My hope is to be a positive inspiration for people at this time.
Everyone has a real opportunity to be in control and take action on their own health and filter that down to their families.
So many of us if asked how we feel, would not immediately say we felt great, most of us would say we felt ok… or just fine..
When we Exceed the speed limit of life, then we start not feeling well – there can be thousands of different ways of not feeling well, there is an encyclopaedia of different names to it, Headaches, Migraines, Asthma, PMS, Arthritis, Fatigue, Insomnia, IBS Symptoms, Weight gain/loss, Brain fog, Psoriasis, Auto Immune diseases, the list can go on and on etc. We think of so many of these symptoms as “normal”, simply because so many people experience them or that as we age these are just “normal” signs of aging. This could not be further from the truth, just because so many people experience these symptoms does not mean they are normal, they all come down to the same thing :–
An imbalance in the body, we took the body and demanded too much of it without putting enough back into the body to meet the demands, and eventually the body shows signs of distress which gets progressively more aggressive, if we don’t take note of the first warning signs our body is trying to give us.
So…My first oh very sexy topic is Hydration…I see you…I see you rolling your eyes, haha,, stay with me and take a couple of minutes to read and maybe have a better understanding of the vital importance of clean water beyond the basics.
Why is hydration such a critical aspect to our overall well being then..well some facts first:-
The human body is roughly 2/3 water.
The human brain is close to 3/4 water.
About 85% of our blood is water.
The average adult human loses from 2.5 to 3 litres of water every day (via urine, sweat/evaporation, stool, breathing)
Dehydration affects blood volume, ie the amount of blood circulating through your body decreases when you are dehydrated
Water (and its electrolytes, Potassium, Magnesium etc) is a perfect conductor of electricity, needed for both brain activity and cardiovascular activity.
Water is required in the body to allow toxins to leave our tens of trillions of cells and be excreted in our urine/stool. Otherwise, we suffer from toxic build-up which leads to cellular dysfunction and eventually chronic disease.
Head aches, Constipation, Hypertension (high blood pressure), Restless leg syndrome, Kidney stones, Itchy skin, dry skin, flaky skin on different areas of the body, all of these can be linked in part to dehydration.
How many of us experience at least one of these symptom regularly or maybe even 2 or 3 of them, I have only chosen a few here but sure you get the picture.
So what can we as individuals do to address dehydration?
Just drink more water I hear you say… duurghh…simples…. Well yes and no…
1. Make sure the water we are drinking is filtered, do not drink unfiltered tap water, limescale build up you see in your kettle, does the same to our insides, as well as other toxins being present in varying levels such as chlorine, heavy metals, herbicides and pharmaceuticals. If you distil your water make sure you add back in the essential electrolytes needed, more on this further down.
2. When we wake up in the morning we are at our most dehydrated and a little toxic. I would encourage you to create the habit of taking a nice big glass of water with you to bed. When you wake up, sit up and drink the glass of water before getting out of bed and getting on with your normal routine, shower, breakfast etc. This allows the body to absorb the water before bringing in the food and coffee.
A side note coffee, black tea, alcohol and fizzy drinks are acidic and function as a diuretic in our body, ie make us pee more leaving us more at risk of being dehydrated. After you glass of water in bed, try to make your first hot drink a herbal tea or some hot water with lemon and/or ginger before supping on your coffee or black tea.
3. Simply gulping a giant glass of water a couple times a day however is likely going to lead to a lot of peeing. Same as pouring a load of water onto a wilted plant with dry soil, it just comes out the bottom!
Absolutely, it’s still better than not drinking enough water at all. But sipping throughout the day allows more opportunity for cellular hydration, which is the most important goal of drinking water.
I encourage you as step 3 to get a good quality stainless steel or glass lined bottle and get sipping through out the day.
- My 4th suggestion would be to make sure you are not gulping down a glass of water immediately before or during your meal.
A little with the meal is no issue and in fact needed but gulping down a glass of water just before or during your meal will have a negative impact on your digestion by diluting your stomach acid. It’s a bit like getting a kitchen top cleaner and pouring half of it out and filling it up with water and expecting it to be as effective.
Optimal hydration is not just about drinking the water but actually just like nutrition it is about getting the water into the cells, for our cells to be able to do their jobs. The major driver for this is having adequate electrolyte balance. Our Mineral status has a lot to do with how much hydration our cells are able to experience. In particular, potassium is critical, as is magnesium which directly controls how much potassium a cell can absorb.
To boost trace minerals, I recommend kelp granules or sea weed and use a strip when cooking. Also eating more potassium containing fruits and veg, like tomatoes, avocado and bananas and using quality unrefined sea salt are all important for hydration.
Most people don’t self medicate by drinking more water and going to bed early, but instead hit the couch with ice cream and a couple of beers, or extra coffee to power on through.
We need to learn to see the symptoms the body is giving us as Gifts… and not treat them as annoyances to be numbed and pop a pill in order to silence them.
Our body uses energy to communicate these symptoms to us. The symptoms are Not FREE, it takes energy to give us a headache, it takes energy to make us feel unwell, our bodies are communicating with us in the hope that we will take note and do something different to show our body that we are hearing it and make the changes that are needed. When the symptoms go away it is a good sign that the body is saying “thanks we are all good now”
What that formula is for optimal hydration will be individual to you. What works for your colleague, partner, best friend will be different to you. We are all bio-idividual.
If you are already struggling with a chronic disease, or are just feeling ok or fine, my sincere hope it that by adding in that extra glass of clean water before getting out of bed in the morning and making sure you sip on filtered water through out the day, as well as cutting back on your coffee and black tea, alcohol and fizzy drinks and adding more fruits and veg rich in trace minerals into your diet, you may notice that some of your symptoms that are linked to dehydration will in part or fully over time go away.
If you have stayed with me to this point thank you and I just want you to consider this for a minute.
If you think of yourself as a tree, your legs and feet are the roots, your torso the trunk and your arms, head and emotions etc are the branches and leaves.
You can not evaluate the health of a leaf on a tree without considering the health of the branch, the trunk, the roots, the soil, the air and the environment in which it is being nurtured or not…
The inter connectedness is key to ensuring that our bodies are getting that cellular nutrition and hydration in order for the rest of our body to be able to thrive. This is the functional approach to health and wellbeing and optimal wellness.
As always if you are not sure where to begin, or are struggling to pinpoint why you are not feeling your best, please do get in touch.
My hope is to be a positive inspiration for people at this time.
Everyone has a real opportunity to be in control and take action on their own health and filter that down to their families.
So many of us if asked how we feel, would not immediately say we felt great, most of us would say we felt ok… or just fine..
When we Exceed the speed limit of life, then we start not feeling well – there can be thousands of different ways of not feeling well, there is an encyclopaedia of different names to it, Headaches, Migraines, Asthma, PMS, Arthritis, Fatigue, Insomnia, IBS Symptoms, Weight gain/loss, Brain fog, Psoriasis, Auto Immune diseases, the list can go on and on etc. We think of so many of these symptoms as “normal”, simply because so many people experience them or that as we age these are just “normal” signs of aging. This could not be further from the truth, just because so many people experience these symptoms does not mean they are normal, they all come down to the same thing :–
An imbalance in the body, we took the body and demanded too much of it without putting enough back into the body to meet the demands, and eventually the body shows signs of distress which gets progressively more aggressive, if we don’t take note of the first warning signs our body is trying to give us.
So…My first oh very sexy topic is Hydration…I see you…I see you rolling your eyes, haha,, stay with me and take a couple of minutes to read and maybe have a better understanding of the vital importance of clean water beyond the basics.
Why is hydration such a critical aspect to our overall well being then..
well some facts first:-
The human body is roughly 2/3 water.
The human brain is close to 3/4 water.
About 85% of our blood is water.
The average adult human loses from 2.5 to 3 litres of water every day (via urine, sweat/evaporation, stool, breathing)
Dehydration affects blood volume, ie the amount of blood circulating through your body decreases when you are dehydrated
Water (and its electrolytes, Potassium, Magnesium etc) is a perfect conductor of electricity, needed for both brain activity and cardiovascular activity.
Water is required in the body to allow toxins to leave our tens of trillions of cells and be excreted in our urine/stool. Otherwise, we suffer from toxic build-up which leads to cellular dysfunction and eventually chronic disease.
.
Head aches, Constipation, Hypertension (high blood pressure), Restless leg syndrome, Kidney stones, Itchy skin, dry skin, flaky skin on different areas of the body, all of these can be linked in part to dehydration.
How many of us experience at least one of these symptom regularly or maybe even 2 or 3 of them, I have only chosen a few here but sure you get the picture.
So what can we as individuals do to address dehydration?
Just drink more water I hear you say… duurghh…simples…. Well yes and no…
1. Make sure the water we are drinking is filtered, do not drink unfiltered tap water, limescale build up you see in your kettle, does the same to our insides, as well as other toxins being present in varying levels such as chlorine, heavy metals, herbicides and pharmaceuticals. If you distil your water make sure you add back in the essential electrolytes needed, more on this further down.
2. When we wake up in the morning we are at our most dehydrated and a little toxic. I would encourage you to create the habit of taking a nice big glass of water with you to bed. When you wake up, sit up and drink the glass of water before getting out of bed and getting on with your normal routine, shower, breakfast etc. This allows the body to absorb the water before bringing in the food and coffee.
A side note coffee, black tea, alcohol and fizzy drinks are acidic and function as a diuretic in our body, ie make us pee more leaving us more at risk of being dehydrated. After you glass of water in bed, try to make your first hot drink a herbal tea or some hot water with lemon and/or ginger before supping on your coffee or black tea.
3. Simply gulping a giant glass of water a couple times a day however is likely going to lead to alot of peeing. Same as pouring a load of water onto a wilted plant with dry soil, it just comes out the bottom!
Absolutely, it’s still better than not drinking enough water at all. But sipping throughout the day allows more opportunity for cellular hydration, which is the most important goal of drinking water.
I encourage you as step 3 to get a good quality stainless steel or glass lined bottle and get sipping through out the day.
4. My 4th suggestion would be to make sure you are not gulping down a glass of water immediately before or during your meal.
A little with the meal is no issue and in fact needed but gulping down a glass of water just before or during your meal will have a negative impact on your digestion by diluting your stomach acid. It’s a bit like getting a kitchen top cleaner and pouring half of it out and filling it up with water and expecting it to be as effective.
Optimal hydration is not just about drinking the water but actually just like nutrition it is about getting the water into the cells, for our cells to be able to do their jobs. The major driver for this is having adequate electrolyte balance. Our Mineral status has a lot to do with how much hydration our cells are able to experience. In particular, potassium is critical, as is magnesium which directly controls how much potassium a cell an absorb.
To boost trace minerals, I recommend kelp granules or sea weed and use a strip when cooking. Also eating more potassium containing fruits and veg, like tomatoes, avocado and bananas and using quality unrefined sea salt are all important for cellular hydration.
Most people don’t self medicate by drinking more water and going to bed early, but instead hit the couch with ice cream and a couple of beers, or extra coffee to power on through.
We need to learn to see the symptoms the body is giving us as Gifts… and not treat them as annoyances to be numbed and pop a pill, or take an extra coffee or beer in order to silence them.
Our body uses energy to communicate these symptoms to us. The symptoms are Not FREE, it takes energy to give us a headache, it takes energy to make us feel unwell, our bodies are communicating with us in the hope that we will take note and do something different to show our body that we are hearing it and make the changes that are needed. When the symptoms go away it is a good sign that the body is saying “thanks we are all good now”
What that formula is for optimal hydration will be individual to you. What works for your colleague, partner, best friend will be different to you. We are all bio-idividual.
If you are already struggling with a chronic disease, or are just feeling ok or fine, my sincere hope it that by adding in that extra glass of clean water before getting out of bed in the morning and making sure you sip on filtered water through out the day, as well as cutting back on your coffee and black tea, alcohol and fizzy drinks and adding more fruits and veg rich in trace minerals into your diet, you may notice that some of your symptoms that are linked in part to dehydration will if consistent applied over time may go away.
If you have stayed with me to this point thank you and I just want you to consider this for a minute.
Consider yourself as a tree, your legs and feet are the roots, your torso the trunk and your arms, head and emotions etc are the branches and leaves.
You can not evaluate the health of a leaf on a tree without considering the health of the branch, the trunk, the roots, the soil, the air and the environment in which it is being nurtured or not…
The inter connectedness is key to ensuring that our bodies are getting that cellular nutrition and hydration in order for the rest of our body to be able to thrive. This is the functional approach to health and wellbeing and optimal wellness.
As always if you are not sure where to begin, or are struggling to pinpoint why you are not feeling your best, please do get in touch.soneill@shirley-oneill.com