Integrative Health Blog

Water is essential for optimal health.

Every cell in your body needs water to function.

It is important to understand the quantity of water, as you drink it, and the quality of water.

Not only are you drinking it everyday but you are bathing in it too.We absorb water internally and externally through our skin.

Just like eating should be mindful, drinking water should be as well. It’s more than just a glass to your lips and chugging.

With just a little bit more awareness, the way you drink water can have a significant impact on your life. For me, it meant not having a water baby after eating meals. For you, it might mean not having to race to go to the bathroom all day long, or get up in the middle of the night.

12 Ways to get the maximum benefits of drinking water:

• Take sips, not full-glass chugs. Sip, swallow, and breathe.

• Sip water throughout the day. If you chug a lot at once, your body will not absorb all of it and it will run right through you, causing you to run straight for the bathroom. Drinking about 1 cup of water an hour is most hydrating to the body and easily absorbed.

• To make sure you are drinking enough water, your urine should be clear or slightly yellow. If you pinch the skin on the top of your hand and it takes a second to fall back in place, you may be dehydrated.

• Ditch the ice.

• Ditch the tap water too. Go for filtered water, spring water, and/or structured water.

• Warm water or room temperature water is the best. Especially first thing in the morning (with lemon!)because  you don’t want to shock your body with ice cold water.

• Don’t drink while you eat, this dilutes your digestion process.

• Don’t drink cold water after a meal. Cold water solidifies the fatty contents of the foods that you have consumed, making the digestion process difficult. Instead, enjoy a cup of tea or soup if you need something.

• Opt for a glass or stainless steel container. Ditch plastic water bottles. Plastic waste from plastic bottles are harmful to you and the environment. There is a chemical called Bisphenol A, or BPA in plastics which makes the plastic reusable bottles hard and unbreakable. BPA's get inside your body through things that you eat and drink because they leak through your containers.

• Add lemon, lime, or cucumber for extra nutrients and fun! If you really want to get crazy, add some spicy cayenne!

• Try not drinking 2 hours before you go to bed so you can really enjoy your night’s sleep without interruptions. And try not eating 3 hours before bed.

• Add liquid minerals to your water. I like to add Matrix Minerals.
  

Mindfulness is the practice of being fully present and alive. When I drink water, I know that I am drinking the water and gaining healthy hydration and detoxification benefits. Mindfulness brings concentration. The principle is simple: to bring our minds back to our bodies, realize we are truly present and to become fully alive and aware.