How to Hydrate Properly

Let’s take a look at some important ideas about water - some things I’ve been talking about for years, along with some startling new information I’ve come across. More and more doctors are recommending drinking more water, as doing so lowers cholesterol levels dramatically, reduces many allergy reactions by as much as 50%, and has many more benefits. Over time in our dehydrated culture, our internal organs begin to shrivel, literally. Most standard beverages in our modern world contain sugar or caffeine (or both!), or alcohol, all of which are dehydrating to the body. This, coupled with the fact that the packaged foods of most modern diets (breads, cookies, crackers, chips, fast food, etc.) contain little or no water compared to the whole foods diets (brown rice, beans, seasonal vegetables, etc.) of people living close to the earth. Most of us in the modern world are extremely dehydrated, and we don’t even know it because our thirst mechanism has been stunted since childhood. Here’s a tip that’s helped me: if it’s been a couple of hours since my last meal and my stomach gurgles (normal digestion), instead of asking myself if I am hungry for a snack, I ask myself if I’m thirsty. And, I find that the lemon-water going down my throat is exactly what my body was really asking for. My goal is to help you gently turn your sensitivity to thirst back up so you can live a longer, healthier life.
    So, how much water should we be drinking daily? I believe that each of us should hydrate with ½ our ideal body weight in ounces per day - a little less in the wintertime and a little more in the summertime. Some people think we should only drink when thirsty, but most modern people’s thirst mechanism has been stunted. When I started getting my 70 ounces of re-mineralized water daily (I weigh 140lb.), I began to feel SO MUCH BETTER! I had more energy & stamina, I craved fewer carbohydrates, my bowels became unconstipated, my headaches & acne reduced significantly, and I lost weight. By the way, all these things happened to an even further degree along with even more signs of increased vitality, a few years later when I decided to cut refined sugars out of my diet.
    It’s ideal to drink at times other than when we eat, so as not to inhibit digestion. Drinking more than 4 oz with a meal dilutes valuable stomach acids & enzymes. So ideally, you’ll want to hydrate with at least 16 - 24 oz of re-mineralized water, 4 times a day, between meals. Start out drinking less if that much at one time is difficult for you. As you begin to consciously re-hydrate yourself regularly, you’ll feel thirsty more often and be able to drink more at one time. Eventually you’ll be getting the right number of ounces for your body daily.
    And what do I mean by re-mineralizing? I mean adding trace minerals (aka: electrolytes) to your water because straight H2O doesn’t hydrate very efficiently. In fact, straight H2O can actually pull minerals from your body as it passes through. Think about it; water comes to us in nature in wells & streams where minerals are present. When water is void of minerals, your body can’t utilize it efficiently. By re-mineralizing your water, it’s like you’re making your own GatorAid - without the sugar!
Here’s several things you can add to your 16 oz glass of water to re-mineralize it:
1/16 tsp (pinch) of whole sea salt (Celtic, Himalayan, Portuguese, & Real Salt brand)
the juice from a lemon, lime, orange or grapefruit
1-2 tsp of raw apple cider vinegar
an ounce or so of any 100% fruit juice
2 - 3 oz. water leftover from soaking sea vegetables for cooking
    All of these contain trace minerals. I like lemon juice, as it takes my thirst away immediately and is gently cleansing to every organ. Raw apple cider vinegar is more strongly cleansing, alkalizing to the pH, aids digestion, helps prevent arthritis crystals from forming when taken regularly, and has many other benefits - those with weakened or sensitive kidneys use it sparingly. Whole sea salt is great to replace bodily electrolytes in the summer or when working out/sweating lots. 100% fruit juice is tasty, but may be too sugary for those with candida issues.
    Water Sources: Get your water from a good reverse osmosis filter, purifier, distiller, micro-filter, or from a good water store. Water vending machines outside grocery stores are okay, but less thorough at providing pure water, in my opinion. Always use glass, stainless steel, or ceramic bottles to store & carry it. By the way, I’ve found that most stainless steel water bottles for on the go eventually give the water a slight metallic taste, especially if you’re adding sea salt to re-mineralize it. I like 32 oz glass mason jars and 32 oz apple cider vinegar bottles best. 
     If you have to use polycarbonate bottles, get the new ones labled BPA-free. And NEVER buy or drink water sold in convenient, low-grade plastic bottles (labeled on bottlom as #7 or lower) because they leach toxic plasticides (toxic chemicals such as BPA and even synthetic estrogens) into the water - especially if the bottles get warm sitting around. I recently watched the movie “Tapped” and learned more about this, along with  the corporate agenda behind bottling & selling water to us - something that is our basic human right to have freely. And FYI, in case you didn’t know, tap water is swimming with both chlorine and flouride, both of which are very bad for nearly every system in the body, and toxic for infants and very young children.