Chronic Dehydration:
The Hidden Cause of Symptoms
Dr. Jacqueline Paltis, chiropractor/naturopath, is a certified instructor of Total Body Modification (TBM) and has taught internationally. Dr. Paltis is a Certified Clinical Nutritionist (IAACN) and holds a post-graduate diplomate in nutrition (DACBN), as well as two diplomates in Homeopathy. She is author of The Sugar Control Bible and Cookbook. Dr. Paltis is also a certified Neuro-Linguistic Programming (NLP) trainer; and both a Neuro-Emotional Technique (NET) and Emotional Freedom Technique (EFT) practitioner.
Coffee and Soda Are Hydrating—NOT!
In thumbing through a Time Magazine last month, I came upon a full-page
Coca Cola ad announcing the surprising result of new research showing that
drinks that are diuretics (like tea), or just plain bad for your health (like
Coke), can be used by the body to hydrate.
The statement sounded rather biased and self-serving, to say the least.
However, I am still willing to learn new things, so I went searching for
the source of this new research. Digging deeply into Coke’s website, I finally
found two sources mentioned: 1.) The Beverage Institute for Health and Wellness
2.) International Life Sciences Institute (ILSI).
Did I say biased and self-serving? The Beverage Institute is a
non-profit, wholly funded by Coca Cola, and the ILSI is a Washington-based
lobbying organization funded by Bayer AG, Coca-Cola, DowAgro /Dow Chemical,
DuPont, ExxonMobil, General Mills, Hershey Foods, Kellogg, Kraft and
McDonald’s.
Stick with the old cowboy song, “Cool, Clear Water.”
Speaking of cowboys—or at least their horses. A serious and often fatal problem
for horses is colic. I learned on M*A*S*H that lack of sufficient
drinking water can be one of the causes of this condition. So, I checked
in with both a TBM chiropractic vet and a patient who owns horses about how
much water a horse needs to stay healthy. In warmer weather, the average horse
drinks about 20 gallons of water daily. The average horse weighs 1100 pounds.
That comes out to about 22 gallons a day at the same rate that we recommend
that people drink water. The recommendation for humans is 1 quart of
water/50 pounds of body weight (or any part thereof)/per day. Therefore,
a person weighing 156 pounds needs at least 4 quarts of water a day to be
healthy. More water is required in hot weather, with heavy exercise, and
with illness.
I say if it is good enough for a horse, it is even better for you.
Chronic Dehydration: The Hidden Cause of Symptoms
Fatigue
Allergies
Asthma
Acid Reflux
Heartburn
Peptic Ulcers
Constipation
Diverticulitis
Hemorrhoids
Polyps
Colon Cancer
High Blood Pressure
Gall Bladder Disease
Diabetes, Type II
Cataracts
These conditions are ultimately symptoms and diseases caused by
low-grade chronic dehydration. Acute dehydration—usually associated with
heatstroke—causes thirst, loss of appetite, headache, pallor, dizziness, fever,
flu-like symptoms, vomiting, rapid heartbeat and inability to concentrate. (see
Wellness News 6/04). [Actually, a less common problem, over hydration or
hyper hydration, causes the same symptoms.]
Fatigue is the first symptom, because water is the primary driving force
in creating cellular energy. As little as a 1% water decrease leads to a
tenfold energy decrease.
Dehydration triggers histamine release to regulate thirst and ration the
body’s water when there isn’t enough available. This causes allergies.
You can take antihistamines to relieve the allergy symptoms, but they
further increase the dehydration.
Digestive problems occur because digestive acids and enzymes, which are
water-based molecules, diminish. One explanation of acid reflux is that
food remains in the stomach too long (due to chronic dehydration) and begins to
push upward against the upper stomach sphincter, leading to heartburn and
indigestion, bloating, constipation. Peristalsis (the muscular
contractions of the digestive tract that push the food along) and digestion
require a lot of water. However, since the body’s cells have priority,
the scarce water may be reabsorbed from the colon to put into the cells,
leaving a dry impacted mass in the intestines.
Here are five symptoms of deep chronic dehydration. Each symptom aids
the body in conserving water to protect vital areas of the body:
Asthma
Allergies
Hypertension
Constipation
Type II Diabetes
Water is becoming more acceptable as a drink of choice (especially if
you carry around chic bottles of designer water). But for many years, people
considered it to be a sign of illness. About 20 years ago, my aunt spread
a rumor in the family that I had diabetes. Her information was based solely
upon the fact that she saw me drinking “too much” water. And, of course,
she never asked me.
Signals of Thirst
| Dry Mouth: | Drink water. |
| Hunger and Food Cravings (for sugar and starchy carbs): | Drink two glasses of water. |
| Brain: Depression, Anxiety, Irritability, Anger, Short Attention Span, Impatience, Short-Term Memory Loss: | The brain is only 2% of body weight, but it uses 15% of the blood and lymph circulation (water). |
| Morning Sickness of Pregnancy (histamine release): | Mother has to provide water for 1 trillion cell divisions of fetus. Drink water and avoid dehydrators like caffeine and alcohol |
| Dark Yellow/Orange Urine: | The body recirculates urine, when necessary, to conserve water. Urine becomes very concentrated (and very acidic). Urine should be very pale yellow. In general, if you are trying to balance your body’s pH based on readings of acidic urine, the first line of defense is plain good quality drinking water. |
Dehydration contributes to all dysfunctions and diseases through
increased histamine and cortisol release, increases blood acidity, and
decreases many enzymatic reactions. Further degeneration occurs when the
proteins and enzymes (which are also proteins) gradually become less efficient.
What Causes Dehydration?
People don’t drink water, because they don’t like it and because
they think other fluids will fill the need. In a time of famine and
drought, that may be true. And such adaptations will enable a human being to
survive in the short term. But they will not promote health. When
you don’t drink enough water, your body might just as well be trying to survive
a drought in Somalia.
Another big problem—and why we need more water than we used to (1 quart/50 lbs
of body weight/per day) —is that today’s drinking water lacks vital energy.
Water from the tap has been chemically treated to deal with the major
pollutants that will cause frank illness. So your body is trying to deal
with water polluted and devitalized by sewage and industrial wastes, and then
with water that has been further devitalized by chemical treatment. I was
taking a shower at my parent’s condo in Miami a few years ago and the shower
water smelled much better than usual. I thought the community had
installed water purification. Ha! A few days later I learned that
Miami is now adding chemicals to their water to mask the smell of the chlorine.
TBM and Cool, Clear Water
TBM has several
corrections that specifically affect your body’s ability to use the water that
you drink. A primary correction is Water Utilization. This harmonizes
pancreas and liver function so that your body remembers what to do with the
water you drank. Another of these corrections is Water Metabolism. If you
experience water in/water out, you need these corrections. In addition,
if you are at the stage where you dribble a little when you laugh or sneeze, or
you do not quite make it to the bathroom, at the very least, you need an
abdominal lift. This gets your intestines back up where they belong,
instead of lying on the bladder. When the intestines have dropped, the
pressure on the bladder does not allow for filling of the organ. So a
small amount of urine will set off a message to urinate (the micturation
reflex), but there is very little to expel each time (overactive bladder). We also
have an allergy harmonization treatment for “Your Drinking Water.” The
Body Fluids point regulates extracellular water, the Lymph point regulates the
water of the lymph, Circulation does the same for blood, and Cerebro-Spinal
Fluid correction balances the water of the brain.
If you can only drink water in tiny sips, you have the textbook definition of
heavy metal toxicity of copper. The primary way to get this is from the copper
plumbing your drinking water travels through (also from copper and copper-bottomed
pots and pans). The TBM treatment for copper toxicity will handle this
along with some specific nutritional chelators.
Personally, I purify my tap water with a reverse osmosis (RO) unit from
http://www.ewater.com/ <http://www.ewater.com/>. Then I revitalize
the water. In the early 80s, I used pyramid generators. Now I use
an electrical Vitalizer unit or homeopathically charged containers. The
aim of this process is to restore the normal hexagonal shape of pure natural
water molecules. When frozen, pure water molecules form hexagonal
crystals that look like snowflakes. Polluted water does not.
E-water (Trinisol) produces Quanta Water. This is a frequency-treated RO
water that harnesses the energy of nature with harmonics that resonate in
unison with the body’s crystalline structures to energize our cells. Highly
coherent, Quanta Water contains life-supporting resonances, the earth’s
magnetic energies, and has low surface tension with vortex-spin motion, and a
high Bovis potential. We have tested this water at TBM and find that your
body will accept it as water and that if you put a little bit into each gallon
of water you drink and swig a teaspoon or so throughout the day, your body will
use its water much more healthfully and efficiently.
Fred Van Liew, the owner of ewater.com, can help you figure out exactly what
kind of water purification is best for your situation, based on what kind of
water is in your tap and where it comes from and the type of home you live in.
Not all situations call for the same solutions. Fred also has
solutions for swimming pools, showers, etc. http://www.ewater.com/
<http://www.ewater.com/>
If you go to: http://www.hado.net/ <http://www.hado.net/> you will be
exposed to some of the ideas and water photos of Japanese researcher Masuru
Emoto. Emoto has written several great books including The Hidden
Messages in Water and The Secret Life of Water. His research indicates
that if you write the words “unconditional love and gratitude” on paper and
place them under your water containers, the water will reorganize to the
healthful hexagonal configuration. He has tried many different words, and
has found that in all languages the concepts of unconditional love and
gratitude produce the most balanced configurations.
Did You Know? [Source AARP]
One glass of water shuts down midnight hunger pangs for almost 100% of dieters in a University of Washington study.
Lack of water is the #1 trigger of daytime fatigue.
Preliminary research indicates that 8-10 glasses of water a day could significantly ease back and joint pain for up to 80% of sufferers. [Remember TBM’s Water Trick?]
A mere 2% drop in body water can trigger fuzzy short-term memory, trouble with basic math, and difficulty focusing on the computer screen or on a printed page.
Drinking5 glasses of water daily decreases the risk of colon cancer by 45%,slashes the risk of breast cancer by 79%, and bladder cancer by 50%.
Hydration and Exercise
For successful workouts, keep well hydrated before, during and after
exercise. The length of workouts, heat, humidity and the amount you sweat are
all major considerations for maintaining proper fluid balance.
Start hydrating early by drinking 1-2 glasses of water in the morning.
Keep a water bottle with you all day long and drink from it. Refill it.
Drink before you get thirsty.
Drink1-2 glasses of water 30 minutes before exercise.
Drink1/2 – 1 glass of water for every 15 minutes of exercise.
Replenish lost fluids (2-1/2 glasses for every pound lost during exercise).
Keep drinking even after your thirst is quenched.
If you exercise less than 45 minutes, water is the best choice.
For longer workouts or high-intensity workouts, replacing electrolytes is
beneficial. You can make your own sports drinks by adding Celtic sea salt
to water or a 50-50 water/juice combination. Add a little Sucanat as
well.
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