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DRINK YOUR WAY TO ENERGY

Remember that old adage your grandmother used to chant about drinking 6 to 8 glasses of water a day? Well she was right – especially if you want more energy in your life. Except for energy you will need even more than that! Water is the most important nutrient of all. It is the stuff from which your blood, your cells, your muscles - even your bones - are mostly made. A healthy person who weights 65 kilos carries about 40 liters of water around - 25 liters inside the cells, 15 liters outside, including 5 liters in the blood. Let yourself become dehydrated and the chemical reactions in the cells involved in fat burning become sluggish. Also your cells cannot build new tissue efficiently, toxic products build up in your blood stream, your blood volume decreases so that you have less oxygen and nutrients transported to your cells - all of which are essential to fat burning. Dehydration also results in your feeling weak and tired and can lead to over eating as it disturbs appetite mechanisms so you think you are hungry even when you are not. The role of water in weight control and health in general is almost completely ignored. The brain too is 75% water. This is why the quantity and quality of water you drink also affects how you think and feel. Thoughts and feelings become distorted when your body gets even mildly dehydrated. For mental clarity and emotional balance you need plenty of water. But if the water you drink is polluted by heavy metals or chemicals then the biochemical reactions on which clear thought and emotional balance depend will become polluted as well.

Liquid Energy

Drinking water liberally brings dynamic energy. When Sir Edmund Hillary set out to conquer Everest he had a shrewd doctor named George Hunt on his ascent team. Hunt knew this precept well. He had studied the records of the recent failed attempt by the Swiss team and discovered that their climbers had drunk less than two glasses of water per day per man. So he ordered special battery-operated snow-melting equipment for the kit and urged the British climbers to take a minimum of twelve glasses of water each day of the climb to reduce their fatigue as they scaled the peaks.

Since then, research with athletes at Harvard University and Loma Linda University in the United States carried out to explore the relationship between water drinking and energy has demonstrated that drinking extra water reduces fatigue and stress and increases stamina and energy to a remarkable degree. During one of the Harvard studies, researcher G.C. Pitts set athletes walking at 3 miles an hour, allowing them to rest regularly, but not allowing them to drink extra water. They reached exhaustion after 3 hours with temperatures of 102 degrees Fahrenheit. Under the same conditions, he allowed them to drink as much as they wanted. The same athletes lasted 6 hours before collapsing. The third time around athletes were forced to drink more water than thirst dictated - in quantities calculated by researchers to replace what was being lost in perspiration. This time the athletes were able to continue indefinitely without fatigue or fever until finally, after running out of time, researchers were forced to bring the experiment to a close. Few of us drink as much water as we need to remain in top form. Even if you pay attention to your thirst and quench it regularly you are likely to replace only about a half to two-thirds of the water your body needs for optimal health.

Water Power

Water also plays a major part in digesting your foods and absorbing nutrients thanks to enzymes which are themselves mostly water. If you fail to drink enough water between meals your mouth becomes low in saliva and digestion suffers. Water is also the medium through which wastes are eliminated from your body. Each time you exhale you release highly humidified air - about two big glasses worth a day. Your kidneys and intestines eliminate another 6 or so glasses every 24 hours while another 2 glasses worth are released through the pores of your skin. That makes 8 glasses a day - and this is on a cool day. When it gets hot, when you are exercising, or when you are working hard the usual 10 glasses lost in this way can triple.

On average, in a temperate climate - not sweating from exertion or heat - we need about 6 pints a day for optimal health although few of us consume as much as 2. The important thing to remember is that how thirsty you are is not a reliable indication of how much water you need to drink. If you want to grow lean and stay that way you need to do as French women have done for decades. Keep a large bottle or 2 of pure, fresh mineral water on your desk and make sure you consume your quota of this clear, delicious health-giving drink. Here's how to figure it: