Thursday, February 7, 2013

The Fuel of Excellence: How to Drink Your Water – A Musician’s Guide to Handling Thirst for Optimal Hydration

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“The person who eats fruits, green and succulent vegetables, and avoids condiments and has overcome his drinking habit, will have little cause for drinking at any time and no cause for drinking at meal time or immediately thereafter. Let him not fear that his health will suffer therefrom. I can assure him that it will improve and quickly at that.”

-         Dr. Herbert Shelton


Introduction

As part of talking about proper food combining I thought it would be important to share some insights about proper water intake with you. In this article, I plan to describe to you some of the knowledge and techniques that I now use to achieve optimal hydration. Because the human body is almost entirely made up of water, it’s important to know how to properly hydrate without falling victim to over- or under-saturation. In my experience and in my studies I’ve found it challenging to arrive at just the right balance with water intake and food consumption. In the past I’ve made the all-to-common mistake of drinking water with my meals and suffering with consequences such as heartburn, acid reflux, and indigestion. 
 
As artists, these consequences are difficult to live with especially during performances and when they act as deterrents to focusing our attention to these conditions instead of to our creative efforts. So it’s my hope that this information will help illuminate an essential area of your life and good health – optimal water intake.

Habitual Drinking

So let’s start with the idea of drinking 6 – 8 glasses of water a day. Habitual drinking, like habitual eating, is a bad idea in that if consumption isn’t based on need, then there really isn’t any reason for it. Drinking water or any other hydrating liquid should be dictated according to thirst. Thirst can be defined as the biological or physiological need for water. So in my experience I’ve found it’s best to avoid routine drinking. Water needs vary with the seasons, activity, age, gender, and climate, so there is no sound reason to medically or nutritionally advise anyone to drink any quantity of water without first knowing something about them and their condition. 
 
Experiments with plants have shown that super-saturation of their protoplasm weakens and even kills them. Similarly, when large quantities of water are taken in by man or animal it produces a state not unlike that of alcoholic intoxication. Excessive water drinking weakens the tissues, dilutes essential bodily fluids, decreases the power of the blood to carry oxygen, and lessens the vitality of the cells. 

Ruining Digestion with Water

Excessive water intake also ruins the digestive process by washing away the very enzymatic secretions needed to break down food in the mouth (from mastication and insalivation) and stomach. Often we drink large quantities of water just before or with our meals so that what results from the little secretions that remain are fermentation throughout the digestive tract (gas, heartburn, etc.) and poor nutrition (undigested or unprocessed food). 

Drinking with meals and excessive water drinking are both known to stimulate the appetite, which is caused by an irritation of the stomach and not by true hunger. This creates a vicious cycle where in general a person eats meals that stimulate a false thirst, which they then respond to by drinking large amounts of water or other beverages (that are really foods or poisons). This in turn washes away the very digestive enzymes manufactured by the body for digestion, thereby encouraging fermentation in the intestinal tract, leading to uncomfortable pressure in the abdomen, heartburn, gas, frequent bowels, and other related conditions.

The horror of this cycle to the health of the individual can be further simplified as a cycle of feeding false hunger and false thirst. Eating too many foods that stimulate false thirst, and drinking too much water that leads to a stimulating of the appetite with a false hunger will both rob the artist and creative type of their vital energies, which they desperately need for their work.

Therefore, it’s best to abstain from drinking with your meals and to reduce your water intake to match physiological demand. No matter what is eaten, as long as it’s edible, the glands of the mouth will supply sufficient quantities of digestive fluids if allowed to do so. And as you’ve read drinking water with meals prevents the digestive fluids from doing the work they were designed to do.

How to Drink Your Water








According to the school of Natural Hygiene, the safest rule on water consumption is “drink as little as a thirst demands.” Other than this there is no hard and fast rule for water drinking. Similarly, there is no absolute rule for how much one ought to eat, breathe, sleep, or have sex. So what does this mean and how is this supposed to help you? 

The intent behind this rule is to get you to listen to your body’s need for water. My personal experience with Natural Hygiene and food combining has included the painstaking process of breaking bad eating and drinking habits borne from years of thoughtless and indiscriminate consumption. As many people are habitual overeaters, similarly these same people habitually super saturate themselves by drinking too much water. The main reason why we drink too much water has to do with ignoring our body’s cues for water intake which is dictated by need, as opposed to irritation or false thirst caused by bad foods or bad combinations of food. 

A false thirst is a demand for water that is caused by eating salt, spices, condiments, greasy dishes, concentrated foods, meat, eggs, cheese, and sugar, all of which cause irritations usually deemed to be thirst. A false thirst usually follows a meal whenever the food is salty, greasy, or full of condiments and spices. This thirst should be ignored, allowing the saliva and stomach secretions to do their work on the food in an attempt to minimize the effect these foods have on the stomach lining and intestinal tract.

In addition, to the “rule” given above it is also safe to drink 15 – 20 minutes before meals, only a little 2 – 3 hours after a starch meal, and similarly a small amount 3 – 4 hours after a protein meal. [To learn more about the difference between these 2 types of meals refer to the article “The Fuel of Excellence: A Musician’s Guide to Proper Food Combining and Optimum Nutrition.”] 

5 Personal Recommendations for Optimal Hydration

For all intents and purposes all forms of purified water are preferred over tap water. Tap water can easily be classified as a poison because of all the deadly chemicals and dangerous substances, which are added to it in an effort to make it safe for contact with man and animals. Because of this water filtration is of the highest necessity for the health conscious artist and creator. So whether you prefer particular brands of water or enjoy the trip to your local water dispensary, or if you like the way distilled, Kangen, or high pH water makes you feel, go ahead and use whatever type or brand of water works well for you. The point of this article was not to get you to change the type of water you drink, instead it’s been to help educate you about water intake, maintaining excellent hydration, and balancing these two factors with proper food combining for optimal nutrition.

Now here are a few suggestions to help you control your water consumption for improved digestion and excellent hydration. 

1) The best form of water comes from a diet in which there is an abundant intake of fresh fruits and vegetables. With such an abundant of fresh fruits and vegetables in one’s diet, the need for water is almost non-existent. Ideally, the only drink you should have is pure water. Most other fluids commonly referred to as drinks are either foods or poisons. For example, fruit and vegetable juices are foods, while alcohol and coffee are poisons.

2) In order to avoid drinking too much water, try measuring your water intake in terms of mouthfuls, instead of in ounces, cups, or other arbitrary measurements unrelated to the size of your body. In other words, try to stop focusing on the amount of water you drink and instead focus on your body’s demand for water. Aside from those of us who have medical conditions that require a high fluid intake, a healthy person is in no danger of dehydration from reducing their water consumption as a drinkable water source is never far from sight. 

3) Another way to reduce your intake proper to your activity, age, gender, and climate is to use small cups or glasses. This will encourage you to ingest smaller amounts of water before, after, or in between meals, while slowing your intake at the same time. 

4) And remember the “rule” on timing your water intake. It is safe to drink water 15 – 20 minutes before meals, little more 2 – 3 hours after a starch meal, and some more 3 – 4 hours after a protein meal. Before you are able to precisely time your water consumption, a preliminary step for you might be to start drinking your water before and between your meals, but never during. 

5) Try to avoid meals with foods that are salty, greasy, or full of condiments and spices. If this is not possible, then rinse your mouth out with water soon after such a meal. This will help dissolve the remaining sugar and salt granules and dilute substances such as vinegar, milk solids, corn syrup, artificial colors and sweeteners, chili powder, and powdered cheeses, all of which are common in most familiar snacks and fast foods. Oftentimes a false thirst psychologically tricks us into drinking more water than we need because food additives cause the mouth to dry. 

Conclusion

Apparently, we are a thirsty nation, although it seems there’s nothing on the market that can quench our thirst. It’s no wonder that the beverage industry has experienced its massive growth in recent years. But for most people it’s a mystery why there’s such a huge market for beverage manufacturers to sell to. However, the mystery is easily dispelled when a little research can tell you that in many instances drink makers are also snack manufacturers. No, I don’t think it’s a conspiracy, but simply a coincidence that makes dollars and cents for companies that were smart enough to see the relationship between consuming sweet, salty, spicy snacks and the resulting thirst eating such “foods” produces. 

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Marc



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