Daily water intake
We often read that we should be drinking at least eight glasses of water a day. Do you agree with this and should it all be water or can we substitute other fluids such as fruit juice, tea, soft drinks and soups?
This must rank as one of the most often-asked questions about natural health and the answer is no, you cannot include fruit juices, soups or even herbal teas among your eight glasses of fluid since all these are essentially foods containing nutrients that must be processed by the liver and kidneys. Ordinary tea and alcohol, of course, are even worse since they are diuretics which means they act in the body to expel fluids.
Many natural health practitioners increasingly believe it is dehydration that is at the root of many of the degenerative diseases and health niggles that so many Westerners complain of, and since it is true that the bulk of the human body (70%) is water, common sense should tell you how important it is to keep hydrated.
I am currently training as a yoga teacher and during once of our recent anatomy and physiology lectures, we learnt how many of the major muscles in the body perform poorly unless you are drinking enough water. One of these, the psoas muscle which runs from the thigh to the lower lumbar vertebrae is the muscle that causes so many stiff hips and backaches. If you are troubled by either of these conditions, drink more water and take vitamin E, an important antioxidant which can protect against the cellular ageing.
Drinking enough water is so crucial to optimum health that in my book, What Really Works - The Insider’s Guide To Natural Health: What’s Best & Where To Find It, I devoted a whole chapter to it. Published by Thorsons, it costs £14.99 and is available from Sunday Times Books Direct or through www.amazon.co.uk. Also read Your Body’s Many Cries for Water by Dr F. Batmanghelidj. An American book published by Global Health Solutions, my copy cost £14.20. Alternatively visit the web site at www.watercure.com.