The Water Cure
“WATER IS THE DRIVING FORCE OF ALL NATURE.”
— LEONARDO DA VINCI
Something happened to me when I hit 30. I realized that I didn’t feel good. I was sick and tired all the time… my 30 year old body was telling me that I needed to atone for the sins of my 20’s.
So, at age 32, I dropped everything and moved to New York City to immerse myself in the world of Pilates and wellness. And so began my journey back to health…
The Roaring Twenties
As a twenty-something who was hell bent on acting like a child, my weekends were spent eating fast food, drinking beer and sleeping. Low on the list of priorities was exercise, fresh vegetables and water.
I was clinging to childhood on the weekends because I was turning into an adult during the week at my first “real” job. I was building a career in Public Accounting, and so my weekdays were spent chained to a desk in corporate America. Monday through Friday, I would sit at a computer for 8 hours working on Windows Excel spreadsheets and Word documents (or let’s be honest, I can date myself by to the Lotus and WordPerfect days).
Work was dull and monotonous so entertainment during the workday was always centered around food… a trip to the break room for a coke and maybe some doughnuts the boss brought in.
Lunch with coworkers was a social event of sorts. Like a party, it usually consisted of good tasting, yet unhealthy, foods such as pizza, burgers, burritos… a tasty escape from those spreadsheets.
As the McDonalds slogan said, “You Deserve a Break Today.” And, so we did.
You’re Always Sick
Looking back at this phase, not surprisingly, I got sick a lot. I battled one or two colds every year and had severe seasonal allergies. I remember one of my co-workers remarking, “you’re always sick.” Being sick was something I thought was inevitable. It was just part of life, so I thought.
I can remember many a party was missed because of my health. Sometimes I would be sidelined by headaches… and those unseemly chin breakouts could often keep me home on a Friday night as well.
Yes, I can remember a lot of things about those days, but what I can’t remember is ever being conscious of drinking water. It was not a priority.
My Healthy Transition
Fast forward to age 32 and my healthy life change. I transitioned from that Corporate America Food Party into the Pilates world of Mind, Body and Spirit.
Teaching Pilates requires energy and vitality. I was keenly aware of how I felt when I was teaching. I had to be vibrant and exude health. But, even though I was only 32 years old, I felt old and sluggish. I soon realized I just didn’t feel good. Plus, so many of my Pilates colleagues had so much more energy than I did. I realized I needed to cleanse and heal my body. So, my journey back to health began.
I was Dehydrated
To supplement my Pilates income, I worked at a holistic healing center in New York City. While working there, I learned many nuggets of information that have changed my health still to this day.
One thing that I learned was the importance of drinking water. In fact, the book Your Body’s many Cries for Water: You’re not Sick, You’re just Thirsty, by Dr. F. Batmanghelidj had a big impact on me.
The premise of Dr. B’s book is that most people are chronically dehydrated. That got my attention. I instinctively knew I was dehydrated.
Dr. B makes the pretty radical point that when left untreated, chronic dehydration can be the root cause of many maladies and diseases such as:
arthritis
asthma
migraines
back pain
weight gain
allergies
digestive issues (constipation, heart burn, colitis, etc)
insomnia
anxiety and depression
To add insult to injury, instead of treating the root cause by just drinking more water, we medicate the body with drugs… treating the symptom and not the cause. So, if you have a headache, you tend to reach for the Exedrin instead of the Evian.
Are you Dehydrated?
It sounds simple. Just drink more water.
It sounds like a no brainer, but I have come to find that more often than not this simple advice falls on deaf ears. Everyone seems to think they are drinking enough water. I can’t tell you how many times I have talked to clients about this and to be honest, found myself saying, “oh I drink plenty of water.” But do you? Are you really paying attention?
Are you drinking half your body weight every day? If you weigh 200 pounds, you should be drinking 100 ounces or roughly 8 bottles of water a day. Most people might stop at say, 5 bottles, and think they’ve done a good job.
Are you eating dehydrating foods high in sodium or sugar? Salt makes food taste good. I took a cooking class one time and the french chef said, “Salt is Flavor.” So, restaurant food is very high in salt because restaurants are in business to make their food taste good… not to make you healthy. If you are eating out a lot, chances are you are consuming a lot of dehydrating foods.
And sugar… well we all know that sugar adds flavor. It also dehydrates you by causing fluid retention just like salt. The body needs more water in the bloodstream to balance out the excess sugar and/or salt.
How about alcohol? A big night of drinking puts you way behind the eight ball. For example, the rule of thumb is that you need one glass of water to put you back to square one after consuming one glass of alcohol.
So if you’re 200 lbs, you should be drinking 8-9 bottles. But, with the dehydration from alcohol, you then need to drink even more than that per day to properly hydrate. Have you taken that into consideration?
Are you relying on soft drinks, coffee and teas for hydration? These drinks contain sugar (or the evil sugar substitutes made in a laboratory). They also contain caffeine, which can be a slight diuretic. So even though, there is water in these drinks, they are just not the best hydrating choices.
Let’s do the Water Cure
Dr. B has a simple prescription to hydrating the body. If you are chronically dehydrated, progress won’t be made overnight. Once the body slowly overcomes it dehydrated state, you will notice you feel so much better. Hopefully, with time, you will notice illnesses and other maladies dissipate or disappear.
Drink pure water that is free of chemicals and pathogens.
I use the Berkey Water Filter at home. I did my research before purchasing and have been very pleased with my Berkey. (I’ll write more on this later, but I am a Berkey fan… and so are many of my clients).
Drink water enhanced with electrolytes. Electrolytes are chemicals naturally present in the body in the form of potassium, sodium, magnesium and others. There are electrolyte supplements sold in drug stores.
But I most prefer to drink Evian bottled water because it is pure and naturally enhanced with electrolytes. It tastes great and my body seems to suck it down. I have found that the body likes best what nature delivers. The minerals in Evian come straight from the glaciers and not from a laboratory.
I try not to drink too much bottled water in consideration of the environment and my pocket book, but when I do, my body only wants Evian.
I’ve encouraged many of my clients to drink Evian and they are sold. I have a monthly shipment shipped to my house directly so I never run out.
Drink water at room temperature. I know this might be a hard one for some, but the body will absorb warmer water more quickly and easily. Once you try it and start to get used to it, you will prefer water at room temperature. I do! I definitely feel like my body likes it better.
Drink 1-2 glasses upon waking in the morning. You’ve gone the whole night without hydrating so the body is naturally in need of some water.
Sip water throughout the day.
Drink half your body weight in ounces of water every day. If you weigh 200 pounds you need to drink 100 ounces of water (about 8-9 glasses).
Signs of Mild Dehydration
As previously stated, according to Dr. B, chronic dehydration can possibly be the cause of serious maladies and disease. But on a more basic level, here are a few immediate signs of dehydration to consider:
Dry lips
Dry skin
Headaches
Nose bleeds
Dark urine (urine should be almost clear in color)
Waking in the middle of the night with a dry throat
Constipation
Do What you Can
In the spirit of balance, following this advice doesn’t have to be hard. Making small efforts to stay hydrated is better than none at all.
For example, when I cook, I never follow a recipe to the letter. Say recipe calls for sage, and I don’t like sage… so I leave it out. Same with diet advice. I take what works and take what I can incorporate into my life and do the best I can.
If you find these guidelines daunting… if you find yourself wanting to run from this topic… if you say forget it, I can’t give up my caffeine or I can’t drink water without ice or I am not ready to give up soft drinks… then ok. Acknowledge that is where you are and just do what you can. Enjoy a glass of wine or coffee or a coke. But, do what you can to balance it out with some good pure water. Don’t let the daunting guidelines deter you from taking a step forward.
If you have to drink water with ice, then fine. Just know that the body responds better to room temperature. Ice water is better than no water, after all.
If you have a headache, try the Water Cure before running to the medicine cabinet. It won’t hurt you and it is worth a try, in my opinion. After all, it can be the easiest and most inexpensive cure around.
I read Dr. B’s premise with a healthy ounce of skepticism, but I do believe the basic principles. Why? Because I live them. I use medicines only when I absolutely need them… but I try drinking water first.
After reading these guidelines, I hope that you can be enriched by the information and walk away with a new appreciation for hydration. Perhaps, you incorporate some new habits, maybe hard habits, into your life for the better.
Please Note: Not a replacement for Medical Advice
As with everything, healthy skepticism is good and medical advice is sometimes the call of the day when serious medical problems arise. To note as stated in the introduction of “ The Body’s Many Cries for Water,” “this book is not to be a replacement for sound medical advice from a medical professional.”