Life-giving Water and You

In this blog I’ve chosen to focus simply on hydration and life-giving water. I’m including my hydration journey, my hydration hacks, my hydration research resources and some high-level tips about water filters/purification systems and water structurers which will make all the difference on your water drinking journey.

Staying hydrated has become a passion for me and with each day that my cells get their fill of vital life-giving water, I feel healthier and more alive than ever before. I’ve worked out some life hacks that keep my hydration levels optimal and I’ll share all I know with you. (Disclaimer: this is not medical advice!)

Pause reading, I insist ;), so you can hydrate while you read

A friend inspired me

A few days ago a dear friend called me to chat about wellness. She was feeling fatigued and was suffering from constipation. At first, we started chatting about the overarching philosophy of nutrition recommended by the Weston A. Price Foundation. Within a few moments I stopped the food talk (obviously bone broth, obviously fermented foods and so on) and shifted the rest of the 45 minutes to WATER alone.

My friend assured me that she was blessed because she had an e-Spring water purification system. But she noticed in that moment, being 10am, she had not had a drop of this clean water to drink. I often used to find myself in her position so I suggested we pause the conversation for enough time for her to pour at least 1 litre of life-giving water into a jug and get settled again so she could drink water while we chatted. At the same time, I filled my 1 litre glass water bottle all the way to the top from my treasured under-counter water filter system. Both equipped to hydrate, we chatted all about water and this is what I shared:

A worthwhile chat about water

Water Purification and Filtration:

A water purifier or water filtration system is necessary for us folk who live in cities and not directly accessing our water at the clean water source itself. The system removes debris and bacteria giving us cleaner water than straight from the tap. I will dedicate more blogs to this in future when I describe and compare all sorts of systems for you to consider.

Water Structurers:

What a water filter DOESN’T do is energize our water to mimic exactly the life-force it contains when coming directly from the natural source…in nature. You can drink a lot of clean, filtered water and still not be, or feel, hydrated. What’s missing is one small step that energizes your water and presents it to your cells in the same form that water exists in nature. This is called structuring your water. Once you’ve felt the joy of drinking structured water, you cannot go back. Structured water is easy to drink, immediately hydrating and accessible to your body to use. I used to be filled with guilt about water. I knew I needed more. I knew I was dehydrated. Body work such as body talk and kinesiology used to come up with a dire warning that my body was desperate for more water, but I found drinking water to be a hardship, a chore and something I did under duress, with guilt, never feeling like I had done enough but never able to do more. Through the Weston A. Price Foundation, I discovered structured water and fell in love with water like no other water I had tasted before. It is smooth. It is almost sweet in taste. It is hydrating. There are many ways you can DIY structure your water and I’ll take you through each one in a dedicated blog post. I started out DIY-ing. Later when I felt the immense life-altering benefits of structured water we installed a water structurer linked to our water filtration system. You can do all this too, and I’ll share all I know on this particular topicon an upcoming blog

Water in nature is energized

My water drinking life hacks and habits:

To make water drinking a sustainable part of my day, I follow these few habits and they work for me; try out a few of them and see what works for you. Whatever you choose, go slow in the beginning. Your cells will thank you! They’ll be saying “THANK YOU for helping us, now we will help you”…and that help may be in the form of a detox! So, go slowly and start early every day. My tips for staying hydrated are here:

Understand your own thirst cues

I didn’t know whether to make this the first point or the last so I may repeat it! Thirst cues are subtle things that give up easily. A cue could be that you start thinking about water. It could be that you feel a dryness in your mouth. It could be that you start craving something sweet or salty or a stimulant like caffeine. When these shy thirst cues don’t get a response, they just sort of give up and disappear. If you find you are “not thirsty” it could be because the thirst cues your body is sending are very quiet, misunderstood or unintentionally being ignored :-(.

Prepare the day before

At night I fill my 1 litre bottle with structured, purified water and put it in my room ready for when I wake in the morning. I find this step critical. The rest of the day seems to flow beautifully when I hydrate my body early on. When I miss this step my thirst cues seem quieter, and I find it more work to drink the amount I need to that day. This tiny preparation investment is essential.

Start early, avoid cramming

In the morning I start drinking that 1 litre bottle on rising or shortly afterwards. I used to force that water down. After time I realised that was rather a violent wake up for my body so now I ease into it and within an hour or so of waking, I’ve had the 1 litre, and another 500-750ml or so usually by 10am. Starting early is what I feel makes all the difference. Cramming 3 litres of water in towards the end of the day isn’t the best idea: it’s harsh on your body, you won’t enjoy it and you’ll be up all night needing to pee! Start early, on rising and throughout the morning. Personally, this is my best and most enjoyable hydration time. My body seems to desire the most water in the morning. From about midday, I drink less, and it is more spaced out, but I do still make a conscious effort to stay hydrated for the rest of the day.

A time to drink separate from a time to eat

I’m usually not eating and drinking at the same time. About 20 years ago I read a book about food combining. I was drawn to the book because it was reputed to hold the cure for “heartburn” aka acid reflux, and it lived up to that promise. One of the recommendations in the book was not to eat and drink at the same time as it can dilute your stomach acid and make food digestion less effective. I still avoid drinking a lot with a meal. So, my drinking time is quite separate from my eating time.

Take the time to drink your water

I’m not an advocate for taking little sips of water continuously through the day. That may be a style you start out with and that’s ok. When we observe animals in the wild, we see that they drink a decent quantity of water at intervals through the day. They are not carrying around a water bottle! Although my glass water bottle is my constant companion, I drink the whole bottle at regular intervals instead of little sips all day long. See what works for you and adapt as your body becomes used to being hydrated.

Animals taking the time to drink water

“The more you drink; the more you drink. The less you drink; the less you drink.”

I coined this little term by observation recently. When I ignore or misunderstand my subtle thirst cues my body gets despondent and/or loses the energy to keep sending them and I drink less. When I am in tune with my cues and prepare for the day starting early, I drink much more. So keep hydrating and your thirst cues will be more resilient and determined to get through to you. When a thirst cue gets its response you’ll find you are able to drink larger quantities and it isn’t a hardship to do so; it isn’t difficult to drink the water, your body is ready to receive it with grace and gratitude.

Hydration is Healing; Dehydration is Serious!

Some clues that you maybe dehydrated include brain-fog, a bad mood, constipation, dry or chapped lips and/or a dry mouth to name just five. When your body has the tools it wants to heal – it will do so. One of those tools is water. If you find yourself feeling tired, experiencing a slump in the day or even just a drop in your mood, try drinking a glass of life-giving water.

Consider the temperature of your water

I will be taking a deep dive into this on another blog post but in the meantime let me share what I have observed so far: it seems easier to drink room temperature water or warm water. Very cold water may be harsher to assimilate. Since I want to support my hydration as much as possible, I reach for room temperature and warm water over cold water. See what you prefer and let me know what it is.

How’s that hydration going?

How do other liquids compare to water?

Are you wondering whether the herbal teas or juice you drink counts as “water”, after all it does contain water, doesn’t it? My quick answer is: there is NO substitute for water. Pure water is so easy for your body to digest and use, I wouldn’t dare compromise on that by initiating a hydration source that requires extra work from the body in terms of digestion. In a future blog post I want to dive deep into this aspect of water and hydration. Having said that I do include the following in my diet: a daily glass of raw milk; a daily mug of bone broth; and water kefir, beet kvass or kombucha when I have them. BUT I consider all of those to be nourishing FOOD and not a water source.

Boost your water by adding a healing tonic

I’ve just said there is NO substitute for drinking water. I am sticking to that but sometimes you might want to add variety and boost hydration so you may enjoy these additions to some of your daily life-giving water: natural salt (Himalayan salt, sea salt etc.), a squeeze of fresh lemon juice, some pure apple cider vinegar.

Conclusion

Water is wise and water is healing – I wish you luck on your journey to hydration. I can tell you this much: it is an everyday effort that gets easier over time; it is rewarding, and your body will thank you. I am sending you the resilience to keep it up. Reach out to me anytime to chat about this blog and your journey, I love hearing from my community at Better Water SA .