Three-quarters of the earth’s surface is water, and the same goes for our bodies. Between 65 and 75 per cent of a living human being is made up of water – slopping around in our blood, tissues, organs and bones. All of it is absolutely vital for the body to carry out its many functions.
so what does water do in the body?
· Water carries oxygen to every single cell in the body. It also transports sodium, calcium, magnesium, potassium and other salts in and out through the cell membranes to achieve electrolyte balance, without which nothing functions as well as it should.
· When there’s enough water in the body, the blood and lymphatic fluid can flow more easily. The blood carries enzymes and nutrients to the organs, and the lymph fluid connects with the bloodstream to take waste away to the elimination routes (skin, nose, bowel, kidneys and lungs).
· Water helps dilute acids in the body, making the blood more alkaline and the internal system healthier. It also moisturizes the skin, making it look younger, and is essential for brain health. We sometimes forget that the brain is an organ too – an organ that is almost entirely made up of water and fat. A watery fluid cushions every joint and bone in the body and every single vertebra is also surrounded by it, so if you want a healthy, pain-free back, get drinking!
· Without water we would have no saliva, mucous membranes or digestive juices. Water also helps regulate our body’s temperature and maintains blood-glucose levels by releasing sugar from the cells as needed. (Try drinking a couple of glasses of water next time you’re hungry and can’t get to any food.)
· Finally, many therapists, including me, believe dis-ease starts in the colon (the lower part of the large intestine) and the colon is where the body uses a huge percentage of its water intake to bulk up the waste and help move it along and out of the body. The more water you drink, the more frequently you will move your bowels, and the less waste and toxicity will be left behind to fester in the body.
And (briefly) even more benefits of drinking water
Helps kidneys excrete acids.
Relieves stress.
Reduces cholesterol levels.
Helps blood pressure.
Prevents headaches.
Prevents hangovers (!)
Prevents fatigue.
Helps prevent allergic reactions.
but won’t other fluids do?
In a word: NO! Something I like to ask people who don’t drink water is, ‘If you have a dog or cat, what’s the first thing you check in the morning or when you get home in the evening?’ The water bowl. ‘And if you have a garden or just a few plants around your flat, what do you give them?’ Water.
Some dogs do enjoy a bowl of beer – occasionally. Some gardeners swear by putting tea leaves on their plants – occasionally. And some cats love a saucer of cream – very occasionally. But, as their main fluid, they all need water90 per cent of the time. And so do we.
We can still drink coffee, tea, wine, beer, etc., in moderation (BUT NOT DURING THE WEEKEND PLAN!). But for a healthy body and mind we need to increase our intake of water to make up for drinking liquids that aren’t actually giving us anything we need, except a great deal of psychological comfort! Well, OK, there are rich antioxidants in some wines and teas, but these are still diuretics, which overwork our kidneys. Colas and soft drinks should be considered VERY, VERY RARELY, if at all. (But more on that later.) Rehydration expert Dr Susan Shirreffs explains, ‘Tea, coffee, cola or anything that contains caffeine may act as a diuretic and stimulate urination of fluid. Alcohol has an even stronger diuretic effect than caffeine.’ In other words, every time you drink a cup of coffee or tea or a glass of alcohol, you’re encouraging your kidneys to take out of your body more fluid than you have just put in.
Too many diuretics in a day cause stress to the body, and stress causes dehydration.
Have a look at this list and tick any symptoms that apply to you.
dehydration symptoms checklist
· Dark Yellow Urine
· Constipation
· Tired All the Time
· Bad Skin
· Hungry All the Time
· Mood Swings
· Hormonal Problems
· High Cholesterol
· Backache
· Joint Problems
· Headaches
well, how much water should I drink?
Believe it or not, we lose 2 litres (about 3½ pints) of water from our bodies every day without actually doing anything. The water is lost through perspiration, breathing, coughing, sneezing, menstruating, pooing and weeing – just being. So we need to replace that amount of lost water as a bare minimum – even more if you’re exercising or leading a very stressful life.
As a matter of course I would recommend at least 1½ to 3 litres (around 2½ to 5 pints) of fluid a day (including fruit juice and other beverages). Certainly, during the Plan, drinking 2 litres of pure, unadulterated water a day is essential if you’re to detox safely and happily. That’s only eight tumblers of water a day.
You’ll know when you’re drinking enough by having a quick look at your urine. Apart from first thing in the morning (when your body will be very dehydrated) you need to aim for straw-coloured urine – a very pale yellow.
WARNING: Don’t drink more than 2 pints (1.1 litres) in one hour. Too much water can upset the electrolyte balance, overwork the kidneys and/or cause the brain to swell.
but what if I have a weak bladder?
When you first start drinking more water, make sure you pick days when you’ll be at home, or somewhere with easy access to a loo. Check that it’ll be a couple of weeks before you need to make too many long journeys. But don’t worry: your bladder will adapt to the increase in liquid and soon you won’t need to keep rushing to the loo to empty it.
It may take a week or two, but as your body becomes more and more used to being ‘hydrated’ it will want more and more water and you may find, for the first time in your life, that you develop a thirst for it. It happened to me – and I was one of those people who found drinking water ‘boring’, and who often had to get up in the night to go to the loo. Very soon my body changed. I was surprised to find that I soon ‘craved’ my glasses of water, and the only thing that got me up at night was if I had been drinking wine or too much coffee during the day!
when should I drink water?
1. Try and stagger your glasses of water throughout the day. It’s amazing how much you can get through if you leave a 2-litre bottle out and fill a tumbler every hour on the hour. You don’t have to drink the whole glass at once – just take a couple of sips whenever you think of it.
2. If you’re worried about getting up in the night, drink your last glass of water before 9 p.m. You’ll still have got through 8–10 glasses, and even more if you kick off the day with a glass as soon as you wake up!
3. When it comes to meal times, try not to drink water with your food as it can interfere with the digestion. Leaving 30 minutes to an hour either side of the meal will help your gut break down the food.
what type of water should I drink?
1. Still water rather than fizzy – it’s much easier to drink more of it. The bubbles in carbonated water fill you up too quickly, so your natural thirst disappears. Bubbles also make you gassy, bloat the cells and encourage cellulite, so that should convince you!
2. If you have to add a flavouring, don’t buy juice in a bottle or carton – get more nutrients and save your money by squeezing a little fresh fruit juice, such as orange or lemon, into a glass of water. If you must! This is also a good tip for getting children to drink more water and weaning them off additive-and sugar-packed soft drinks.
3. Water at room temperature is much easier to drink more of as it’s close to the body’s natural temperature and doesn’t shock the stomach like an ice-cold drink would (one of the main reasons people get stomach upsets on holiday in very hot climates).
tap or bottle?
The experts can’t agree on this one, so I’m going to leave the decision to you. Within reason, I don’t really care as long as you get that water down you! I would rather you were rehydrating your body than worrying about buying the most expensive gadget that takes every single chemical out of the water. But here are some guidelines to help you make your decision.
Tap Water: Usually tastes too disgusting and is often laden with chemicals and minerals – some of them good for you and some of them bad.
Soft Water: Has had most of its minerals removed and is usually high in sodium. So if you live in a soft-water area stay away from the tap!
Hard Water: Usually has more minerals, particularly calcium and magnesium, so at a push this may be ok, provided it tastes half-decent!
! TOP TIP FOR TASTY TAP WATER
If tap water is the only water that suits your budget but it tastes foul, try this. Boil a full kettle of tap water. Leave the water to cool in a big, wide-mouthed non-plastic jug so the air can circulate. When it’s cool, pour it into another container from a height of at least 6 inches. And then pour it back into the first jug. Repeat this a couple of times, finishing with the water in that jug. It sounds mad, but it does actually oxygenate the water (something anyone who keeps fish will know about!) and makes it taste better. And it’s free!
Natural Mineral Water: By law it has to come from a natural source at which it’s bottled, and must have a constant mineral composition. It’s not processed so it is, by very definition, natural. BUT check the labels very carefully and make sure it’s low in calcium and sodium. Remember the electrolyte balance explained in chapter 1.
Spring Water: Can be ‘natural’ or ‘processed’ in the UK, but in mainland Europe should only be ‘natural’. Again, read the label carefully.
Water from a Jug Filter: The cheapest and easiest home-filter option. Filters are much more affordable than they used to be, but they only filter a limited amount of water at a time, and the filter needs changing regularly. However, it’s cheaper and more environmentally friendly than carrying all those plastic bottles home from the shops.
Water from an ‘Under-the-Sink’ Filter: More expensive than a jug filter, but also uses activated carbon. It’s a very effective filter as it takes out herbicides, pesticides, chlorine, 75 per cent of any fluoride in the water, plus lead, copper, cadmium and mercury.
Reverse-Osmosis Process: Even more expensive, but excludes almost 100 per cent of the impurities found in water, including fluoride. However, it also removes virtually all the naturally occurring minerals, some of which may do us some good. There is no need to worry about the lack of minerals, though, if fruit and vegetables are a mainstay of your diet, as you’ll get all the minerals you need from those.
Distilled Water: Expensive and the distillation unit takes up space. The jury is out on this one. Some experts say this is the very purest water on the planet because it contains none of the inorganic minerals found in both tap and mineral water and none of the poisons and pollutants found in tap water. Others say it’s too pure and it could ‘leach’ precious minerals out of our bodies just as pure rainwater leaches minerals from the rocks. (Again, your new eating habits will make sure there are plenty of minerals being put back into your body.)
So there you are – your decision. As long as you get it down you I don’t think you need to lose sleep over what type of water you’re drinking. Choose the method and type that is most convenient to you and your purse! (What do I drink? A mixture of distilled water and shop-bought mineral water that is low in sodium and calcium, and sometimes even tap water if I’m in an area where it tastes nice!)
! TOP TIPS FOR DRINKING WATER
Make sure it’s still, not fizzy.
Make sure it’s at room temperature.
DON’T drink it WITH your meals but drink water 30 minutes before a meal… and 1–2 hours after a meal.
DON’T DRINK MORE THAN 2 PINTS (1.1 LITRES) IN AN HOUR.
Don’t drink after 9–10 p.m. at night.
Use a bottle to monitor how much water you’re drinking. You might not be regularly buying bottled water, but use a clean 2-litre bottle and fill it up at the beginning of the day. Keep it on your desk or kitchen counter, and make sure it’s empty by the end of the day!