Personally written by Milan Lassiter, DC, 1303 W. Main St, Richmond, VA (804) 254-5765
I had a patient who came in last Friday and told me a crazy story about her husband who had a seizure that was so bad, he actually bit his tongue half way off. Right before he had the seizure, he called his wife (my patient) and she detected that something wasn’t right, so she called his father and told him to get over there ASAP. Long story short, if his father hadn’t gone, she said that her husband very well may be dead.
You won’t believe why he had the seizure…from dehydration! She said that he doesn’t drink water…ever. The seizure was so bad that he actually caused a few compression fractures to his spine. She also said that their place looked like a murder scene because there was blood all over the place from the tongue.
Drinking water is one of the most powerful health improvements that most people can make. Water makes up more than 70% of the body’s tissues and plays key roles in nearly every body function. Drinking water is one of the most important health habits that you can establish and if you don’t get enough, you’ll suffer with bad health consequences.
The basic rules are:
• Most of what you drink should be water.
• If you drink alcohol, space out drinks by drinking water in-between drinks and drink water before going to bed.
• Avoid drinking tap water because of chemicals.
• Brita filtered water will cost maybe $0.20 per gallon and is well worth the investment. Filtered tap water is great because there are a lot of minerals in there, but you can still filter out bad things like lead, chlorine, flouride, arsenic, etc. (One of the problems with bottled water is that minerals have been taken out)
• Don’t buy the one-gallon jugs of water from the grocery store that are in the cloudy or bumpy plastic containers because of PVC plastic, which will transfer chemicals into the water.
• Never drink water bottles that have been out in the sun, especially bottles that have been left in the car for the same reason.
Also important is to avoid ALL sodas and juices. That includes diet and “zero calorie” sodas, orange juice, and sports and energy drinks. Coffee and most sodas are loaded with caffeine, which is a diuretic that will dehydrate you even more. Add in all the sugar or high-fructose corn syrup and you have a recipe for worse health and the number one source of calories for all the overweight people in our nation (almost 70% are overweight).
You can use 2 things to determine when to drink water: thirst and color of your urine. When thirsty, drink filtered water, not Gatorade, lemonade, or iced tea. If it’s hot or dry outside, or if you exercise a lot, you’ll need more water. As for the color of your urine, it should be a very light pale yellow. A deep, dark yellow means you’re dehydrated, even if you’re not thirsty.
As far as sports drinks go, your most healthy choices for replacing electrolytes are (1) fresh coconut water or (2) simply adding a pinch of natural, unprocessed salt to a glass of water and stirring it very fast to create a vortex (like a tornado). I like sea salt or Himalayan salt as natural salt options. Sodium is the most important electrolyte that you need to replenish after exercise, so I like adding salt to filtered water, but I know that many people won’t be able to handle the taste.
