Read

January/February 2006 Alternative Health
Water: The Magic Health Ingredient

by Keith Post, ND

Your body is approximately 75% water. Pure water intake is required for every function in the body, including cellular cleansing, detoxification, maintaining correct electrolyte balance, cooling (thermoregulation), replenishing digestive juices, assimilation of nutrients, elimination and other metabolic functions. It also prevents cellular dehydration, which is one of the keynotes of aging.

The proper intake of water, depending on your weight, is usually eight or more 8-ounce glasses per day and more if you are engaging in strenuous physical activities. This will ensure that your body functions effortlessly, smoothly and with maximum efficiency.

Here is a formula to determine your optimal intake. Take your total body weight in pounds and divide it by two. That number is approximately the minimum number of ounces per day that you should consume. Finally, divide that number by eight to see how many cups per day is best for you.

The Optimal Protocol:

Drink 8 ounces of warm, lukewarm or room temperature water about ½-hour before each meal. Drink very little with the actual meals. Then, drink another eight ounces or more of warm, lukewarm or room temperature water approximately 1-½ hours after each meal.

Explanation of the Optimal Protocol:

By drinking water 30 minutes before each meal, the body will have enough water for the salivary glands to create sufficient saliva, which contains amylase, a very important carbohydrate-digesting enzyme. At the same time, the stomach lining, which secretes hydrochloric acid and pepsin, a protein digesting enzyme, will also be replenished.

Then, during your meal, it is important to chew all of your food well, as that ensures maximum efficiency of the enzymatic action necessary for good digestion to occur. Also, it is wise to minimize your water intake during the actual meal, as this tends to dilute your digestive enzymes, making them less effective. Soups and stews are considered food rather than drink here, but I would opt for the cup rather than the bowl size if you are planning on eating a full meal besides.

When have you had enough to eat? When you start wondering if you've eaten enough, you probably have, so stop then. There is never a good reason to eat to maximum capacity, as the stomach should always have sufficient room to do its churning and mixing functions, ensuring complete digestion.

The desire to drink water again 1-1/2 hours after the meal is normal and is triggered by the need to replace the recently depleted salivary, stomach, pancreatic and gallbladder secretions. Ample water intake at this time also ensures that the body will leave some of the water in the colon, so that the stool will always remain soft enough to pass smoothly and easily.

The modern cooked diet is often lacking in moisture, so drinking water before and after meals is especially important for us today. By contrast, herbivores (grazing animals) have frequent stools throughout their waking hours due to the high water and fiber content of their food. So, if you continue to have problems with constipation after following the other suggestions given here, it would be wise to increase your vegetable and fruit intake.

As you adopt this pattern of water drinking, you will notice that you have better digestion, more energy, a more relaxed attitude and that your complexion improves.

Keith Post, ND, LMT of Natural Health Services is a board-licensed naturopathic physician currently practicing in Beaverton, Oregon. Visit http://naturalhealthservices.info/.