Why You Should Drink More Water

You might have seen the recent TV ads about switching to water as your beverage of choice. While they are obviously trying to sell bottled water, they do have a good point.

Image via WikipediaSay you’re standing in the supermarket. All around you are choices. Juice. Soda. Energy drinks. Each claim to offer a benefit. Yet none offers the same benefits a simple glass of water can offer. When it comes down to making a decision about what to drink; water wins every time (and we're not selling bottled water here). :-)

Here Are Five Reasons Why You Should Drink More Water

#1: Flushes Toxins From Your Body
In addition to simply hydrating your body, water serves to help remove waste from your body. It helps remove more than basic digestive waste too -- it helps flush toxins from your cells and organs as well. This time of year, when most of us are sweating a lot (especially this summer), drinking water is especially important. Part of the reason heat stroke and illness happens when we don't drink enough is that our bodies don't have the liquid needed to flush toxins out in our sweat - this is one of the reasons dehydration is so dangerous.

#2: Helps You Lose Weight
Flushing toxins from your body is one way that water helps you lose weight. It also helps you feel full. Many diet and nutrition experts recommend drinking a glass of water when you feel hungry. Your body often misinterprets thirst. It thinks it is hungry, when really you just need hydration.

Drinking a glass of water can take care of the hunger signals. Additionally, when you drink a zero calorie glass of water before a meal, it helps fill you up. You eat less during mealtime. You consume fewer calories. Keep this up meal after meal and you’ll lose weight.

#3: Improved skin, joints, hair, nails and muscles.
Water is your body’s main source of lubrication. When all of your cells are healthy and hydrated, your body is able to function optimally. That means your hair is healthier. Your skin is vital and healthy. Your joints, tendons and muscles have what they need to function as well. In short, drink water to look and feel better.

Image via Wikipedia#4: It’s Better for Your Heart
Many studies have found that drinking more water helps:
* Lower cholesterol
* Lower blood pressure
* Minimize the risk of heart disease

Much of the benefit to your heart comes from two key factors; water helps your blood flow which in turn lowers blood pressure and the strain on your heart. Additionally, water helps your body carry nutrients to your organs and vital tissues, and helps in the body's natural detox processes at the same time.

#5: Water is free!
Sure, you can pay big bucks for sparkling mineral water. It does taste good. However, water from a filtered tap is just as good for you and it’s absolutely free (other than the nominal cost of the filter, which is usually only pennies compared to buying bottled). You don’t have to spend your hard earned money on beverages that actually harm your health. Soda, fruit juice, energy drinks and other beverages contain sugar, chemicals and lack the hydrating elements you can get from a simple glass of water.

Drinking water is also simple. Water is everywhere. Drinking fountains, sink faucets and bottled water at your supermarket, if you really must get the bottled kind (however, we recommend glass bottles if you do - harmful toxins have been found in some types of plastic bottles). It’s quick and easy to find anytime you want a drink.

 

Related Articles on Drinking Water:

• 10 Myths and Facts About Water (everydayhealth.com)
• The Importance of Water in Your Diet Plan (everydayhealth.com)
• 10 Ways to Stay Hydrated This Summer (fitsugar.com)
• How does drinking a lot of water help your skin? (zocdoc.com)
• Top 11 Health Benefits of Drinking Water (tena4fitness.wordpress.com)

Video - Build Your Own Alkaline Water System

There's been a lot of talk about alkaline water lately. We have covered a bit on this in earlier posts, so we won't get into the debate right now, but there have been many benefits shown to drinking slightly alkalinized water - as per Wednesday's post, decreasing the acidity of your body, and flushing toxins out.

Often these alkaline water systems cost thousands of dollars, but it very possible to alkalize your water much more affordably. If you are interested in trying alkaline water for yourself, you may want to check out this quick video, on how to make your own alkalizing system. (I wish it had more verbal instruction, but it does give you an idea of how to do this fairly simply, and for very very cheaply.)

DIY cheap water ionizer to make alkaline water ph+
How to make a cheap water ionizer that splits regular tap water into acidic and alkaline. Ionized alkaline water has many health benefits to restore your natural healing balance. See this guide for more info: bit.ly


If this project looks too complicated, you can easily spend just a bit more and create alkaline water using special drops designed for this purpose - just add them to your water, and you're good to go - just about as easy as it gets.

Here is an example of some good alkaline drops:

Video - Bottled Water vs. Tap Water - 20/20 Expose

Here is a very interesting expose by 20/20 on the difference between tap water and bottled water - where is bottled water really from? Is it really cleaner? Does it really taste better? (And if not, why do we spend so much money on it? And fill up our landfills with millions of tons of plastic bottles - not to mention, our bodies with potential toxins from the bottles themselves....)

You will definitely want to check this one out. (Even if you don't drink bottled water, you probably have friends who do - please share this with others, as it is important for our planet - and health!)

Bottled Water vs Tap Water on 20/20
Bottled Water vs Tap Water on 20/20 with John Stossel.

 

Related Articles on Bottled Water:

• 6 Steps to Avoiding BPA in Your Daily Life (fastcompany.com)
• Healthy Drink Choices: An Overview (fyiliving.com)

Detox and Your Skin

The best way to have healthy, glowing skin is to start from the inside out. Eliminating caffeine in the form of coffee and soda is one way to start. Caffeine dehydrates the body and skin. And lack of moisture is a sure way to create lines and wrinkles. It’s also a diuretic, causing increased urine output, again depleting your body and skin of the moisture it needs. We try to combat this with moisturizers, but the better way is to put the moisture INTO your body, not on it.

Image via WikipediDrinking pure water, unprocessed fruit juices or coconut milk will give your body and skin the hydration it needs. The natural colors in fruit juices are the colors of the earth and these colors will reflect themselves in warm and healthy skin tones.

The overall effects of caffeine on your body will manifest themselves in your skin. Heavy caffeine drinkers can experience osteoporosis, headaches, depression, sleeplessness. These can all be reflected in your skin.

When you replace colas, coffee and teas made with boiling water with water, fruit juices “sun tea” and coconut milk, you’ll soon start to feel better and sleep better. Your skin will reflect the good health of all the organs and cells of your body, once you’ve kicked the caffeine habit.

Another reason for drinking pure water, juices and “sun tea” is that when you boil water, you’re releasing oxygen from it. When the body rids itself of toxins, it passes through the skin which is the largest elimination organ. Raw food increases your detoxification rate. Drinking water helps the body rid itself of toxins. Seaweed is high in vitamins and minerals beneficial to the skin and also helps rid the body of toxins.

To achieve a healthy complexion, drink plenty of water and eat plenty of raw food. What goes into your body is reflected in your overall appearance - and in your skin.

Alkaline Water - Miracle or Scam? (Part 1)

It seems everyone and their dog lately is touting the miraculous benefits of alkaline water. My boss recently purchased a very expensive system for his family (costing a few thousand dollars), as he was so convinced of its benefits. This may or may not be the case - time will tell, I suppose!  The only difference I've heard him mention so far is how often they are using the bathroom....

Image via WikipediaSupposedly this water has all sorts of wonderful health benefits, including possible curing of many diseases, more energy, and of course, flushing toxins from the body. Detractors call the alkaline water craze a scam, but after quite a bit of searching on the internet, most of them don't seem to have any valid or proven reason for saying so, at least that I can tell.

Personally we at New Holistic Living are still on the fence.  The majority of the glowing reviews I've seen seem to be from those selling an alkaline water system (or promoting one for personal gain). Then again, some of the studies and the science behind it sound rather intriguing....

What do you think?  I thought I'd post a couple of articles from opposing sides (though the "pro" side seems much more vocal). Here are several of these in the "miracle" camp -- check back in a couple of days for the opposing side. And of course, let us know what you think! Is alkaline water a miraculous substance, and if so, what benefits have you experienced?

Top 10 Benefits of Drinking Alkaline Water | Grateful 2 Love Water
We all know that drinking an adequate amount of water is good for us. Do we all drink enough water? No, not usually. If we remember we might drink a glass.
Publish Date: 09/14/2010 19:10
http://g2lwater.com/2010/09/14/top-10-benefits-of-drinking-alkaline-water/

stars2man: Dr. Mercola and Alkaline Water: Natural Health Information
Understanding this is important for two reasons: (1) it reveals one of the primary benefits of alkaline water -- more "available" oxygen in the system and (2) it explains why alkaline water helps fight cancer, which we'll talk more ...
Publish Date: 10/04/2010 10:43
http://stars2man.blogspot.com/2010/10/dr-mercola-and-alkaline-water-natural.html
Introduction and Reviews About Alkaline Ionized Water: By Doctors ...
There are more benefits to “alkaline water” than simply the alkalinity or pH. The most important feature of alkaline water produced by a water alkalinizer is its oxidation reduction potential (ORP). Water with a high negative ORP is of ...
Publish Date: 10/09/2010 10:28
http://alkalinewaterplus.info/blog/2010/10/09/doctor-reviews-about-alkaline-ionized-water/

The Alkaline Water Ionizer May Permanently Increase Your Health ...
Alkaline Water is clearly an excellent choice for your drinking requirements. It's not sold in plastic containers and it is free of contamination. In addition, Alkaline Water has nutritious benefits not present in ordinary drinking ...
Publish Date: 09/30/2010 13:17
http://alternative-medicine-articles.us/the-alkaline-water-ionizer-may-permanently-increase-your-health/

 

Other related articles on Alkalinity & Health:

• Balancing your Alkaline Level (rawlivingfoods.typepad.com)
• Alkaline Diet Online Course (grand-alliance.com)