75 ounces or ½ gallon plus an additional 11 ounces of water per day. This is if you do not travel, smoke, drink, exercise, are pregnant, eat a poor diet, live in a hot or cold climate (sometimes), or live in an exceptionally arid climate (Arizona!), or at a high altitude (The White Mountains!) When you take these factors into account, you are looking at more like a gallon of water per day.

A handy website tool can be found at www.nutrition.about.com/library/blwatercaluclator.htm, where you will be asked nine questions, the answers to which will result in a calculation of the exact amount of water recommended for you by the website. The tool is somewhat limited in that it suggests that you can achieve your daily intake of water through drinking soft drinks and juices. This is a fallacy! Any drink that contains caffeine or sugar acts as a diuretic on the body. (There is a lot more wrong with soft drinks than just sugar and we will look at this in another article.)

If you want to know more about water, and why it is so darn important to you, read Dr Batmanghelidj’s brilliant book, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, available at Amelia’s Garden. Dr Batman, as he was known to his friends, a London trained medical doctor, was held prisoner by the Iranian government at the time of the revolution. Although he was sentenced to death, he became useful to the prison as he was able to help over 2,000 fellow prisoners who had become ill with no access to outside help. His wonder drug? In most cases it was water.

He found that diseases ranging from ulcers, to constipation, to tinnitus, to heart conditions, to allergies, and asthma responded miraculously to water. Eventually, the government released Dr Batman saying that they had discovered that he was innocent of his perceived crimes, and he was free to come to America, where he researched and expanded upon his theory, and eventually wrote Your Body’s Many Cries for Water.

I first read Dr Batman’s book in 1997 while studying for a certificate in nutrition, and have since recommended it to many, including to a retired nurse I know, who after having had her gallbladder removed, was having much trouble with constipation. She read the copy of the book that I gave her, followed Dr Batman’s recommendations, and has never had trouble since. She was so impressed with the results that she took the book to her Medical Doctor to share its wisdom with him. His reaction was one of deep skepticism, but my friend was and has remained in restored good health. She is now in her eighties, and is very active having recently climbed the highest mountain in Washington state, and can attribute much of her continuing good health to remaining properly hydrated.

Live long, friends, and drink Water! Namaste.