Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (5)

So, how much water should we drink daily?

Most doctors will recommend 2L (8 glasses) of water.

But, from what I learnt from my teacher,
it's better to go at least 3L (12 glassess).
(-- alot? Sorry! Already discounted..
My teacher wanted me to go 4L :P )

Why the discrepancy in the advice of water intake?

The recommendation of 2L of water isn't wrong.
It's recommended based on the finding
that most people lose 2L water daily.
Hence 2L need to be replenished.

But there are ppl who lose more than 2L of water every day
depending on their lifestyle, work and physical background.
Hence 3L is recommended to ensure
everyone is full hydrated everyday.

Now, a question may float up:
What if 3L is more than the amount I lose each day?
-- Kidneys (of healthy individuals) can process
15 of litres of plain water every day, without strain.
It's ok to drink more, and let the kidney remove the excess water.
(this way, it's good for flushing the kidneys too).
But if we were to drink less than what we lose,
we will be subject to all the bad consequences of dehydration.

Another FAQ may be:
Will I leach out nutrients from my body when I drink too much water?
-- Everytime we urinate, we leach out some excessive nutrients.
Our kidney (of healthy individuals) will naturally
reabsorb nutrients we need and let go of those in excess.
So there isn't a real concern.
Moreover, the nutrients we get from our daily meals
easily compensate those relatively minute amount of nutrients leached.

One more FAQ could be:
Will I get intoxicated or swelled up if I drink too much water?
-- there is no such thing as water intoxication.
If there is any intoxication, it's the impurities in bad quality water that intoxicates.
Hence, do pay attention to water quality.
When a kidney is functioning properly,
there should not be any swelling (water retention).
If that is the case, it indicates a weak kidney and accumulated toxins in the body.
Exercise and sauna to sweat off the excess water are the remedies,
not cutting down water intake.

Incidentally,
for safety purpose,
## Do not drink more than 250mL at one time,
as speedy water intake may cause
sudden surge in hydraulic pressure, causing stress to
heart, kidney and other internal organs.
Heart patients shall not drink >150mL (1/2 glass) at one time,
but the total intake of 3L remains the same.

## Do not drink too much (>1 glass) plain water after heavy sweating,
as it will further dilute the electrolyte concentration in the blood
and may cause ceasure of heart beat (ie death).
To quench thirst after heavy sweating,
add a bit of salt into water or go for isotonic drinks instead.


Continue to drink more water,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com



{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (7)

Clean water is crucial to survival,

yet it has become something
that we take for granted
daily.

While in some third world countries
clean water remains a detrimental issue,
we who lives in modern cities,
also have another set of problems with clean water.

In more developed countries,
there are indeed clean water systems in place,
but we do funny(ie inappropriate) things
with the clean water we drink:

We chlorinate the water.
-- This undoubtedly intoxicates the water,
which in turn kills ourselves softly and slowly.
Governments may claim that
the chlorination dosage is
generally regarded as safe,
but they forgot that
the effect of chlorine intoxication is accumulative.

We remove minerals from the water.
-- This robs away life force in water.
Water is only biological compatible
when there are minerals in it,
to sustain water molecules
in the right molecular conformation,
in the right cluster size and
in the right bioavailability format.

We distill/reverse osmotise the water.
-- This turns water into a pure form of chemical
and could easily harm our body
by depriving our minerals in our body,
if consumed in long term.
Distilled and RO waters may be useful in
detoxification procedures (for effective results),
but they are not suitable
for long term day-to-day consumption.

People may claim that the above measures
are inevitable to ensure the safety of drinking water,
especially when many of our water sources
are now contaminated by industrial waste, agriculture waste+chemicals etc.

Exactly, the above argument urges us to reflect on
how we should lead a more humble, contented and responsible living,
by conserving resources on Earth and
protecting the Earth from further contamination.

Hence, one may conclude that:
Water could serve as an indicator on how grateful we lead our lives,
be it from bodily health or environmetal perspectives!


Well regards,
Kee Yew



{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (3)

To further contrast the importance of water,
we may look into some of real life consequences of dehydration:

- lethargy  
* compromised metabolic rate when water is lacking

- forgetfulness / lack of focus 
* dissociation between shrinking brain/nerve cells upon dehydration

- headache / migraine
* due to the lack of blood flow (poor fluidity of blood)

- constipation
* under-moisturisation of the gut and stools

- joint aches / hunch back
* compromised hydraulic force in joint cartilages

- allergies
* poor immunological/hormonal signal transduction

- high blood pressure
* thickening of blood due to lack of water content
etc...

The correlation
between water and some of the health problems above
may be a bit far fetch to some of us,
because we did not truly understand
the intrinsic role of water.

If we analyse carefully,
many of our health problems could be so easily avoided
by just drinking enough water every day.

-- There may be more than one causes to
the above mentioned health conditions (ie not just due to dehydration),
but at least we should try out the cheapest and safest remedy (ie water)
before we pay doctor a visit ;)

Continue to hydrate :P
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (4)

There are a few specials notes about
our bodily response to de/hydration:

(a) Feeling thirsty is the final signal for dehydration.
-- hence, do not wait till you feel thirsty before you grab for water,
it's already too late.

(b) Drinking less water will lower sensitivity to dehydration
-- ie constant dehydration will make one feel less thirsty.
This is very dangerous, as it easily kick starts a viscous cycle of:
dehydration--> less thirsty --> worse dehydration --> even less thirsty...

(c) Aging will also lower sensitivity to dehydration
-- this is an important message to old folks at home.
When (c) and (b) combine, the severe viscous cycle
can lead to severe health degeneration and sometimes irreversible.

The take home message is to
constantly actively remind ourselves to drink water and
get into a good habit of drinking plenty of water
(drink from a measureable container so that
one may keep track of how much water has been taken during the day).

The good news is that
the more hydrated our body is,
the more easily we feel thirsty!

One may only need to force oneself into a habit of
drinking a lot of water for just two weeks.
After that, our easily thirsty tongue will remind ourselves
to keep drinking (-- yes, autopilot!).


Toast to better health!
Kee Yew
pureland2012-gmail.com

{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (6)

Now that we know we need to drink
lots of water,
this leads to another issue on water
-- that is the quality of water.

In my past lectures,
often I got the same question from the floor,
asking which type of water is good:
tap water, mineral water, distilled water, RO water???

An easy and quick answer is that:
as long as the water we drink,
does not contain:
~germs
~heavy metals
~chemicals (including chlorine)
it's good water.
This also naturally reflects that
any water filter systems that could remove
the above 3 contaminants,
the filter meets its basic functional specification.

If budget allows,
one may opt for more fancy types of water
which may includes the following extra properties:
- alkaline
  (helps reduce acidity of our body)
- small water clusters
  (for better bioavailability and facilitation of detox)
- magnetised
  (for energising cellular functions)




Well wishes,
Kee Yew




{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Reviewing past content @ Learning Holistic Wellness (May 2009 - Mar 2011)

It's has almost been two years
since I first started to do blogging.
And before I realise,
there have already been almost 200 posts.

Hence, I thought it would be useful to
consolidate some special blog postings that
are worth re-visiting.
This content page will also provide convenience
for readers to access to some important wellness information :)

Happy reading!


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Vegetarian Wellness:

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water
Awareness on the Rice
The Fats of Life
The Healing Power of Juices
The critical veg issue of Vitamin B12



Organic Living:

When is organic food truly organic?
How to kick start with Organic Living




Biogenic Living:

Raw Food with the OMMH!
Super Whole Food: Raw Sprouted Beans
The true life force behind Biogenic Cuisine
Life Force Recipes - Explanatory Notes



Holistic Science:

Stories Untold Behind Cancer
The humble truth of genes



Holistic support:

Vegehub.Org: A new landmark for vegetarian landscape
Enhanced Search Engine for Organic Living!
Putting Vegetarian Theories into Practice (Comparative listing of good water systems, edible oils and veg outlets)
The stories behind Simple Vegetarian



********************************************


Should there be any questions about the topics discussed above,
please do email pureland2012-at-gmail.com :-)



********************************************


You may also subscribe to Learning Holistic Wellness by Email,
if you would like timely notice of future blog posting.






Well regards,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (1)

Many may claim that they are familiar with water
which is essential for survival of all living kinds on Earth.

However,
knowing about water is one thing;
appreciating water is another thing.

The fact is
many people take water for granted.

This can be observed when people:

1. seldom take responsibility to hydrate themselves
(e.g. consider bringing water durng outing as a hassle)
2. avoid water during sickness (e.g. afraid of frequent urination or swelling)
3. think that beverages are same as water (e.g. quenching thirst with soft drinks)
...

I remember a lecturer mentioned,
during my 3rd year undergraduate school, that
without the participation of water,
nothing (includes good nutrition and good medicine)
will work...

This is because many biochemical molecules
needs to be hydrolysed or dissociated by water
before their active structures are unveiled
and become functional.

All living things which are aggregates of biochemical reactions,
naturally will stop functioning (or malfunction)
when there is no participation of water.
Hence, water should be kept in an abundant state at all time,
to ensure robust biochemical functions in our body (ie vitality).


Happy drinking :P
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}

Appreciating the intrinsic ingredient of life -- Water (2)

Being a universal solvent,
water offers a lot of miracles in lives.

In chemistry, there is this well known phenomenon:
Like dissolves like.

In simpler terms,
ionic solvent dissolves ionic substances,
organic solvent dissolves ionic subtances,
acid dissolves acidic substances,
base dissolves basic substances.

But, water dissolves substances of various properties above.
Even tho' water may not dissolve large organic particles (e.g. fats) directly,
with the help of amphiteric agent (e.g. soap),
it can almost dissolves everything directly and indirectly.

The versatile solubility of water
renders water an attractive vehicle
for many physiological transportation of
biochemical molecules in living things.

In other words,
water plays multiple roles in our body, ranging from:
nutrients delivery (e.g. vitamins),
toxins removal (e.g. urine),
gaseous exchange (e.g. O2 and CO2)
to biochemical signal transduction (e.g. hormones signaling).

Hence, we could easily imagine,
when our body is dehydrated, we are going to suffer from:
  - certain extent of malnutrition (on cellular level),
     due to inefficient delivery of nutrients
  - toxin accumulation, due to the lack of effort in toxin removal
  - hormonal imbalance, due to poor hormonal signaling
    etc...

With the above scenarios in mind,
a sane person would not risk dehydration at just any moment.


Happy hydration,
Kee Yew
pureland2012-at-gmail.com


 
{Learning Holistic Wellness for Wisdom and Compassion}