Our Formula4Health #1 focused on the most critical nutrient, oxygen. We can only go a few minutes without taking in a breath of air because oxygen cannot be stored. It must constantly be replaced.

Formula4Health #2 that is also often overlooked or taken for granted is water. Yet, next to oxygen, water is the nutrient that is most needed for life. Humans can live a long time without food but only a few days without water.

1. Water keeps our body temperature stable.
2. It serves as a transport agent by carrying other nutrients throughout the body.
3. The elimination of toxins and waste products from the body is aided by water.
4. Water maintains healthy blood volume and provides the medium in which cell chemical reactions occur.

Many people spend a great deal of the day in a state of mild to moderate dehydration because they do not drink enough water or because they drink beverages that tend to hinder rather than help these functions.

OUR BODIES ARE MOSTLY WATER

Water is an essential nutrient. Next to oxygen, water is the most important factor for survival. It is more important to have an adequate intake of water than it is to have enough calories. While the amount of water in each person varies, the average adult is 60 to 70 percent water, consisting of about 10 to 12 gallons. To maintain an ongoing supply of healthful water for your body's needs, the average adult should drink about 8 to 10 glasses a day. See below to calculate your daily requirements. In an average lifetime this would amount to approximately 13,000 gallons of water. Considering that, the quality of water should be of great concern to everyone. Experts agree that pure water is essential to health and longevity.

Daily Requirements

Even when we are inactive our body loses an average of 80 ounces of water each day, mainly in urine, perspiration, and bowel movements. Breathing causes the body to lose water vapor at a rate equal to one or two glasses a day.

An accurate way to determine your own specific liquid requirements is to divide your body weight in pounds by 2. For example, a 145-pound woman:

Notice that we said 72 ounces (about 9 glasses) of liquid each day.

To determine your body's water needs each day, divide your body weight by 3.

_________ (Weight) ÷ 2 = _________ ounces of liquid per day

_________ (Weight) ÷ 3 = _________ ounces of water per day.

Now you can understand why PRACTICAL WISDOM has taught us to drink 6-8 glasses of water per day. It's just good advice.

Where does the other required ounces come from?

Liquid comes in a variety of forms

Many fruits and vegetables are up to 75% water so they count toward your daily intake. Soup, which can be a wonderful way to eat a balanced meal, is also an additional source of water.
Mineral water, either non-flavored or flavored (but not sweetened) or sparkling water with a small amount of fruit juice in it.
Most herbal teas, decaffeinated teas and decaffeinated coffees (either hot or cold) can substitute ounce-for-ounce for pure water.
Coffee (and other caffeinated beverages) do provide some fluid BUT since caffeine is a mild diuretic (meaning that it helps remove water from the body via urine), these are poor sources for replenishing liquids.
Many regular soft drinks contain caffeine and even those that don't are very high in sugar. Diet sodas do not have the calorie problem but high amounts of artificial sweeteners can present health problems. Soft drinks, in general, are not an efficient source of liquids.
Fruit juice is a concentrated sugar source and should be consumed in small amounts (that's why juice glasses are smaller, usually 4 ounces).
Alcoholic drinks are liquids, of course, but also tend to work as a diuretic.

NOTE: We are strongly against drinking any kind of milk. Visit http://www.notmilk.com

Reminder: Make sure that you re-supply your body every day with proper amounts of liquids. Balance your intake throughout the day and get a least 2/3 of your requirements in the form of cool, clear water. Your body will love it!

A Typical Day For Me

If you have a good idea of your liquid intake each day, fill in this section. If not, copy this sheet and keep track for a couple of days. You may learn something.

Suggestions

1. One glass of water within 30 minutes of awakening 2. A glass of water at breakfast, and/ or a small glass of fruit juice with breakfast. 3. At least one glass of water during the morning (keep some chilled water with you throughout the day). 4. A glass of water 30 minutes before lunch. This also helps with appetite control and is a reminder for you if you are taking an appetite suppressant or a fiber aid before each meal. 5. At least one glass of water during the afternoon. 6. A glass of water 30 minutes before dinner. Don't eat your final meal until you have finished your water intake for the day.

Question: Should I drink water (or other beverages) with my meal?
Some of us avoid liquid during our meals due to the concern of diluting our digestive enzymes. This is probably not a major issue because water moves in and out of the stomach freely, while enzymes stay with the food. However, we all tend to agree that it is best to limit your liquid intake while you are eating for another reason: Drinking beverages while we eat often causes us to eat faster.

We need to learn to enjoy our meals. Eating more slowly improves digestion and helps us eat less because we have time to become aware that we are no longer hungry. People who drink a glass or two of beverage with a meal tend to use the liquid to "wash down" their food. What we should do instead is learn to chew our food until it becomes liquid.

Try this... Drink some liquid just before you start eating and then sip between bites. There's no need to leave the glass off the table, but learn to avoid big gulps of liquid while you are eating.

AND... MORE GOOD NEWS ABOUT WATER

Benefit 1: Boost your endurance. Australian researchers studied five men during prolonged exercise to see how fluid intake affected their endurance. They found that the more water the guys drank, the less glycogen-which your muscles use for energy-they spent. According to W. Larry Kenney, Ph.D., professor of physiology and kinesiology at Penn State University, if you're re-hydrating with a sports drink, your muscles will use that rather than breaking down their own glycogen for energy. As a result, your biceps won't tire out as fast.

Benefit 2: Beat the heck out of the common cold. Every time you swallow, think of this: You have antibodies in the mucus that coat your throat, which can help trap cold viruses. But according to John Rogers, MD., professor of family and community medicine at Baylor College of Medicine, there is only one problem: You can foil this ingenious defense even if you're minimally dehydrated because a lack of water dries out your mucus-producing tissues. If you do catch something, here's how to fight it: Coughs: Rather than grab the very tasty red cough syrup for a wet cough, chug a glass of water instead. It's the best expectorant you can take, according to Kenneth Lem, PharmD., a lecturer in clinical pharmacy at the University of California in San Francisco. Unless your doctor tells you otherwise, take the over-the-counter suppressants only for dry coughs. Fever: You know that spaced-out feeling you experience when you have a fever? Nope, it's not from watching endless game shows. It's dehydration, says Dr. Rogers. The amount you perspire as your fever is breaking severely dehydrates your brain as well as your body, which causes you to feel nauseated and generally zonked.

Benefit 3: Zap your headache without the belly ache. If some drugs kick you in the gut to make you forget abut your other pains, beat them down with extra water. The more you drink with drugs that can cause stomach distress - aspirin, ibuprofen, and antibiotics such as tetracycline - the less your chances of stomach upset, says Lem. The water dilutes and disperses the medicine so it's not strong enough to aggravate one spot.

Benefit 4: Travel without feeling like a zombie. It's not only a time-zone thing. Fatigue during and after flight might be from dehydration, since the dry air on a plane can literally suck the water out of you. "People breathe harder because of the lower levels of oxygen," says Bruce Paton, M.D., president of the Wilderness Medical Society. Your body moisturizes the air and therefore, loses water. Drink an extra glass before a flight and a glass every hour you're on the plane. Filling up on nonalcoholic, non-caffeinated drinks may help minimize the discomfort, says Dr. Paton. Tote an orange or two and some bottled water in your carry-on. You'll beat a path to the john, but then, you need to stretch your legs anyway.

Benefit 5: Spend less time on the throne. "If you're constipated, it may be because you're not drinking enough," says Barbara Harland, Ph.D., a professor of nutrition at Howard University. Especially if you've had a lot of fiber, which won't do its job unless you have enough fluids in your system to flush things through. Conversely, if you have very soft stools or diarrhea, don't go on a water strike. Reducing intake will not firm things up, since bacteria is probably to blame. At the first sign, drink more and eat bland foods such as banana, rice, applesauce and toast. Sports drinks can also restore lost nutrients, says Dr. Rogers.

Benefit 6: Avoid the painful experience of having a stone with the texture of a medieval mace pass through your ureter. According to Gary Curhan, MD., a nephrologist and epidemiologist at Brigham and Women's Hospital in Boston, drinking 8 to 10 glasses of fluids a day significantly increases your chances of preventing kidney stones. By increasing your water intake, you dilute the urine and help prevent the formation of salt crystals that can lead to kidney stones. By the way, if you're worried about kidney stones, avoid apple juice and grapefruit juice. A study from Dr. Curhan and others suggest that a glass a day of either boosts your stone-forming risk by 36 percent. Talk to your doctor, however, before changing your juice drinking habits.

Benefit 7: Improve your thinking by drinking. If you're exercising in hot weather, the buckets of water you're sweating can impair your concentration and reaction time. "There's no doubt dehydration can affect your ability to make decisions," says Michael Sawka, Ph.D., chief of thermal and mountain medicine at the U.S. Army Research Institute of Environmental Medicine in Natick, MA. So if you're feeling too tired after your workout to think, drink up.

Benefit 8: Lose fat without pesky exercise! Hunger is often thirst in disguise. A glass of water will not only help you hold on until your next meal and stave off cravings, but can also be a weight-loss tool. According to Ellington Darden, Ph.D., former director of research for Nautilus Sports/Medical Industries and author of 32 days to a 32-lnch Waist, you can drop a pound every four weeks simply by drinking eight pints of ice water a day. How? Your body will expend 123 calories of body heat every day to warm that much ice water (at 40 degrees Fahrenheit) to 98.6. Note: This will not work with eight icy pints of beer a day. Sorry. Reprinted from Men's Health Magazine Back to Top