Importance of WATER for our health

Water is an essential and major component of all living matter and it is the single largest component of the body.

Of our total body weight, the skin takes up 16 percent, muscles about 40 percent, our bones around 25 percent and our brain 2 percent.

Our body is between 55 percent and 70 percent water with approximately another 10 percent chemically combined in fats, protein and carbohydrates.

Men have a higher proportion of water in their bodies than women and children have a higher proportion than men.

An adult can live several weeks with food but no more than about 10 days without water. And our brains are approximately 80 percent water! Without water, digestion, circulation and excretion cannot occur. It carries nutrients to all vital body substances, plays a crucial role in maintaining body temperature and serves as building material for growth and repair of the body.

Keep your body properly hydrated with fluids you drink and foods you eat?

We can lose 50 percent of our glucose, 50 percent of our fat, 50 percent of our protein BUT we can only lose 20 percent of our water.

Drinking too little water can lead to dark-coloured urine, headaches, constipation, confusion and irritability, poor concentration, dry mouth, tiredness and dizziness.

Water helps to keep fat away

Water naturally suppresses the appetite and helps the body metabolize stored fat. Studies have shown tht a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

When our kidneys can't function properly without enough water, they don't work to capacity and some of their load is dumped onto the liver. One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But if the liver has to do some fo the kidney's work, it can't operate at full throttle and as a result, it metabolizes less fat and more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention. When the body gets less water, it perceives this as a threat to survival and begins to hold on to every drop. Water is stored in extracellular spaces shown up as swollen feet, legs and hands. To take note too that if you consume too much salt, it will also lead to water retention in the body as the more salt you eat, the more water our system will retain to dilute it.

Water helps to maintain proper muscle tone by giving muscles their natural ability to contract and by preventing dehydration. It helps to prevent sagging skin due to weight loss. Water helps to rid the body of waste and helps to relieve constipation.

Apart from drinking water, our diet must also contain water-rich foods. Our diet and other factors cause an overly acidic condition in our bloodstream and our system will attempt to dispose of these acid wastes through channels such as bowels, lungs or kidneys. If the wastes cannot be eliminated, they'll be deposited in various organs such as the heart, liver or colon as well as connective tissue and joints. This bodily breakdown from the build-up of acid waste is our aging process.

In order to slow down our aging process, we must begin removing acid build-up by drinking a liberal amount of alkaline water. The alkalinity in the water neutralize the stored acid wastes and if consumed everyday in conjunction with a good diet, it will gently remove acid wastes from the tissues.

However, it is not easy to get good qualities water. Alternative, consume foods that are alkaline-forming and life-giving such as carrots, avocados, lemons, limes, celery, cucumbers, cauliflower, brussels sprouts, asparagus, green beans, broccoli, peppers, onions, garlic, radishes, green leafy vegetables, wheat grass, cabbage, spinach, turnip tops, beet tops, melons, mangos, papaya, , cantaloupe, watermelon, parsley, alfalfa sprouts.

Remember drinking alot of tea, coffee and cola-type drinks can cause tired-looking skin because caffeine prevents the body from making good use of the vitamins and minerals found in food. Limit to no more than 2 or 3 cups of caffeinated drinks a day and drink plenty of water.