“The crisis of our diminishing water resources is just as severe (if less obviously immediate) as any wartime crisis we have ever faced. Our survival is just as much at stake as it was at the time of Pearl Harbor, or the Argonne, or Gettysburg, or Saratoga.”  Jim Wright

What are some of the signs that you are not drinking enough water?

O God, you are my God; I earnestly search for you. My soul thirsts for you; my whole body longs for you in this parched and weary land where there is no water.  (Psa. 63:1; NLT)

The last couple of DGs have been about drinking water.  On Monday I wrote about the importance of water, and then Wednesday about why people don’t drink water.  The question before us today is logically, what is the downside or the ramifications of not drinking enough water.

First just realize that one thing — water is the main lubricant for the joint spaces. So it’s going to help prevent joint and back pain.

Water also increases the efficiency of the immune system.

Water  helps to prevent clogging of the arteries in the heart and the brain. Many people don’t appreciate how water is directly connected to brain function. The brain has to have enough water to adequately produce brain hormones such as melatonin. It has to have enough water to manufacture the neurotransmitters such as serotonin, which makes people feel good. Also, water actually prevents memory loss as we age.

If we’re not drinking enough water, the body will begin giving some major signs of dehydration. Note that God designed our body so brilliantly!  For example, the body will actually begin to go into a rationing mode when it’s not getting enough water. The body is designed to protect the vital organs by ensuring that they get enough water first. The vital organs include the heart, lungs, kidneys, liver, and the brain.  But by doing that, it means the other, non-vital organs like the GI track, skin, and joints, are going to get dehydrated first because they’re not a life-threatening type of organ.

So that’s usually where the signs of dehydration will show up first. Certainly in the joints — cartilage is made up of 80% water. The water in the joints provides a smooth surface so that the joints can glide easily during movement. Two-thirds of the body weight is supported by the fluid inside the disks. So when the disks in your spine are lacking water, you’re apt to degenerate and herniate more quickly. That leads to back pain.

High blood pressure — people with an elevated blood pressure oftentimes are just mildly dehydrated, which in turn, restrict the flow of blood. That can elevate the blood pressure.

Dr. Batman, in his book, tells of patient after patient with various disease conditions. And when he would get them on a serious water drinking program, many of their symptoms would begin to abate.

Digestive problems are a huge issue if a person is dehydrated. Essentially, the basis for every fluid that your body needs for digestion, like saliva, stomach acid, pancreatic juices, production of bile, has to do with hydration. So, when you don’t have enough water, your digestive system is going to go into an emergency mode to protect things. That’s going to cause things like heartburn, indigestion, and even ulcers.

Constipation is a huge issue when people aren’t getting enough water. People don’t realize that water is usually the culprit when they’re in a state of constipation. They think it might be normal to eliminate once every three days. But that’s terribly abnormal!

Hopefully, this abbreviated list should demonstrate that there are many disease conditions that can be directly correlated to inadequate hydration.  Remedy?  “Just Water Please.”

Prayer Power
Father, I ask that You bring this list to mind when I’m not drinking enough water.  And when I’m battling a health issue, give me the grace to try drinking more water before going off to my doctor to get a pill.

Link of the Day
UNCOMMON Wellness Coaching

Blessings on you as you drink lots of water this weekend.

Photo by Michael (mx5tx)

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“Ever wonder about those people who spend $2 apiece on those little bottles of Evian water? Try spelling Evian backward.”  George Carlin

Can you think of something that you eat or drink for which you had to acquire a taste?  Why did you want to do that?

Don’t let the sparkle and smooth taste of wine deceive you.  (Prov. 23:31; NLT)

So, why don’t people drink water?  People know they should drink water.  They hear it.  They know they should drink more.  But why don’t they?

There are various reasons for this.  A lot of people were never taught to drink water.  Often, children were raised drinking juice or milk or, heaven forbid, soft drinks. So a lot of children have grown up drinking anything but water.  Their taste buds really become ruined or tainted.  Their taste buds become like spoiled little children.  They want what they want.  And if they’ve never been accustomed to drinking water, they’ve never acquired the taste.  So they think they don’t like it.

People haven’t been taught how important drinking water really is.  Often people will just get up and drink a cup of coffee.  Then they might go to work and about mid-morning have a cola drink or another cup of coffee.  And then lunch might see them drinking a big glass of sweet tea.  In the afternoon they might have another cup of coffee.  So they go from one caffeinated beverage or one sugar-based drink to another, not realizing what they’re doing to their bodies by not drinking water.

So we believe it’s an education process.  Once people really begin to realize how important water is to their health, and when they decide to take responsibility for their own health, then they become really open to learning about water, and become willing to make some shifts and changes in their habits.  When we’ve worked with clients who are willing to begin drinking water and begin decreasing the other beverages such as the soft drinks, juices, and coffee, they usually tell us that their bodies begin to crave water. They really enjoy drinking water.

I [Jerry] can remember full well having to learn and acquire a taste for coffee.  And then at one point in my life I acquired a taste for beer.  But it was a process.  It wasn’t something that I immediately liked.  Why are we so willing to acquire tastes for things that are probably not good for us?  We need to be willing to acquire a taste for water.   And once we’ve acquired that taste, I find that I don’t need, or even want, to drink anything else.

Prayer Power
Father, again, we thank You for water — the “elixir of life.”  Even as far back of 600 BC, Thales of Miletus declared, “Water sustains all.”  We could not exist without it.

Link of the Day
The Taste of Water

Blessings on you as your choose to train your taste buds to like water.

Photo by Yarden Sachs

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“Water has become a highly precious resource. There are some places where a barrel of water costs more than a barrel of oil.”  Lloyd Axworthy

How much water did you drink yesterday?

If your enemies are hungry, give them food to eat. If they are thirsty, give them water to drink.  (Prov. 25:21; NLT)

Water is the single most important nutrient for our body.  It’s involved in every bodily function.  It’s well known that a person can live for five to seven weeks without food but no more than five days without water.  Our bodies are actually 75 % water.  And our brain tissue is between 80% to 85% water.  Oftentimes people are suffering from maladies such as headaches, constipation, back problems, and digestive problems.  In an attempt to resolve their issues, they go from one over-the-counter medication to another; or to multiple doctors looking for drugs, (i.e., pharmaceutical drugs) to treat their symptoms.  Oftentimes the root cause is simply that their body is experiencing a state of dehydration.

Our bodies really are starved for good, clean, natural water.  Our bodies and our minds pay a terrible price for a lack of adequate hydration.  As  just mentioned, many people live in a state of mild dehydration all the time and that causes various symptoms to manifest.  People never realize that it’s because their bodies are just lacking hydration.

Water really is considered a miracle cure.  God created our bodies to rely on water for our very lives.  For those of you who read the Bible, water is a major theme in the Old Testament.  People were always looking for water. They would dig for wells and then they would name those wells.  If you remember, there were battles fought over wells.  They would  defend those wells with their lives.  So water was critical for survival back then, and it remains critical for us now.  So, drinking sufficient amounts of the right kind of water will do more to improve your health than anything else that you can do.  And that’s one of the main issues  that we stress with our wellness clients, i.e., we begin to educate them on the importance of drinking  water and why they need it.

Our bodies lose about two quarts of water a day through perspiration, urination, and exhalation.  Certainly in the summer when it’s hot we even lose more, or if we’re exercising really hard and really sweating, we’re going to lose more.  Now an interesting fact that most people don’t know is if we wait until we’re actually thirsty to begin drinking water, the body is already dehydrated.

There is a rather popular and now famous book titled Your Body’s Many Cries for Water: You’re Not Sick, You’re Thirsty, written by  Dr. Batmanghelidj.  Now that’s a long, hard name to pronounce and so he’s lovingly abbreviated his name to Dr. Batman.  And it is a classic  treatise on water.  Dr. Batman states that when someone has a dry mouth, it’s one of the last signs of dehydration.  So your body can still be suffering from dehydration even when your mouth is fairly moist.  But when your mouth becomes dry and you say, “I’m thirsty,” then you’re already dehydrated.  I have included a great interview with Dr. Batman as today’s link.

Prayer Power
Father, we thank You for the incredible gift of water.  It truly is a highly precious resource.  Help us to see just how precious it is to our well-being.

Link of the Day
The Water Cure

Blessings on you as you purpose to drink more water.

Photo by the half-blood prince

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“Wisdom is your perspective on life, your sense of balance, your understanding of how the various parts and principles apply and relate to each other. It embraces judgment, discernment, comprehension. It is a gestalt or oneness, and integrated wholeness.”  Stephen R. Covey

What steps can you take to be more proactive about living in wholeness?

Dear friends, this is now my second letter to you. I have written both of them as reminders to stimulate you to wholesome thinking.  (2 Peter 3:1; NIV)

Jerry and I talk a lot about wellness.  We’re passionate about educating others on how they can obtain and maintain wellness and walk in optimal health, ultimately fulfilling their God-given destiny while here on earth.  When we walk in wellness, we’re also walking in wholeness.

Dictionary.com states that wholeness is, “The quality or state of being whole, entire, or sound; entireness; totality; completeness.”  Let’s look at seven ways that one can “Live in Wholeness.”

Attitude of gratitude.  When one is thankful, life is better.  The more we think of ways to be thankful, the more things occur for us to be thankful.  A wonderful exercise is to end a day with speaking out loud five or ten things that happened that day that you’re thankful for.

Accept and offer forgiveness.  Offering forgiveness to someone when we’ve been wronged brings freedom to us.  We’re set free from the bitterness that has the potential to destroy us.  Accepting forgiveness from the Lord and from others when we’ve been wrong also will bring restoration and wholeness to us.

Accelerate activity.  Moving more not only helps our physical body become healthier, but our emotions, our ability to handle stress, and our sleep are greatly impacted positively the more we move and develop consistent exercise routines.  Learn what your body loves to do to move more.

Adequate sleep.  Most people don’t get enough sleep nor is their sleep deep and sound.  Sound sleep is essential for living a life of wholeness.  It is the ultimate “pause that refreshes.”  Develop a consistent bedtime, preferably before 10:30 PM and sleep in as dark a room as possible.

Ample hydration.  We all know that water is essential for life.  Water is the single most important nutrient for our bodies.  Without adequate hydration of clean, pure water, no one can walk in wholeness.  Become a serious water drinker, drinking at least half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.

Avoid artificial food and aspartame.  Eat real food.  Eat whole food to become whole.  Eat foods that rot or spoil, but eat them before they do.  Think vegetables, fruits, lean, clean meats and poultry, eggs, raw nuts and seeds, beans, avocados, olive and coconut oil.

Arsenal of supplements.  It’s known science that it is no longer possible to get all of the nutrients we need for life and health from the food we eat.  We must add supplementation to our diets for ultimate wholeness.  Whole foods vitamins, minerals, anti-oxidants, probiotics, essential fatty acids, and glyconutrients are some of the major players needed.

Father, thank You that You have given us all that we need to walk in wholeness.  Direct our steps in acquiring all that is necessary.

UNCOMMON Wellness Coaching

Blessings on you as pursue wholeness.

“We have made the mistake of assuming that because water is freely available and costs nothing, the body cannot possibly fall short of it. I believe that most physical pains are signals that the body needs rehydrating-and that we ignore these signals at our peril.”  Dr. Fereydoon Batmanghelidj

How much water do you drink on an average day?

Death and life are in the power of the tongue, And those who love it will eat its fruit.  (Proverbs 18:21; NKJ)

Friday, we were excited to announce our coming e-book and seven-part webinar series on one of our most impassioned topics — wellness!  To review, Dr. Randy Peck, MD (we felt it good to have a doctor along for a wellness series), Sharon (who is a RN), and I have teamed up and will be conducting an interview-style weekly webinar to lead you through the six major factors that determine a person’s wellness.  This first webinar will be an overview of the entire series and is open to all who can attend for no charge whatsoever.  You simply need to be at your computer so you can participate in the roll out.  The big day and time is next Wednesday, April 1, at high noon EDT.  Put it on your calendar and reserve the hour.  To register for the webinar, Click Here.

The first major factor to wellness is to drink more water than you already do.  How’s that for simple?  Notice that I didn’t say how many glasses or ounces of water you need to drink every day, although there are some guidelines that the experts suggest.  But we’re into simple here.  And to keep it simple, just drink more.  Drink more this week than you did last week.  I didn’t even say how much more.  You decide.  It’s really up to you how fast you want to reach your desired wellness goal.

So, if you’re only drinking one glass of water a day on average, make it two this week-or even one and a half.  I’ll guarantee you that’s a step in the right direction.  Just keep doing those little steps on a consistent basis, and before you know it, they will have added up to a giant step or two.

Why water?  Well, if you really want to know, go read Sharon’s 11/1/07 DG entitled, “Elixir of Life! and then read the link.  And for further reinforcement, read her 11/8 DG and associated link.  It’s all good information, but to simplify all that great advice, just drink a little more water than you did last week and you’ll be on your way to great health.

The second major factor?  Tune in tomorrow.  See you then.  In the meantime, have a drink on me (of water that is).  And don’t forget to register for the Wellness Webinar at the link below.

Prayer Power
Father, we’re truly excited about the webinar that is now just two days away.  We pray that those who will register to come are the very ones who will be most excited about wellness and are actively seeking answers.

Link of the Day
Registration link for Wellness Webinar

Blessings as you reach for another glass of water today while you register for our Webinar.

“Water makes up more than two thirds of the weight of the human body, and without it, humans would die in a few days.”  Widely accepted as fact.

Are you drinking enough water each day?  Why or why not?

Because he was very thirsty, he cried out to the LORD, “You have given your servant this great victory. Must I now die of thirst and fall into the hands of the uncircumcised?”  (Judges 15:18;NIV)

I hear it from clients and friends almost every day.  “I know I should drink more water.”  Or, “I know I’m not drinking enough water.”  It seems that nearly everyone is aware of the importance of drinking water yet most people would say that they’re not drinking enough.  Even though there are a ton of facts available about why the body needs water and what happens when we don’t drink enough, that doesn’t seem to be the motivation that folks need to make water-drinking a habit.

So, what will it take to have you improve on your water drinking?  I’ve worked with dozens of clients to come up with creative ways of getting their daily water intake “down the hatch.”  First, do some rough figuring on how much water your body really needs per day.  A common formula is to take your approximate weight and divide that number by 2.  That subsequent number is the amount of ounces per day that your body will do well with drinking.  So, if you weigh 128 pounds, divide that by 2 and you get 64.  Sixty-four ounces is also equal to 2 quarts (or 8, eight ounce glasses.)  I know the 8, eight ounce glasses is a common number that is frequently seen and heard.  That’s fine if you weigh less than 140 pounds.

However, if you tip the scales at 210 pounds, 64 ounces is a great beginning but not a place to park.  So, say you need to drink 100 ounces per day.  First of all, look at how much water you’re currently drinking in a day.  Are you even drinking 32 ounces, or 1 quart?  If not, begin there.  Once you master the 32 ounces, then increase that to 48 ounces, then 64 ounces.  Don’t try and begin with 100 ounces if you’ve never drank more than 30 ounces of water in a day.  Work up to the needed amount.

Some clients find it helpful to find or buy a container that holds a specific amount, (1 quart is a common measure.)  I recommend a glass container, by the way.  Fill that up in the morning and sip on that all morning long.  By midday, it should be empty.  Fill it up again and sip on it the remainder of the day and evening.  There, you just drank 64 ounces of water!  Another friend of mine works from her home office. She found that filling up various glasses in the morning with her daily water quota works well.  She puts them on a pretty tray and carries them into her office each morning.  By the time her work day is finished, she’s emptied her water glasses.

Jerry uses a glass, quart canning jar for his daily water consumption.  Since he’s an early riser, he has one quart down by 7:00 AM.  He drinks a second quart by noon.  Then he sips on a third quart throughout the rest of the day but doesn’t necessarily finish it.  (He weighs about 165 pounds so he really only needs a little over 80 ounces per day.)  What one thing can you do to increase your daily water consumption?

Prayer Power
Father, thank You for Your most amazing creation of our bodies.  May we honor You with how we care for them.

Link of the Day
You’re not sick; you’re thirsty.

Blessings on you as you purpose to drink more water.

“Health is a large word.  It embraces not the body only but the mind and spirit as well…and not today’s pain or pleasure alone, but the whole being and outlook of man.”  James H. West

To what lengths are you willing to go to obtain and maintain a healthy body, soul and spirit?

They have no struggles; their bodies are healthy and strong.  (Ps 73:4; NIV)

For many of you, today’s DG will not be new information, however it may be a refresher of areas you want to address and work on.  Although there are many facets to living a lifestyle of health and wholeness, today I’ll share five simple things that you can begin to incorporate into your daily life that will reap great dividends for you and your family for years to come.

1.  Begin drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water per day.   For example, someone weighing 128 pounds would need to drink 64 ounces (1/2 of 128) of water per day to provide adequate hydration.  If the number of ounces you need seems daunting, begin by measuring how much water you actually do drink in a day.  If you’re not even drinking 32 ounces of water per day, then make that your first goal.  Then work up to 64 ounces, then 72 ounces and so on until you reach your needed goal.

2.  Begin to move more.  Most everyone knows the value of exercise nowadays.  Exercise is NOT an option.  We have to move more.  Find something you can do and do it, consistently.  Begin walking for 20 minutes, three times a week, then work up to five times a week.  Then increase from 20 to 40 minutes.  Or buy an aerobics, Pilates or kick boxing DVD.  Or join a gym or fitness center.  Don’t be intimidated.  Gyms are full of people like you and me who want to stay fit and flexible.

3.  Eat more God-foods or superfoods.  Research has shown that certain foods really do offer a power punch when it comes to providing our bodies with necessary nutrients.  They’re often called superfoods.  I call them God-foods, as most of them are created by God and not man.  Examples of superfoods are fresh, raw fruits such as apples, pears, and berries; vegetables such as broccoli, beans, garlic, onions, sweet potatoes and tomatoes. Nuts such as almonds, walnuts, pecans and cashews are other superfoods along with wild caught salmon, halibut and clean meats such as free-range chicken and turkey and grass-fed beef.

4.  Stop using, (notice I didn’t say minimize) artificial sweeteners such as aspartame or nutrasweet and sucralose or Splenda.  They will never contribute to living a healthy life. Begin reading food labels and if you see those ingredients in a product, pass it by.  Also avoid hydrogenated fats and oils such as partially hydrogenated soybean or cottonseed oil.

5.  Take note of your bedtime.  Ideally be in bed by 10:00 PM;10:30 at the latest.  If you’ve been accustomed to staying up late, begin a process of going to bed at least 30 minutes before your usual time and then eventually get to bed by the ideal time.  Examine the reasons why you’re not getting to bed earlier and realize that one can never be totally healthy if they’re staying up past midnight, even if doing all of the other things necessary for optimal health.

Prayer Power
Lord, we’re so blessed with the bodies You have created for us.  May we honor You with how we take care of them.

Link of the Day
SuperFoods

Blessings on you as you examine how you can make improvements in your health.