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Summer 2008
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Volume 1, Issue 3
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Water Facts You Need to Know to Beat the Summer Heat |
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 It’s the summertime so it’s vital that you pay extra attention to your water intake. Drinking enough water is just one of several key steps you should follow in order to stay properly hydrated. Eight to ten 8-ounce cups of filtered or bottled water is the daily general consensus for the average person. To be exact, you can take your weight in pounds and divide it by 2 and get a pretty close approximation of the number of ounces that you should be consuming daily. The quantity of water that you consume is more important than the quality of water. This doesn’t mean that you should drink water from the tap, garden hose, or toilet! Future issues will go into more detail on recommended water sources.Another key item having to do with hydration is mineral intake. Specific minerals, also known as electrolytes, are instrumental in keeping water balanced in the body. The most important are sodium and potassium followed by magnesium and calcium. A potassium deficiency can result in muscle cramping and water retention since it is a natural diuretic. A magnesium deficiency can result in muscle cramping, constipation, difficulty breathing since it helps to dilate the lung airways, and even high blood pressure since it helps to dilate blood vessels. A deficiency of both magnesium and potassium has been associated with an irregular heart beat (arrythmia) and can be a sign of toxicity since both minerals are lost from the inside of cells when the body sends water from cells to dilute toxins (“the solution to pollution is dilution”) - this can create an unusual situation in which there is excess water retained in the body, but the cells are actually dehydrated. Of all the electrolytes mentioned, sodium is definitely the most misunderstood. It is essential for water balance and needed for numerous functions in the body including normal function of the body’s stress glands (adrenal glands), but too much of the wrong kind of sodium from processed table salt is definitely harmful. Therefore, use healthy salt sources including the salt that we recommend called Krystal salt, which is unrefined and contains approximately 80 minerals instead of your typical table salt which is strictly sodium chloride. The best available salt sources are air or sun-dried and look “dirty” instead of white meaning that they haven’t been heated to extremely high temperatures which can alter their molecular structure and have not been processed to look white which we have been conditioned to think is normal. Another factor that determines hydration in the body is the health of the membranes around our cells. They are made out of 2 layers of fat and if we are not getting enough healthy fat in our diet, then their ability to control the flow of water in and out of cells can be seriously hindered. Supplementing with at least 2,000 mg daily of EPA/DHA fish oil that is purity certified meaning free of mercury, pesticides, and other harmful chemicals is highly recommended. The Associated Press printed an article on August 20, 2002, entitled "Expert punches holes in water-drinking advice." The so-called expert, who is a Dartmouth professor, feels that there is no credible evidence to support the recommendation of drinking 8 glasses of water per day. He believes that this is a myth as well as the belief that thirst means that you are already dehydrated, and that water blocks dieters’ hunger. He also cited a study that found that drinks including coffee, tea, and sodas are hydrating for people used to caffeine and should thus count toward their daily fluid total. Nothing could be further from the truth since these drinks are diuretics meaning that they cause you to lose a cup of water for every cup of them that you drink!  This researcher "undertook an exhaustive hunt for evidence backing all this water advice," but it is doubtful that he read Your Body’s Many Cries For Water by F. Batmanghelidj, M.D., a true expert on the subject. The complexity of Batmanghelidj’s writing style, however, is only exceeded by the difficulty in pronouncing his name! Fortunately a simplified summary of this highly technical book is contained in the book Life Flow One by Karl Loren and a free sample can be found at www.oralchelation.net/heartdisease/index.htm.Don’t be scared off by the media hyping isolated cases of water intoxification because they are extremely rare. Dehydration and heat stroke, on the other hand, are very common conditions that are easily preventable with the above recommendations. Good News Concerning Deadly MRSA Bacteria  A recent study published in the Journal of the American Medical Association found that the superbacteria methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infected nearly 100,000 people in the United States in 2005 and killed 18,650 people compared to 16,000 people who died from AIDS that same year. MRSA is resistant to all first-line antibiotics making it more lethal than other staph infections and it has increased in prevalence in hospitals, nursing homes, schools, prisons, and other institutional settings across the U.S.Fortunately, a study conducted by researchers at the Cork Institute of Technology in Ireland found that extracts from an herb that you can get at your local health food store including nearby Nature's Food Patch eliminated 100 percent of MRSA colonies upon exposure. That herb is called Inula helenium, but is more commonly known as elecampane. Another wildflower extract that was tested and also proved to be highly effective against MRSA was Pulsatilla vulgaris or pasque flower. Nature's Food Patch also contains a red algae marine product called Gigartina which has also been shown to be highly effective against MRSA. Check Your Hydration, Electrolyte and Toxicity Status The first article in this newsletter clearly illustrates how to stay properly hydrated during these sweltering summer months. If you would like to objectively know if you are staying properly hydrated, then there is a quick and simple way to find out. Not only does the Body Composition Analysis that we have available at our office measure total body fat weight and %, muscle weight and %, bone weight and %, and your metabolic rate, but it also gives an accurate reading of how much water is in the body as well as how much is inside the cells and outside the cells. Water is the primary constituent of the human body. The average 150 lb adult male is approximately 60% water by weight, while the average female is approximately 55% water by weight. The more water that is inside the cells the better because this truly represents your hydration and nutrient status. The first sign of failing health is a shift of fluid from the inside of the cell to the outside of the cell. “The solution to pollution is dilution” so your body will send water from inside the cells to outside the cells to dilute toxins, and this can result in fluid retention called edema, high blood pressure, poor circulation, fatigue, and overall ill health. This process will also cause you to lose nutrients from inside the cells including electrolyte minerals like potassium and magnesium. Contact our office to have a Body Composition Analysis done to check your hydration, electrolyte and toxicity status.  Back to Newsletter Library
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