How to Avoid Chronic Dehydration
Hydrate, hydrate, and then hydrate some more!
Did you know that up to 75% of us may be suffering from chronic dehydration?
Let’s think about it this way... say your recommended intake of water each day is 64 oz. You only took in 24 oz. yesterday and 40 oz. today and will only get 36 oz. tomorrow...
This is a 92 oz. drop in hydration in only 3 days. That's a lot to make up...You can see how fast dehydration can happen in our bodies!
Dehydration affects your mood, causes heightened body temperature, constipation, slows down circulation and blood flow throughout your body, can affect your organ systems, and more.
Even a loss of 1-2% of body water can affect cognitive function!
In the book Quench, authors Dana Cohen, M.D. and Gina Bria explain “gel foods”—fruits and veggies that are packed with “gel water” found inside the plant’s cell walls; consuming these, in turn, helps our own cells stay hydrated. Some of the most highly-recommended gel foods include cucumber, romaine, radishes, tomatoes, bell peppers, cauliflower, and watermelon. I highly recommend reading this book!
Not only does hydration allow our cells to operate at their highest function, but it also improves our elimination process.
Our elimination system carries toxins out of our body. If we don’t hydrate enough, our bodies hold onto toxins that otherwise aren’t able to leave our body except through elimination.
There are many ways our bodies take in toxins, but only 3 ways for them to get out.
I call these the 3 “ations” ...
1. Perspiration
2. Exhalation
3. Elimination
If you exercise regularly, chances are that you are covered by all three. When you exercise, you sweat (perspiration), you breathe more deeply (exhalation), and hopefully drink more water before, during and after exercising (elimination).
The quality of one’s elimination is related to how much water one is drinking or consuming through gel water foods. Soda, coffee, and alcohol don’t count! These only add additional toxins to our bodies.
Check with your doctor to see exactly how much water you should be drinking each day depending on your body type and then do it!
Hydration is vital to our health. In fact, we could add a 4th “ation” to the list: it’s hydration!
Plain and simple: we need water every single day. So hydrate, hydrate, and then hydrate some more!
Further Reading
Water: for Health, for Healing, for Life: You’re Not Sick, Yuou’re Thirsty // F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.
Check out this book to learn more!
