The Most Important Thing

So you may be thinking: of all the things in the world what is the Most Important Thing? Now there could arguably be many Most Important Things, but the one I want to talk about today is Water.

The human body is anywhere from 55% to 78% water. Water is essential for survival. Without all your cells shrivel up and you die! Well, not exactly, but you do die. You can live for at least 40 days without food (I know, I've done it) but only 2 or 3 days without water. Normally about 20% of your water intake comes from food, but that still leaves a whole lot of water to consume. Most people agree that the average person needs to consume about 64 oz every day in order to stay properly hydrated. That means you need to be drinking at least 6 normal glasses of water a day. If your like me the easiest way to keep track is by drinking out of bottles - 2 1/2 20oz bottles is the minimum amount of water we should all be consuming everyday (and coffee, soda and alcohol don't count). Obviously if you are sweating or exerting yourself a lot, or if you are pregnant or nursing you need to be drinking more water. Some of this is just common sense.

So we all know that water is essential to life. But how many of us actually make sure that we are consuming 64 oz of water a day? Maybe if we were more aware of the many benefits of drinking water (and the consequences of not) we would do more of it. So here are the reasons to drink water.

Dehydration: can lead to malabsorption of nutrients, fatigue, headaches, weight gain, chronic constipation, memory loss, kidney malfunction and high cholesterol. Bet you didn't know that. Some of the symptoms are dark urine, dry skin, fatigue, thirst (obviously), but actually the first sign is hunger! Most of the time when you feel hungry you are actually thirsty so...

Drinking water can help you lose weight! If every time you feel hungry you just drink a glass of water you will only end up eating when your body actually needs food.

You can have fabulous skin! Some of you may not care about this, but if you are constantly fighting dry skin and are noticing wrinkles when you think they shouldn't be there...drink water! Water helps replenish skin tissues, moisturizes skin and increases skin elasticity. So instead of buying those expensive skin moisturizers drink water.

You will be more productive. Your brain is 90% water so staying properly hydrated will help you think better, be more alert and more concentrated

One of the primary causes of muscle cramps is dehydration so if you find yourself being woken up in the middle of the night with charlie horses drink water.

Water helps flush the toxins out of the body and maintains proper functioning in all of the body's systems. When your body is functioning efficiently you will feel more energetic and enjoy better overall health. For the same reasons water is the best way to combat jet lag! You lose about 8oz of water every hour you are on a plane! That means if you drink a glass of water every hour you are only replacing what you lost. So drink twice as much water when you fly and you will feel so much better.

I could go on and on and on and on but I won't. Hopefully this will encourage you to drink more water and live healthier. I know I am about to take a big swig out of my own bottle in just a moment. So feel better, have better skin, combat jet lag, be more productive and lost weight! Drink water!

And now you know!