Forcerealist

Given the theme for this magazine, it seemed appropriate to talk about the use of water in our lives. Very simply, without water, nothing could survive. Every herb which shows up here requires water to survive.

The following is an article written by Dr. David Brownstein on the need of water in our diet.

Some background information, Dr. Brownstein is a well known doctor of Holistic Medicine. The article is based in part on a gathering his father in law attended with former high school friends.

Phil also told me that his friends did not drink water. “I was amazed at how much soda was ingested over the week. Whenever we went to a restaurant, they all ordered diet soda. I ordered water. That also became a topic of discussion. I kept telling them my son-in-law writes books about how important it is to drink water. They thought diet soda was OK since there was no sugar in it,” he said.

By far, the top health issue I find in my patients is dehydration. The No. 1 component of the human body is water. In fact, about 60 percent of your body is just water. We can all see the consequences of aging in our skin. As we age, our cells lose water. The aging process causes the skin to lose its elasticity and become progressively drier as we age. How can we slow down this process? One way is to keep your body hydrated. You can keep your body hydrated only if you drink adequate amounts of water. How much water is enough? Easy, take your weight in pounds, divide by two and the result is the amount of water in ounces you should take in on a daily basis.

Diet soda does not substitute for water. In fact, if it contains caffeine it can actually cause your body to lose water, since caffeine is a diuretic. Furthermore, the artificial sugar molecule in diet soda — aspartame or sucralose — is a toxic substance in the body and is best avoided. These substances not only cause neurologic problems, but they are also partly responsible for the rapid rise in obesity and diabetes in the United States. I believe all artificial sweeteners should be removed from the marketplace.

Your brain, meanwhile, is 70 percent water. Drinking an adequate amount of water is vitally important to anyone seeking optimal health. For the elderly, hydration is even more important.

As a medical student, I remember looking at CT scans of the brain. The elderly with dementia had a scan that always appeared similar — the brain looked shrunken and dehydrated. Elderly patients without dementia had normal-appearing brains. I remember commenting to the radiologist that the dementia brains looked like a dehydrated sponge. I have seen many patients, young and old, who complain of memory problems, including forgetfulness, headaches, and brain fog. Most of these patients arrive in my office in a dehydrated state. And, many of them experience a significant improvement in their brain function once they rehydrate their body and their brain.

Eating the right kind of salt helps the body and the brain hydrate. Unrefined salt contains more than 80 minerals. If you drink a lot of water, it is important to use unrefined salt as part of your healthy regimen. The minerals and electrolytes in salt help to rehydrate the body.

Phil is using unrefined salt as part of his daily regimen. “I always bring the salt with me. It makes the food taste better and I feel better with it,” he said. Phil’s friends could not believe he was salting his food. They all said that they do not use any salt in their diet since salt caused so many problems with blood pressure.

Of course, most of them were on antihypertensive medications — while Phil is not. Phil also was treated with bioidentical hormones — DHEA, pregnenolone, and natural testosterone — as part of his holistic regimen.”

Looking at the formula for the amount of water to drink will give you an idea if you drink the appropriate level of water and are, or are not, dehydrated.

Water and salt are key to one another. Why did Phils friends have problems with salt? Their dehydrated states did not help to move the salt through their bodies efficiently. But why is salt needed with water?

Look around to see what salt is used commercially in reference to water? If you look into water softening, you will see that salt is used as a natural water softener. Which means, it makes water wetter, so it is more readily ingested. More useful to the body.

The importance of water in our lives is found everywhere, from the amounts we drink, to the water we use to keep cool during the summer, no matter where you look, there is a useful application for water in our lives.

Think about it. If a 77 year old man can use water in a way to allow him to live a healthy life free of prescription medicines, is it not worth a healthy look for your personal wellbeing?