Proper hydration is the single most important and powerful action you can take to transform your health – and it’s easy!
Our advice Drink at least 2 litres of clean filtered water every day - spread throughout the day - and even more if you are exercising or in hot climates.
Drinking water should ideally be alkaline with a pH of at least 7.3. If you don’t have access to good clean water and choose to buy in water, ideally buy glass bottled spring water rather than plastic bottles. That will avoid the harmful chemicals which can leach from the plastic into the water when exposed to heat and sunlight. A 5% drop in body fluids will cause a 25-30% loss of energy in most people. In fact, even mild dehydration can slow our metabolism down by 3%.
Proper hydration is so important to every function of the human body and dehydration is at the root cause of such a large number of symptoms. Just the simple act of drinking enough water, on a daily basis, can have a profound effect on your life.
Water clears acid toxins from your system and boosts your metabolism.
Our body’s cry for thirst is also often mistaken for hunger, leading to over-eating the wrong foods – so addressing your water intake is a sensible first step towards weight-loss. It doesn’t have to be just water, all day, every day - you can and should mix it up a little.
Pure water should be the priority, but it’s difficult to stick to anything – however good for you – if it’s too boring!
So alongside pure water, I recommend you add in some herbal teas such as chamomile, fennel, nettle, dandelion, peppermint, ginger and lemon etc. That will avoid dehydrating caffeine, but give you a tasty, hot beverage alternative.
Also great options: Fresh Vegetable Juice
Drinking a glass of freshly squeezed vegetable juice each day will have a remarkable impact on your health.
Juicing dark green veggies will give you an almighty nutrition hit and will get you on your way to your minimum 5 servings of veg each day (remember to rotate those greens!).
Coconut Water Rapidly gaining popularity, coconut water is the water from the middle of a fresh, young, green coconut. Not to be confused with coconut cream or milk, it is a clear, alkaline, slightly sweet liquid that is high in alkaline salts and tastes delicious!
Filter your water As a naturopath, I have taken a particular interest in tap water. I have focused a considerable amount of research on the chemical make-up of tap water and the impact its components have on the human body. The results of my research on the subject have been – in a word – shocking!
The problem is particularly worrying, because it’s the water most people drink lots of, all day, every day!
There are dangerous elements in tap water that some people are unaware of. Some of these contaminants find their way into our water supply through insufficient filtration and faulty pipes, while others are actually added to the water as a way to kill biological toxins or to add some sort of alleged health benefit to those who drink it.
Regular consumption of water contaminated with chemicals and other materials may lead to serious health issues.
Fluoride Related to skeletal fluorosis and other long-term health risks including kidney failure and decreasing IQ.
Chlorine Related to skin irritation and rashes like eczema.
Heavy Metals Particularly lead and copper. Related to damage to the brain and nervous system, digestive system and respiratory system.
Copper toxicity can cause incredible damage to the kidneys and liver.
Drugs Mostly filtered out during the water treatment process, but remnants can survive.
Pesticides and harmful chemicals For example Atrazine, an herbicide used to kill weeds. Known to be potent enough to “chemically castrate” frogs. In humans, it has been known to cause low sperm count in males, as well as low birth weight and birth defects in new-borns.
Bacteria and other micro-organisms Some survive the treatment process and end up in our tap water. The very best way to avoid these pollutants is to fit a good quality water filter to your tap. T
he additional filtering will remove the pollutants and, in the medium to long term, it is far cheaper than buying bottled water. We recommend the UltraStream water filter – which is the best I’ve found in my eight years of research and the one I have on my kitchen tap as I write! You will find the Ultrastream on the website Avacado Ninja.
Drinks to avoid We can’t all be perfect, all of the time – so it’s also worth noting which drinks you should really try to avoid, even if you can’t follow the hydration guidance to the letter.
Here’s our no-go list:
• Coffee (high in caffeine)
• Black tea (especially with milk and sugar!)
• Green tea (high caffeine)
• Fruit juice (very high concentration of sugar)
• Soft drinks, carbonated (fizzy) water (carbonation makes water have an acid pH)
• Alcohol Cut these elements out of your life, increase your water intake and invest in a good water filter – you’ll notice a remarkable difference in just a few weeks