Water -
WATER - Hydrate!
Next to air, water is our most important 'nutrient'. Keeping the body well hydrated is essential to our well-being.
Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day to maintain your internal balance.
Imbalance from even mild dehydration can cause stress hormones to increase since the body sees it as a life-threatening situation.
When stress hormones increase, it causes a cascade of changes to thyroid and other hormones, such as insulin.
Pure filtered water or spring water, when available, is the best.
In addition to water, Organically Bound Minerals can also help with maintaining proper hydration.
These can be found in supplements such as Plant Derived Colloidal Minerals and Hibiscus Tea.
Both help to reduce dehydration and dry mouth, as well as helping to prevent wrinkles and constipation.
Check out the chart HERE to see all the things water can do for the body, as long as we get enough.
See this LIST for helpful Water-Rich Foods.
*****
Blessings and Good Health!
AVOID EXCESS SALT:
Even though a certain amount of salt is necessary for body cells to stay healthy, an excess leads to dehydration and death. Salt will dehydrate the cell so if the cells dehydrate, you dehydrate. Salt can also enter the nerve cell which irritates the nerves and uspets the entire nervous system of the body.
You may think you are rehydrating when you drink salt water but you're not. The kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.
How much salt is too much? Salt, like water, is a key ingredient of life on earth. The right amount of sodium chloride (common table salt) is essential for human health. In fact, our blood is 0.9% salt and our body weight is about 1/400 salt. Living cells depend on sodium chloride to maintain the chemical balances required for complex processes and reactions that take place at the microscopic level.
Insufficient salt intake can lead to fatigue, illness, and death, although it is more common nowadays to hear about health problems associated with too much salt. The National Academy of Sciences' recommended daily dose is 500 mg/day -- though most Americans consume closer to 3,500 mg/day. (A teaspoon of salt equals about 2,000mg.)
We need water to live, and we need salt to live, but we only need a small amount of salt to live. The recommended daily dose is around 500 mg/day--around a quarter of a teaspoonful. The optimal amount of salt varies based on the person's lifestyle, genetic makeup and geographic location (basically, all factors that affect how often and how much you sweat).
Most Americans consume much more than they need, around 3500 mg/day, and probably even more than that.
Take a lot of salt into your body and your metabolism very quickly goes into crisis. From every cell, water molecules rush off like so many voluntary firemen to try to dilute and carry off the sudden intake of salt. This leaves the cells dangerously short of the water they need to carry out their normal functions.
They become, in a word, dehydrated. In extreme situations, dehydration will lead to seizures, unconsciousness, and brain damage. Meanwhile, the overworked blood cells carry the salt to the kidneys, which eventually become overwhelmed and shut down. Without functioning kidneys you die. That is why we don't drink seawater.
If you do choose to salt your food, however, it is best to use a small amount of Sea Salt as it is more natural than common table salt, which is a lab-produced chemical compound. Even better is to get our sodium from an organic source rather than an inorganic (chemical) source.
Organic sources of sodium are found in most fresh fruits and vegetables, which will also contain the perfect balance of all other essential vitamins and minerals. (Plants 'eat' the mineral rich dirt, and we in turn eat the plants and receive these nutrients from them. We can't assimilate minerals directly from the ground.)
The Osteoporosis Connection: For the body to assimilate 1 gram of sodium, 1 to 2 miligrams of calcium are needed. A high sodium diet (from table salt and processed foods) results in a daily calcium loss, and eventually, a loss of bone mass.
What would happen to you if you drank seawater? We need water to live, and we need salt to live, so what's the big deal about sailors not being able to drink saltwater?
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Mark Kurlansky, in Salt: A World History, says that "Without sodium, which the body cannot manufacture, the body would be unable to transport nutrients or oxygen, transmit nerve impulses, or move muscles, including the heart."
Salt is essential for digestion and respiration. But when we're talking about seawater, we're not just talking about common salt. The composition of ocean salt is very complex.
The ocean is classified as "highly saline" (over 1.0% dissolved salts.) In fact, seawater is around 3.5% dissolved salts by weight. That's about three times as salty as human blood. That's way more salt than we can safely metabolize.
Interestingly, the proportion of minerals and salts in human tissue is very similar to the composition of seawater. The adult human body contains enough salt to fill about three salt shakers, but the salt is constantly lost through bodily functions like sweating, crying, urinating, etc. It is essential to replace this lost salt, but not to over-replace.
So--what happens if you drink seawater? Bill Bryson puts it vividly:
We can't tolerate seawater consumption. Our cells can't take it and our kidneys can't take it.
Take a lot of salt into your body and your metabolism very quickly goes into crisis. From every cell, water molecules rush off like so many voluntary firemen to try to dilute and carry off the sudden intake of salt. This leaves the cells dangerously short of the water they need to carry out their normal functions.
They become, in a word, dehydrated. In extreme situations, dehydration will lead to seizures, unconsciousness, and brain damage. Meanwhile, the overworked blood cells carry the salt to the kidneys, which eventually become overwhelmed and shut down. Without functioning kidneys you die. That is why we don't drink seawater.
Our kidneys can make urine only slightly less salty than salt water. Hence, if you drink too much salt water, you need to urinate more water than you drank to get rid of the excess salt, and dehydration sets in. Drinking even a little seawater starts you down a dangerous road: The more you drink, the thirstier you get.
Resources:
Kurlansky, Mark; Salt: A World History, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY (2002)
Bryson, Bill; A Short History of Nearly Everything; Broadway Books, NY (2003)
Don't Let Yourself Get Dehydrated!
WATER - Hydrate!
Next to air, water is our most important 'nutrient'. Keeping the body well hydrated is essential to our well-being.
Drink at least half your body weight in ounces of water each day to maintain your internal balance.
Imbalance from even mild dehydration can cause stress hormones to increase since the body sees it as a life-threatening situation.
When stress hormones increase, it causes a cascade of changes to thyroid and other hormones, such as insulin.
Pure filtered water or spring water, when available, is the best.
In addition to water, Organically Bound Minerals can also help with maintaining proper hydration.
These can be found in supplements such as Plant Derived Colloidal Minerals and Hibiscus Tea.
Both help to reduce dehydration and dry mouth, as well as helping to prevent wrinkles and constipation.
Check out the chart HERE to see all the things water can do for the body, as long as we get enough.
See this LIST for helpful Water-Rich Foods.
*****
Blessings and Good Health!
AVOID EXCESS SALT:
Even though a certain amount of salt is necessary for body cells to stay healthy, an excess leads to dehydration and death. Salt will dehydrate the cell so if the cells dehydrate, you dehydrate. Salt can also enter the nerve cell which irritates the nerves and uspets the entire nervous system of the body.
You may think you are rehydrating when you drink salt water but you're not. The kidneys can only make urine that is less salty than salt water. Therefore, to get rid of all the excess salt taken in by drinking salt water, you have to urinate more water than you drank, so you die of dehydration.
How much salt is too much? Salt, like water, is a key ingredient of life on earth. The right amount of sodium chloride (common table salt) is essential for human health. In fact, our blood is 0.9% salt and our body weight is about 1/400 salt. Living cells depend on sodium chloride to maintain the chemical balances required for complex processes and reactions that take place at the microscopic level.
Insufficient salt intake can lead to fatigue, illness, and death, although it is more common nowadays to hear about health problems associated with too much salt. The National Academy of Sciences' recommended daily dose is 500 mg/day -- though most Americans consume closer to 3,500 mg/day. (A teaspoon of salt equals about 2,000mg.)
We need water to live, and we need salt to live, but we only need a small amount of salt to live. The recommended daily dose is around 500 mg/day--around a quarter of a teaspoonful. The optimal amount of salt varies based on the person's lifestyle, genetic makeup and geographic location (basically, all factors that affect how often and how much you sweat).
Most Americans consume much more than they need, around 3500 mg/day, and probably even more than that.
Take a lot of salt into your body and your metabolism very quickly goes into crisis. From every cell, water molecules rush off like so many voluntary firemen to try to dilute and carry off the sudden intake of salt. This leaves the cells dangerously short of the water they need to carry out their normal functions.
They become, in a word, dehydrated. In extreme situations, dehydration will lead to seizures, unconsciousness, and brain damage. Meanwhile, the overworked blood cells carry the salt to the kidneys, which eventually become overwhelmed and shut down. Without functioning kidneys you die. That is why we don't drink seawater.
If you do choose to salt your food, however, it is best to use a small amount of Sea Salt as it is more natural than common table salt, which is a lab-produced chemical compound. Even better is to get our sodium from an organic source rather than an inorganic (chemical) source.
Organic sources of sodium are found in most fresh fruits and vegetables, which will also contain the perfect balance of all other essential vitamins and minerals. (Plants 'eat' the mineral rich dirt, and we in turn eat the plants and receive these nutrients from them. We can't assimilate minerals directly from the ground.)
The Osteoporosis Connection: For the body to assimilate 1 gram of sodium, 1 to 2 miligrams of calcium are needed. A high sodium diet (from table salt and processed foods) results in a daily calcium loss, and eventually, a loss of bone mass.
What would happen to you if you drank seawater? We need water to live, and we need salt to live, so what's the big deal about sailors not being able to drink saltwater?
Water, water, every where,
Nor any drop to drink.
--Samuel Taylor Coleridge, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner
Mark Kurlansky, in Salt: A World History, says that "Without sodium, which the body cannot manufacture, the body would be unable to transport nutrients or oxygen, transmit nerve impulses, or move muscles, including the heart."
Salt is essential for digestion and respiration. But when we're talking about seawater, we're not just talking about common salt. The composition of ocean salt is very complex.
The ocean is classified as "highly saline" (over 1.0% dissolved salts.) In fact, seawater is around 3.5% dissolved salts by weight. That's about three times as salty as human blood. That's way more salt than we can safely metabolize.
Interestingly, the proportion of minerals and salts in human tissue is very similar to the composition of seawater. The adult human body contains enough salt to fill about three salt shakers, but the salt is constantly lost through bodily functions like sweating, crying, urinating, etc. It is essential to replace this lost salt, but not to over-replace.
So--what happens if you drink seawater? Bill Bryson puts it vividly:
We can't tolerate seawater consumption. Our cells can't take it and our kidneys can't take it.
Take a lot of salt into your body and your metabolism very quickly goes into crisis. From every cell, water molecules rush off like so many voluntary firemen to try to dilute and carry off the sudden intake of salt. This leaves the cells dangerously short of the water they need to carry out their normal functions.
They become, in a word, dehydrated. In extreme situations, dehydration will lead to seizures, unconsciousness, and brain damage. Meanwhile, the overworked blood cells carry the salt to the kidneys, which eventually become overwhelmed and shut down. Without functioning kidneys you die. That is why we don't drink seawater.
Our kidneys can make urine only slightly less salty than salt water. Hence, if you drink too much salt water, you need to urinate more water than you drank to get rid of the excess salt, and dehydration sets in. Drinking even a little seawater starts you down a dangerous road: The more you drink, the thirstier you get.
Resources:
Kurlansky, Mark; Salt: A World History, Walker Publishing Co., Inc, NY (2002)
Bryson, Bill; A Short History of Nearly Everything; Broadway Books, NY (2003)
Don't Let Yourself Get Dehydrated!
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