The facts about drinking water
September 30th, 2013 → 5:14 am @ Shanti
Why Drinking Too Much Water Can Be Harmful To
Your Health … by Nutritionist Barbara Bourke
Before you start reading the below article I would like to pass on what I believe is the
correct amount of water for the individual. Forget that you should drink at least 8
glasses of water a day; this is too general. Under normal, average conditions you
need approximately 30 ml of water for every kg of body weight. Drink it slowly
throughout the day so the water is getting absorbed into the cells. If you don’t drink
a lot of water and especially if you are overweight then start slowly and increase to
the correct amount over time, do not force the water down your throat so to speak.
After a while you body will want the water.
Tap water has so many added chemicals, especially fluoride, and is not a healthy
option. I believe drinking pure water, like distilled water, without the inorganic hard
minerals, is one of the best. You can easily add organic plant minerals, like our
sizzling minerals, to your drinking water to replace needed minerals in organic form.
Article by Dr. Ben Kim: http://www.riseearth.com/2013/05/why-drinking-too-muchwater-can-be.html
On January 12, 2007, a 28-year old Californian wife and mother of three children
died from drinking too much water. Her body was found in her home shortly after
she took part in a water-drinking contest that was sponsored by a local radio show.
Entitled “Hold Your Wee For A Wii,” the contest promoters promised a free Wii video
game machine to the contestant who drank the most water without urinating.
It is estimated that the woman who died, drank approximately 2 gallons of water
during the contest. When she and other contestants complained of discomfort and
showed visible signs of distress, they were laughed at by the promoters and even
heckled.
This tragic news story highlights the importance of understanding why drinking too
much water can be dangerous to your health.
Whenever you disregard your sense of thirst and strive to ingest several glasses of
water a day just because you have been told that doing so is good for your health,
you actually put unnecessary strain on your body in two major ways:
1. Ingesting more water than you need can increase your total blood volume.
And since your blood volume exists within a closed system (your circulatory
system), needlessly increasing your blood volume on a regular basis puts
unnecessary burden on your heart and blood vessels.
2. Your kidneys must work overtime to filter excess water out of your circulatory
system. Your kidneys are not the equivalent of a pair of plumbing pipes
whereby the more water you flush through your kidneys, the cleaner they
become; rather, the filtration system that exists in your kidneys is composed in
part by a series of specialized capillary beds called glomeruli. Your glomeruli
can get damaged by unnecessary wear and tear over time, and drowning your
system with large amounts of water is one of many potential causes of said
damage.
Putting unnecessary burden on your cardiovascular system and your kidneys by
ingesting unnecessary water is a subtle process. For the average person, it is
virtually impossible to know that this burden exists, as there are usually no obvious
symptoms on a moment-to-moment basis. But make no mistake about it: this burden
is real and can hurt your health over the long term.
Forcing your body to accept a large amount of water within a short period of time –
say, an hour or two – as several contestants did during the “Hold Your Wee for a
Wii” contest can be fatally dangerous to your health. Here’s why:
If you force large amounts of water into your system over a short period of time, your
kidneys will struggle to eliminate enough water from your system to keep the overall
amount at a safe level.
As your circulatory system becomes diluted with excess water, the concentration of
electrolytes in your blood will drop relative to the concentration of electrolytes in your
cells. In an effort to maintain an equal balance of electrolytes between your blood
and your cells, water will seep into your cells from your blood, causing your cells to
swell.
If this swelling occurs in your brain, you’ll experience increased intracranial pressure
i.e. your brain will get squeezed because the flat bones that make up your skull don’t
provide much give. Depending on how much water your drink in a short period of
time, you could experience a wide variety of symptoms, ranging from a mild August/September 2013 Health Buzz
headache to impaired breathing. As occurred in the tragic water-drinking contest, it’s
quite possible to die if you drink enough water in a short period of time.
This information is particularly important for parents to pass on to their children.
Foolish drinking contests are not uncommon among high school and university
students, especially while playing cards.
So how much water should you drink to best support your health?
The answer depends on your unique circumstances, including your diet, exercise
habits, and environment.
If you eat plenty of foods that are naturally rich in water, such as vegetables, fruits,
and cooked legumes and whole grains, you may not need to drink much water at all.
If you do not use much or any salt and other seasonings, your need for drinking
water goes down even further.
Conversely, if you do not eat a lot of plant foods and/or you add substantial salt and
spices to your meals, you may need to drink several glasses of water every day.
Regardless of what your diet looks like, if you sweat on a regular basis because of
exercise or a warm climate, you will need to supply your body with more water
(through food and/or liquids) than someone who does not sweat regularly.
Ultimately, the best guidance I can provide on this issue is to follow your sense of
thirst. Some people believe that thirst is not a reliable indicator of how much water
you need, since many people suffer with symptoms related to dehydration and don’t
seem to feel a need to drink water on a regular basis. My experience has been that
most people who are chronically dehydrated have learned to ignore a parched
mouth. If you ask such people if they are thirsty and would like a piece of fruit or a
glass of water, they will almost always realize that they are indeed thirsty.
Some people suggest observing the colour of your urine as a way of looking out for
dehydration. The idea is that clear urine indicates that you are well hydrated, while
yellow urine indicates that you need more water in your system. While this advice is
somewhat useful, it’s important to remember that some food additives (including
some synthetic nutrients) and heavily pigmented foods (like red beets) can add
substantial colour to your urine. Thumbs down for synthetic nutrients, and thumbs
up for red beets and other richly colored vegetables and fruits.
The main idea that I want to share through this article is to beware of mindlessly
drinking several glasses of water per day without considering your diet, exercise
habits, climate, and sense of thirst. And when you do find yourself in need of water,
remember that you can get it from liquids and/or whole foods that are rich in water.August/September 2013 Health Buzz
Please share this article with family and friends, as many people are regularly
misinformed on this topic by mainstream media.
I am so glad Judie sent me this article, as I have been saying this for years. We are all different and we have different needs. Please share this news with your friends and I do suggest that you NEVER go into eating or drinking competitions EVER. There would be nothing more damaging to your body than doing that.
Lots of love as always, Shanti
