Day #2 - The Importance of Drinking Water

Today I woke up and my stomach was growling and burning a little, so I had breakfast not long after rising. This morning I had grapefruit, a piece of high protein toast with spreadable non-fat cream cheese, and coffee. Actually I was surprised that that seemed to tame the growling quickly and actually I didn't get hunger for lunch until around 12:30.  For lunch I fixed a wonderful fruit salad with about 7 different fruits and ate until I felt full.  It really didn't take that much as I was really paying attention to when I was satisfied and then I stopped.  I have been drinking herbal tea and plenty of water.

It is probably my imagination, but I actually feel lighter today and my spirits are high.  I just feel determined and I believe like anything else in life, one must be determined if one wishes to succeed.  Food has been an addiction for me, and like any other addiction, whether it be alcohol, drugs, shopping, sex, etc., a person has got to want to stop the addiction in order to make it happen.  No one, no matter what they say or do, can make someone quit an addiction unless the person wants to stop the behavior themselves.

For many years I worked as a therapeutic massage therapist and I specialized in deep tissue massage.  When I worked on people, I would constantly advise them to drink more water.  It was truly amazing how many people that I spoke with that never drank water or very little.  As a result, their muscles were often riddled with lactic acid, causing muscle spasms and pain, as well as poor skin condition, dry, brittle, rashes, just an array of symptoms due to lack of water.  Often after changing their behavior and incorporating water into their diets even for one week, I would hear my clients raving about the differences they were feeling in their bodies.  Many people were astonished that such as simple thing as drinking the proper amount of water could make such a difference in how they felt, functioned and reduced pain levels.

I cannot stress it enough that the single best fat reducing tool we have is water.  I know this to be a fact, and sometimes I get lax in drinking enough.  But for the most part, it doesn't take much for me to get back in the habit as nothing refreshes and energizes the body like water.  Believe it or not, water speeds up the metabolism.  We always think that caffeine does this, and actually caffeine raises our heart rate and gives us a feeling of speeding up the metabolism, but ultimately, the body will go into a slump after it spikes, leaving our energy levels lagging.  Even worse that that, caffeine dehydrates us (alcohol too).  Now I love my coffee, it's one of my favorite things in life, and I am going to have my two cups in the morning. I don't even speak to anyone before I have a cup, but that is all I allow myself to have any more, other than an occasional cup when I dine out.  It is just not worth it.  Drinking water is what the body needs to raise metabolism.  The true definition of Metabolism is, "The process by which a substance is handled in the body."  Because our body is made of primarily water (and also 2/3 of the earth), it is only logical that we must thrive on the substance and replace what is lost due to dehydrating elements all around us, i.e. sun, salt, caffeine, exercise, heat and air conditioning..... there are a multitude of things in our environment that suck the water right out of us.  We must replace what is lost.

I know that everyone complains that when they start drinking more water, they are constantly running to the bathroom.  This does happen at first, but that is only because the body is flushing itself of the extra old water it was storing (full of toxins I might add), as you are hydrating yourself with new water that is actually alive.  That's right, put water under a microscope and be prepared to be amazed.  It's really a beautiful thing to see.  Eventually the body will learn to adjust and you won't be making as many trips to "pee" as you think you will.

The best of all, if you drink 8 (8 oz.) glasses a day, you will start to see weight drop.  Believe it or not, water actually helps to reduce water weight as well.  By the way, that is not that much to drink as it's about two quarts.  You'll get use to it and actually start to crave and prefer water.  Also, start taking notice at how much better your skin will begin look when you increase water intake.  Think of it as the fluid that makes our body function, which it is, just like oil for an engine.  It's the ultimate fountain of youth too.

TIP:  Drink one or two glasses of water about thirty minutes before a meal.  You should want less to eat, but try not drink or drink very little during the meal.  This allows your digestive fluids to do their job better.  Then try drinking hot tea afterwards, or more water about 30 minutes later.