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Water is second only to air in importance for life. We can survive many days or
even weeks without food, but we can only survive a few days without water.
Unfortunately, the body's need for water and its importance for health are often
overlooked. Sixty to 75 percent of total body weight is water. Most people know that blood,
lymph, urine, sweat and tears are mostly water. However, many do not realize
that the lungs are 90 percent water, the brain is 76 percent and even bones are
25 percent water.
Sixty-seven percent of the water in the body is inside the cell (i.e., the
intracellular fluid). The other 33 percent lies outside the cells in the
extracellular fluid. The extracellular fluid includes the fluid surrounding the
cells and the fluid in other compartments, such as the blood, lymph, spinal
fluid and joint spaces.
Water has many functions in the body. It delivers nutrients to tissues and
carries away unwanted wastes. It is the medium in which all chemical reactions
take place within cells, and therefore greatly influences cell function. Water
also serves as a cushion and lubricant for our spine and other joints.
Most individuals lose between 10 and 16 cups of water per day. This loss is in
sweat, urine, feces, in the air we exhale, and via direct evaporation from our
skin. During exercise in a warm climate, as much as 8 cups of water can be lost
in one hour.
The loss of body water through urination is greatly increased by the ingestion
of caffeinated and alcoholic beverages. These drinks have a diuretic effect,
meaning they stimulate the kidneys to excrete more urine. Not only do we lose
water, we also lose water-soluble vitamins, such as vitamin C, vitamin B1
(thiamine) and other B complex vitamins. There also is increased excretion of
calcium, magnesium, potassium, sodium, chloride and zinc. (See sidebar on Page
36 for more information about the negative effects of caffeine.)
A diet containing lots of fruits and vegetables will supply about 4 cups of
water per day. Even with a diet high in fruits and vegetables, it is still
necessary to drink an additional 6 to 8 cups of water per day to supply enough
water to meet the bodyÕs daily needs. For every caffeinated or alcoholic
beverage you drink, you need to add an additional glass of pure water.
Insufficient water intake results in suboptimal intracellular water volume and
reduced cell function. This greatly diminishes the body's ability to heal
damaged tissues from injury and maintain optimal health. F. Batmanghelidj, M.D.,
author of Your Body's Many Cries For Water, has successfully treated many
diagnosed diseases-peptic ulcers, colitis, hypertension, rheumatoid arthritis,
chronic back and neck pain, anxiety, depression, chronic fatigue, high
cholesterol, asthma, allergies and diabetesÑwith simply increased and regular
intake of water.
| Good nutrition is profoundly important to maintain our good health and support
our healing capacity. However, few of us understand how to eat the appropriate
foods in the right proportions. Even when we do, it can be very difficult to
follow through and eat in a consistently healthy manner. Furthermore, for the
average person, reliable nutritional information is hard to come by. Every
season it seems someone comes out with a miracle diet to improve our health. We
are often lost in a sea of information that we are ill-equipped to fully
understand and evaluate. I believe that understanding nutrition is a vital part of achieving and
maintaining good health. Over the past 25 years, I have worked with a few
physicians and clinical nutritionists who have consistently kept abreast of
scientific research and progress in the field. These professionals have
routinely integrated new nutritional findings into their work with clients.
Inspired by their successes, I urged Joy Bicknell, clinical nutritionist, to
prepare this series of articles for my column.
Joy and I spent many hours discussing what to include in this series, and how to
make it relevant to both the professional and to his or her clients. As you will
see, nutritional processes range from the very simple to the profoundly complex.
I have divided a large volume of complex material into what I hope are small
digestible parts (no pun intended). I personally had to read many sections six
or seven times to understand them myself. Yet my commitment to learn about this
new and beneficial knowledge has positively influenced my own nutritional
choices and my own work with clients. I hope this information will contribute to
the decisions about your own nutrition as you, along with your clients, focus on
achieving a healthier lifestyle. These articles will help you more fully
understand that what we eat and drink play a major part in our health and
healing capacity.
There are specialists with extensive training and knowledge in this area of
science. Naturopaths, clinical nutritionists, as well as some physicians, have
dedicated a part of their career to gaining an in-depth understanding of
nutrition. This prepares them with the knowledge needed to create an appropriate
plan of action to address specific nutritional issues.
The purpose of this series of articles is to explain how good nutrition can
improve your client's ability to heal from pain and injury, as well as optimize
his or her health. By publishing these articles, I am not suggesting that
practitioners give nutritional advice to their clients. To do this appropriately
requires many years of study and training. This information is offered as a
resource for you and your clients as you grow in your awareness and
understanding, and in the choices you make about your daily nutritional
practices.
Article 1:
Nutritional Basics For Health (Winter 2002)
The first article discussed why we eat the foods we do, the body's physiological
need for food, the six types of nutrients our bodies need, the function of
macronutrients and micronutrients, food quality, including organically grown
foods and nutrient density, and the complex functions of carbohydrates and
proteins in relation to health and healing.
Article 2: The Vital Functions Of Fats (Spring 2002)
This article explored, in detail, the many components and functions of fats,
which are also known as lipids. Glycerides, phospholipids, sterols, fatty acids
and cholesterol are all lipids. Together, these lipids provide "long-term"
energy stores, help form and maintain cell walls, form the compound from which
all sex hormones and many regulatory substances are produced, and help regulate
blood pressure, blood clotting, inflammation and the immune response.
Article 3: Balancing Macronutrients: Carbohydrates, Proteins And Fats (Summer
2002)
This article looked at how to balance carbohydrates, proteins and fats in the
diet, and explored ways of determining the appropriate quantity of
macronutrients, the timing of meals and snacks for optimal benefit, and the
importance of insulin metabolism, including health problems associated with
chronic low blood sugar.
Article 4:
The Micronutrients: Vitamins And Minerals (Fall 2002)
This article presented the functions of vitamins and minerals, and the important
relationship between these micronutrients and macronutrients in the body. It
looked at the challenges in obtaining optimal vitamins and minerals exclusively
from the foods we eat.
Article 5: The Importance Of Water (Winter 2003)
The final article discusses the often unrecognized and tremendous importance of
water to our bodies. It looks at how water, salt and protein work together to
enhance health. It also discusses the importance of water quality and the
choices available for water filters and purifiers. |
According to Dr. Batmanghelidj, dry mouth is the last sign of inadequate
cellular water. When the thirst signals produced by the body are ignored or are
responded to with intake of beverages other than water (i.e., soda, coffee, tea
or concentrated fruit juice), eventually the body stops providing the sensation
of thirst. It often requires drinking water regularly throughout the day for as
long as six to eight months for the normal thirst signals to return, and for
people to reacquire a taste for water. It can take up to a year or longer to
rehydrate your tissues. The sensation of thirst also diminishes as we age.
Therefore, it is very important for the elderly to acquire a "habit" of drinking
adequate water to avoid cellular dehydration and subsequent health problems.
Water, Salt And Protein
Water does not work on its own. It needs help from both salt and protein. Salt
and protein are like guardians; they move water to where it should be and keep
it there. Without sodium (salt) in the body, the water you drink would never be
absorbed, and drinking a glass of water would cause diarrhea. Basically, salt
pulls water through the intestinal lining and into circulation. Once water is in
circulation, proteins attract water in almost the same way that iron filings are
attracted to a magnet. The attraction of water for the proteins in the blood
maintains the blood volume and circulation. If there were no proteins in the
blood, the water would flow right through the walls of arteries and veins and
into the surrounding tissue. The blood volume would drop, and cells and tissues
would not receive necessary nutrients and oxygen, and the cells would die.
Insufficient salt and protein results in low blood volume and, therefore, very
poor blood circulation. The most common symptoms are cold hands and feet, low
blood pressure and dizziness when standing quickly from lying down or sitting.
Besides helping to control fluid volume in the body, sodium also is required for
the absorption of many minerals and amino acids. Most people know that too much
salt can be bad for you. Individuals who eat a lot of processed foods have high
salt diets that can be detrimental. One reason is that excessive salt intake
causes increased excretion of calcium in the urine. Of course, processed foods
do not contain adequate calcium or other quality nutrients, so eating refined
foods actually causes depletion of nutrients. However, if you are on a whole
foods diet and do not eat a lot of refined or processed foods, you may need to
add some salt to your food. Many health-conscious individuals are actually salt
deficient. Recent research has even found a link between salt deficiency and
chronic fatigue syndrome.
The quality of available salt is very variable. Salt in its natural form is 82
percent sodium and chloride and 18 percent other minerals. Most salt sold in the
grocery store is processed, and therefore is almost 100 percent sodium and
chloride. With the purpose of preventing iodine deficiencies, processed salt has
iodine added. Adding iodine to sodium chloride crystals causes them to turn
purple. Since purple salt is not common, the salt is bleached to turn it white
again. Flow agents (chemicals) are added to reduce the absorption of moisture
from the air to keep the salt flowing from your saltshaker. Most table salt is
no longer in its natural form. It has had all the minerals except sodium and
chloride removed; and it contains residues of the bleaching chemicals, along
with the flow agents. Sea salt, frequently sold in health food stores, also may
have had all the minerals except sodium and chloride removed. If a salt is very
white and dry, it has had the additional minerals removed. In its natural form,
salt is usually grayish, or off-white, and is moist. One of the best sources for
natural salt is the Grain and Salt Society (1-800-TOP-SALT). The Celtic salt it
sells is harvested from the Brittany area of France using methods that have been
used for hundreds of years. The salt is gray and moist, and to most people has a
much more pleasing taste than sea salt or processed salt.
Water Quality
The quality of water is just as important as the quantity. Regular consumption
of water that has been contaminated with heavy metals or residues of chemicals
will not promote good health.
Most tap water in municipalities comes from surface water, such as lakes and
reservoirs, and it must be treated to filter out particulates and kill
microorganisms. If the treatment system is working properly, the water also will
be tested for 80 different compounds as dictated by Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) regulations. Unfortunately, there are several hundred thousand
chemicals present in the environment from fertilizers, insecticides, pesticides,
fungicides and other chemical and industrial wastes. Therefore, many pollutants
in water are never identified.
The water treatment process itself leaves residues of chemicals such as chlorine
in the water. Chlorine can react with organic compounds from broken-down
vegetation to form trihalomethanes (THMs). THMs have been found to cause cancer
in lab animals and are suspected of causing cancer in humans. Additional toxins
can be added to water from the water pipes that deliver it to the faucet.
Unhealthy levels of lead, copper and asbestos can enter the water from pipes.
Some areas have natural bedrock formations containing high levels of radon. This
radon can be found in water from these areas and causes increased radiation
exposure, even through just washing dishes and bathing.
Occasionally, the water treatment process breaks down and microorganisms, such
as giardia, cryptosporidium and E-coli, are not destroyed. A healthy individual
will be able to fight off an infection from most water-borne microorganisms.
However, when a child or an individual with a compromised immune system drinks
this infested water, he or she easily can develop an illness that may even be
life threatening.
Chemical residues, radon, microorganisms and naturally high levels of toxic
minerals also can contaminate groundwater, the water source for most wells and
springs. Groundwater can travel for miles deep beneath the surface, allowing
contaminants to move from the initial site of exposure and pollute wells that
are many miles away.
In the 1990s, the awareness of water quality problems prompted a tremendous
increase in the sale of bottled water. What is not well known is that water
bottling plants are governed by the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), not the
EPA, and therefore are not governed by the same regulations. Water bottling
plants only need to test for bacteria once a week and test only once a year for
chemical contamination. They are not required to test for other microorganisms.
Until recently, spring water could be taken from the same source as tap water. |
