Overcoming Arthritis by David Brownstein
WATER & Tips to Start Eating Healthier and Organic
Water (excerpts taken from “Overcoming Arthritis” by David Brownstein)
Water is an essential nutrient for everyone. Our body is composed of 70-80% water, with the brain being 85%, blood 83%, and muscles 75%. Adequate water intake (and salt along with it) is essential to promote good health and functioning of all our cells and to flush out the many toxins we ingest or make in our bodies.
My experience is that most people are at least mildly dehydrated and most chronically ill patients are very dehydrated. You cannot rely on your thirst to make you drink enough water, and your urine should always be almost clear when you are drinking enough water. One of the first signs of dehydration can be pain anywhere in the body, including the joint pain of arthritis, joint stiffness and early morning stiffness, and back spasms or other muscle spasms. If your body is dehydrated your joints and muscles will be also, and they will be more painful. Fatigue, dry tongue, coated tongue, vertical ridges on nails, dry skin, and poor skin elasticity are common signs of dehydration. Water loss can be accelerated by many things, including inadequate water intake, excess caffeine intake (caffeine is a potent diuretic), excess soda consumption (a government study in the 1990s showed the average person consumed 49 gallons per year!), alcoholic beverages, and diuretic medicine.
Many people assume that by drinking beverages other than water, they are supplying the body with an adequate amount of water. This is absolutely not the case, and these other liquids actually cause water loss in the body to accelerate. Chronic caffeine use can over-stimulate the adrenal glands and ultimately result in a depletion of the adrenal hormones. This can exacerbate other hormonal irregularities and weaken the immune system. When a person is in a dehydrated state, histamine levels are elevated throughout the body and this can worsen allergies, asthma, and the immune system.
Since water is such a nourishing agent for the body, it is important to drink water in its purest form and without additives and chemicals. Bottled water contains toxins leached from the plastic and tap water often contains chemicals harmful to your hormonal system and health (including fluoride and chlorine). Therefore it is important to drink filtered or distilled water, preferably from glass or stainless steel. Since a filter system removes many minerals and toxic agents from tap water, it is important that you take a well absorbed daily multiple vitamin-mineral supplement.
Doctor Brownstein’s recommendation is that you ensure adequate water intake every day. It is impossible to achieve optimum health or recover from a chronic illness without adequate water intake. He recommends that you take your weight in pounds, divide it in two and use this figure as the amount of water in ounces to ingest on a daily basis. People who are more active will need to further increase their daily intake of water. (Since I weigh 130 pounds I need to intake at least 65 ounces a day.) I have found it helpful to intentionally drink at least 20 ounces of water at breakfast, lunch, and dinner. I then drink at least 20 more ounces after exercise or exertion.
THE BENEFITS AND RECOMMENDATIONS FOR SALT
We have been taught that salt is bad. Well too much salt can be bad when we do not drink enough water (in a dehydrated state) and if kidney problems/failure. Salt dose have good properties of helping in healing, attracting water for lubrication, can improve allergies by acting as a natural antihistamine, clears excess acidity from the body, produces energy in the body, and thins out mucous secretions.
Unfortunately, the most common salt is refined salt, and it has the healthy minerals removed and has a high content of aluminum. Unrefined sea salt (Celtic may be the best) contains trace amounts of over 80 minerals and is the best salt to eat. Dr. Brownstein recommends a pinch of sea salt each day followed by a large glass of water, and doing this in addition before strenous exercise.
