65 to 70 per cent of your body is made up of water. Break this down a bit further and you will see that your lungs are almost 90 per cent water, blood 82 per cent, bones 22 per cent, your muscles 70 per cent and your brain is 76 per cent water. If you weigh 60kg, around 40kg of that is water. Without it, you’d look like a sultana rather then a grape.
We know we need water every day, but how much is enough? In a temperate climate, the estimate is about three litres per day. And yes, or rather, no, we’re sorry to have to raise it, but it’s about the difference between liquids and water. Let’s use coffee as an example. Sure, coffee contains water, but that doesn’t mean your body is able to retain the water and use it. Tea and coffee both contain substances which can cause the body to lose water, upsetting the water balance of your body. Soft drinks, fruit juices and cordials, which are high in sugar, can also alter the cell’s ability to manage a healthy water balance. And of course alcohol, like tea and coffee, is a diuretic causing you to lose water by going to the toilet more than usual. That’s why you end up with a hangover after drinking – because your body and brain are dehydrated. The things we do to our bodies in the name of fun!
And the news continues to be bad, like the unfiltered town water in our taps. The water that comes out of our taps is not like the fresh clean water of a mountain stream or the filtered water within organic fruits and vegetables. Tap water usually has many additives. The additives come from many sources, from councils who add chlorine and fluoride, as well as water laden with chemicals from farm water run-off into dams. Recycled waste can also be in the water supply, and the list goes on. To get rid of most of these additives, get yourself a water filter. Even though it requires some capital outlay, it is well worth it. We would much rather have a water filter doing the filtering work than our kidneys and the rest of our bodies working overtime to cope with these additives. Wear out the water filter, not your body. Make sure you use this filtered water in cooking as well as drinking.
So what’s an easy way to get the water you need each day? Consuming that much water can be hard work but there are ways to do it: A glass of warm water with a squeeze of lemon or lime first thing in the morning is great. You can also drink a glass of water 20 minutes before each meal. Best of all, did you know that fresh fruits and vegetables contain anywhere between 60 and 90 per cent water? It’s good water too, so eating plenty of fresh fruit and veggies will reduce your need to guzzle litres of the wet stuff every day. It’s not just fruit and veggies either – you’ll find a high water content in sprouted seeds and legumes plus cooked grains including oatmeal, rice and barley, and cooked legumes such as lentils, red kidney beans and chickpeas. And the bonus when you eat these Nature Foods, not Technology Foods, is that you will feel the difference and see it in your skin. If you are willing to change your eating habits you may find it easier to do it step by step, firstly taking a look at what you eat for breakfast.
Find foods that are alive or filled with nutrients and that come from nature not a chemical laboratory – Bircher muesli, porridge, CADA, eggs, nuts, fruits, and smoothies – to start your day. Once eating an alive breakfast is a habit, then move on to another step. Change from margarine back to butter. Then look at the salt you’re eating, and the sugar you use, then on to the milk you drink and cook with. Step by step, bit by bit, it is possible to change your eating, your life and the quality of what the outside world sees – your skin!
