Hydration for Health

"If you drink Coffee, Tea or Alcohol, you need to have 2 glasses of water for every coffee, tea or alcoholic drink you consume."

The Hydration of our body is absolutely vital to its efficient functioning.

We do know that we should drink more water - but do we? Usually not.

Do you know that:

• most people in western society have become chronically and dangerously dehydrated
• there is no more important substance to health
• every cell in our body requires an adequate supply of water
• all organs of our body cry out for water but we often feed them instead with tea, coffee, soft drinks, juice or alcohol - not the same!

You do know that soft drinks are severely damaging to the human body?

They are often loaded with sugar and carcinogenic chemicals and wreak havoc with the pH balance of your stomach when ingested.

Did you know that a 600ml bottle of soft drink contains at least 12-15 teaspoons of sugar, which means that with just one drink, a 14 year old girl would have exceeded her recommended daily intake of refined sugar?

Aspartame (NutraSweet) Toxicity Info Centre gives detailed scientific and general documentation regarding the toxicity of Nutrasweet, Equal, Diet Coke, Diet Pepsi, and other aspartame containing items. The web page includes real life reports of acute and chronic toxicity due to long-term ingestion. Also included is extensive scientific and general information and resources. It is worth reading.

• Zero Calories
• No Sugar
• No Fat
• No Cholesterol
• No Sodium
• No Carbohydrates
• No Protein

It does not contain any soy, yeast, animal derivatives, preservatives or MSG; it is not fermentable and will not promote tooth decay. Just Like SugarŪ is made from a natural dietary fiber derived from Chicory root fiber Chicory Maltodextrin, vitamin C and flavors extracted from orange peel.

If you drink Coffee, Tea or Alcohol, you need to have 2 glasses of water for every coffee, tea or alcoholic drink you consume.

It's far better for you to sip often than to have a big drink only once or twice during the day.

Here are a few tips to help make sure you drink required quantities of water each day:

• Keep a container of water on your desk and fill your glass frequently until it's all gone
• Carry a bottle with you as you go about your daily activities and sip frequently
• Always have a bottle of water with you in your car
• Have a bottle beside your bed so you can sip if you wake in the night

People generally are becoming more aware of the necessity for drinking more water and bottled water is becoming very readily available, but, - is bottled water any better than tap water?

In some parts of the world it is quite unsafe to drink tap water but generally, in developed countries, tap water has been treated to make sure that it is clear and free of harmful bacteria.

However, you are paying dearly to drink bottled water all the time and there are huge advantages to be gained by having a good water filtration system installed in your home. If you want the absolute best in a water filter, you need to learn more about the filter that naturally recreates Nature's own spring water process and produces a class of water with previously unheard of qualities. Water possessing such amazing properties that it is being independently hailed as one of the most important health innovations of the past 20 years.

Just as it is the most abundant material on earth, water is the most abundant substance in the human body, making up one half to two thirds of body weight. Roughly three quarters of the brain and muscles are made up of water. Even bone is 20 percent water.

The percentage of water in the body varies from person to person depending on such factors as body composition, age and gender. For example, men have more water in their bodies than women because they have a higher content of lean muscle. Muscle holds more water than fat tissue. Every part of the body, from the individual cell to the entire circulation system, depends upon water to function.

Water is needed for:

• Transporting nutrients and oxygen to all parts of the body via the blood and lymphatic system.
• Helping maintain body temperature. (Heat is released when you sweat, which helps to cool you down).
• Lubricating the joints to keep them moving freely.
• Removing body waste materials.
• Serving as a medium for thousands of reactions that need to take place in the body daily to sustain life.
• Maintaining blood volume.

While it varies depending on weight, climate and activity levels, experts recommend that most people drink at least eight glasses of fluid daily. That's a drink for every hour of the working day!

Don't wait until you get thirsty

The normal trigger for drinking is thirst, which is regulated by the amount of sodium (salt) in the blood. As the sodium content increases, receptors in the brain's hypothalamus trigger the thirst sensation. At the same time, "thirsty" blood draws water from the salivary glands. This is why we get a dry mouth when we haven't had enough to drink.

By the time we feel thirsty, we are already slightly dehydrated.

"People tend to assume that thirst is a good indicator of fluid requirements. However, thirst is actually a sign that the body is already slightly dehydrated. Fluid levels need to be replenished before thirst even sets in," said Julie Howden, nutritionist and executive director of the Asian Food Information Centre (AFIC).

When the body has become slightly dehydrated, the kidneys respond by conserving water and reabsorbing it back into the blood instead of removing it from the body as urine. This results in less urine being formed.

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