By Eric

You Are What You Drink

We’ve all heard the saying “you are what you eat”.  Since reading Water:  For Health, for Healing, for Life:  You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty, I’ve come to realize we are what we drink as well.

Drinking the proper amount of water daily is one of the easiest and least expensive ways to improve and maintain a healthy body.  And when I say water, I mean WATER.  Soda, juice, alcohol, coffee, tea, is not water.  I’m not saying you can’t drink anything besides water, but don’t count those beverages as consuming water; it’s not the same.

The non-water drinks you may be ingesting do not do the jobs that water does.  Other beverages may contain caffeine, artificial sweeteners, or sugar which cause dehydration, weight gain, and a host of other health issues.  There is no substitute for water.

If you knew all of the magical things water does for your body, you wouldn’t take it for granted.  

Here’s a small sample from the long list of water benefits:

• Increases energy
• Increases immune system efficiency 
• Increases red blood cells ability to collect oxygen in the lungs
• Help clear toxic waste from the body
• Lubricates joints and helps prevent arthritis and back pain
• Reduces heart attack and stroke risk
• Prevents clogging of heart and brain arteries
• Increases brain function
• Decreases stress, anxiety, depression, and fatigue
• Decreases signs of aging on the skin
• Decreases risk of cognitive diseases

So how much should you drink and when should you drink it?  Drink at least half of your body weight in ounces.  So if you weight 100 lbs, you should drink at least 50 ounces every day.  Another way to look at it is to drink a minimum of 8-10 glasses of 8-16 ounces of water a day.  
Space your water intake throughout the entire day.  

Drink water:

•  about 30 minutes before meals to prepare your digestive tract
• About 2 in a half hours after meals to complete the digestion process
• First thing in the morning to alleviate dehydration incurred during sleep
• Before exercise for sweat creation
• Anytime you feel thirsty

Drink water throughout the day, even if your mouth isn’t parched.  By the time your mouth is dry, you are already 2 or 3 glasses short of water.  

If you want to dive deeper into the awesomeness of water, check out the book Water:  For Health, for Healing, for Life:  You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty.  After reading this book, I have changed up my water habits to make sure I’m getting enough and drinking it at the right time to optimize my health.  It’s so fricking simple too.  

Stay hydrated my friends!