NaturalNews)
The human body is composed of 75 percent water and 25 percent solid matter. To
provide nourishment, eliminate waste and conduct all the trillions of activities
in the body, we need water. Most modern societies, however, no longer stress the
importance of drinking water as the most important "nutrient" among nutrients.
Entire population groups are substituting water with tea, coffee, alcohol and
other manufactured beverages. Many people don't realize that the natural thirst
signal of the body is a sign that it requires pure, plain drinking water.
Instead, they opt for other beverages in the belief that this will satisfy the
body's water requirements. This is a false belief.
Common Beverage
Substitutions Lead to Dehydration
It is true that beverages such as
tea, coffee, wine, beer, soft drinks, sports drinks and juices contain water,
but they also contain caffeine, alcohol, sugar, artificial sweeteners or other
chemicals that act as strong dehydrators. The more of these beverages you
consume, the more dehydrated your body becomes because the effects they create
in the body are exactly opposite the ones that are produced by water. Beverages
containing caffeine, for example, trigger stress responses that at first have
strong diuretic effects, leading to increased urination. Beverages with added
sugar drastically raise blood sugar levels. Any beverage that provokes such a
response coerces the body to give up large quantities of water. Regular
consumption of such beverages results in chronic dehydration, which plays a part
in every toxicity crisis (the body's effort to rid itself of accumulated
toxins).
There is no practical or rational reason to treat an illness
(toxicity crisis) with synthetic drugs or even with natural medications and
methods unless the body's need for hydration has been met first. Drugs and other
forms of medical intervention can be dangerous for the human physiology largely
because of their strongly dehydrating effects. Most patients nowadays are
suffering from "thirst disease," a progressive condition of dehydration. Some
parts of the body may be dehydrated more than others. Unable to remove toxins
from these parts due to insufficient water reserves, the body is faced with the
consequences of their destructive effects (toxemia). The lack of recognition of
the most basic aspects of water metabolism in the body more often than not
becomes a "diagnosed" illness, when it is really the body's desperate cry for
water. What doctors generally refer to as disease, is largely an advanced
condition of dehydration and the resulting inability of the body to rid itself
of waste materials and toxins.
Recognizing
Dehydration
Those who have lived for many years without proper water
intake are the most likely to succumb to the buildup of toxins in the body.
Chronic disease is always accompanied by dehydration and, in many cases, caused
by it. The longer a person lives on a low water ration and/or on a high ration
of stimulating beverages or foods, the more severe and long-lasting will be the
toxicity crisis. Heart disease, obesity, diabetes, rheumatoid arthritis, stomach
ulcers, hypertension, cancer, MS, Alzheimer's, and many other chronic forms of
disease are preceded by years of "body drought." Infectious agents such as
bacteria and viruses cannot thrive in a well-hydrated body. Drinking enough
water is, therefore, one of the most important disease-prevention measures you
can take.
Those who do not drink enough water, or who unduly deplete
their body's water reserves through overstimulation for a period of time,
gradually lower the ratio of the volume of water that exists inside the cells to
the ratio of the volume of water that is found outside the cells. Normally, the
water ratio inside cells is higher than the one found in the cell environment.
Under conditions of dehydration, the cells may lose up to 28 percent or more of
their water volume. This certainly undermines all cellular activities, whether
the cells in question are those of the skin, stomach, liver, kidney, heart or
brain. Whenever there is cellular dehydration, metabolic waste products are not
removed properly. This causes symptoms that resemble disease, but they are
really just indicators of disturbed water metabolism.
Since more and more
water begins to accumulate outside the cells in order to dilute and help
neutralize the toxic waste products that have accumulated there, the dehydration
may not be apparent to the afflicted person. He may, in fact, notice that he
begins to hold on to water in his legs, feet, arms and face. His kidneys may
also begin to hold on to water, markedly reducing urinary secretion and causing
the retention of potentially harmful waste products. Normally, cellular enzymes
signal to the brain when cells run low on water. Enzymes in dehydrated cells,
however, become so inefficient that they are no longer able to register the
drought-like condition. Subsequently, they fail to convey the emergency
situation to the brain, which would normally push the "thirst alarm
button."
Demetria, a 53-year-old Greek woman, consulted me to find relief
for the painful condition of gallbladder disease. Her skin was dark gray,
indicating a high concentration of toxins in her liver and throughout her body.
Seeing how dehydrated (and swollen) her body was, I offered her a glass of
water. She said, "I never drink water; it makes me sick!" I told her that her
natural thirst signals were no longer working due to cellular dehydration, and
that without drinking enough water, her body could not return to balance. It was
obvious to me that her body would use any amount of water she drank to instantly
remove some of the toxins lurking in her stomach, giving rise to nausea. In her
case, any therapy other than drinking water would have been a waste of her time
and money. Demetria's difficult condition required that she begin sipping small
amounts of hot, ionized water every half hour (see directions in "General
Guidelines" of Chapter 6, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation,
www.ener-chi.com) to help
remove these toxins until she was able to drink larger portions of regular
water.
A dehydrated person may also be suffering from a lack of energy.
Because of a shortage of water inside the cells, the normal osmotic flow of
water through the cell membrane becomes severely disturbed. Similar to a stream
running down a mountain, the movement of water into the cells generates
"hydroelectric" energy, which is subsequently stored as ATP molecules (the main
source of cellular energy). As a rule, the water we drink keeps the cell volume
balanced, and the salt we eat maintains the balanced volume of water that is
kept outside the cells and in circulation. This generates the perfect osmotic
pressure necessary for cellular nourishment and energy production. In a
dehydrated state, the body fails to sustain this vital mechanism, thereby
leading to potentially serious cell damage.
The Pain
Connection
Another major indicator of dehydration in the body is
pain. In response to an increasing shortage of water, the brain activates and
stores the important neurotransmitter histamine, which directs certain
subordinate water regulators to redistribute the amount of water that is in
circulation. This system helps move water to areas where it is needed for
essential metabolic activity and survival when facing such a shortage, as may
occur during a drought. When histamine and its subordinate regulators for water
intake and distribution move across pain-sensing nerves in the body, they
trigger strong and continual pain. These pain signals may manifest, for example,
in rheumatoid arthritis, angina, dyspepsia, low back problems, fibromyalgia,
neuralgia, migraine, and hangover headaches. They are necessary to alert the
person to attend to the problem of a widespread or localized form of
dehydration.
Taking analgesics or other pain-relieving medications such
as antihistamines and antacids can cause irreversible damage in your body. They
not only fail to address the real problem (which may be dehydration), but they
also cut off the connection between the neurotransmitter, histamine, and its
subordinate regulators, such as vasopressin, Renin-Angiotensin (RA),
prostaglandin (PG), and kinins. Although the action of pain-killing drugs can
relieve localized pain for a while, it also precludes your body from knowing the
priority areas for water distribution. This can greatly confuse your body's
internal communications systems and spread chaos throughout the body.
Antihistamines -- oftentimes referred to as allergy drugs -- effectively prevent
the body's histamines from ensuring balanced water distribution.
The
problem worsens once the body has reached a certain pain threshold. In addition
to jeopardizing the water-regulating mechanisms, these painkillers become
ineffective because the brain takes over as a direct center for monitoring pain
perpetuation (unless, of course, the body is properly hydrated again). If your
body produces lasting pain for no apparent reason (not caused by an injury),
before drawing any other conclusions, you should interpret this as the body's
cry for water and its attempt to remedy an unbalanced condition. Prescription
pain medication suppresses the body's primary signal of dehydration. Pain
killers "short-circuit" the body's emergency routes for water supply; they also
sabotage proper waste elimination and sow the seeds of chronic
illness.
There is enough documentation to show that pain medications may
have fatal side effects. They can cause gastrointestinal bleeding, which kills
thousands each year. The morphine-type compounds these legal drugs contain can
also lead to serious, life-altering addictions. When the famous radio host, Rush
Limbaugh, announced on his radio program that he was addicted to pain
medication, his life was in shambles. But he is not alone in this. There are
millions of people who initially started off by taking an "innocent" Advil for
the occasional headache, but ended up being unable to live without strong
painkillers. Once you start using dehydrating medications like these, you will
mostly likely develop the same kind or even worse pain over and over
again.
The most recently documented and widely popularized side effects
of pain killers, such as Vioxx, Celebrex and the over-the-counter drug Aleve
(Naproxen), should tell you that there are no safe painkillers. These drugs were
found to increase the risk of heart attacks and strokes by at least 50 percent.
Aspirin and other "harmless" drugs belong to the same class of painkillers as
the above. Today, there are millions of heart disease sufferers, who out of
ignorance and misguided trust in the medical system, the FDA and the
pharmaceutical industry, believed that taking a little innocent baby pill
wouldn't do them any harm. The revelation that this little pill could destroy
their heart or damage their brain if they took it for more than 10 days may be
no less than shocking. But how many people listen to such warnings if all they
want is to "get rid of that annoying pain"?
Taking a "harmless" little
pill that makes you feel better within a matter of minutes and allows you to get
on with your life may feel like the right thing to do. And, if the pain medicine
tastes delicious, the "miracle drug" couldn't possibly do you any harm, or could
it? Tylenol Extra Strength "cool caplets," the latest craze among painkilling
medications, makes these dangerous drugs appear harmless. It's both a breath
mint and a pain reliever. But is it really a sound idea to add the temptation of
flavoring to a pain-reliever that, by the FDA's own admission, plays a role in
at least 100 reported (a fraction of the real figure) unintentional deaths each
year? This may change now that the scandals surrounding drug approval and the
revelations concerning shoddy research are increasingly being exposed; or will
it? If you were to ask people on the street if they considered acetaminophen to
be a completely benign medication, most would respond with a "yes." That totally
undeserved reputation may only be reinforced when mint flavoring is added to the
mix.
Once you decide to end a drug addiction, life is not going to be
easy. Those who are able to afford a rehabilitation treatment, can choose a
rapid anesthesia detox for about $5,900. To become truly rehabilitated, though,
they will need to deal with the underlying causes of the pain that originally
led them to take addictive drugs. The bottom line is this: The body's natural
pain signal is a perfectly normal response to an abnormal situation -- simple
dehydration. In many cases, the body's blood vessel walls, liver bile ducts,
lymphatic ducts, kidneys, intestinal tract, and other organs of elimination are
so congested that chronic dehydration becomes inevitable. To restore health, the
body needs to be cleansed and nourished properly, which is the main theme of my
book.
Most people have no real understanding of what pain is. They rarely
perceive it to be an important part of the body's healing efforts. Pain is
always a sign of resistance to what moves or flows naturally. The resistance can
occur either as a result of some physical obstruction, such as constipation or
lymph congestion, or from an emotional resistance to a particular person or
situation. Once recognized, the causes of resistance can usually be resolved.
Fighting pain tends to lead to more pain, whereas releasing the resistance
lessens the pain. Even if you experience some pain while supporting the body
through cleansing, rest and good nutrition, the pain actually helps to
accelerate the healing. If you stay with the pain, rather than suppressing it
with drugs, you will find that it will decrease naturally in a matter of hours
or a few days. Trying to combat every ache or pain with painkillers, on the
other hand, is an addiction that causes much fear and more pain in your life.
Feeling one's pain with an attitude of acceptance removes all kinds of fear from
your life. In addition, the pain experience itself will stimulate the secretion
of the body's own natural painkillers and healing hormones -- the endorphins.
Overall, once you have identified and dealt with the causes of the pain, it is
just a matter of time before the pain disappears altogether.
Of course,
in the rare case that the pain becomes simply unbearable, the use of painkillers
may be unavoidable. At the same time, the pain-afflicted person should get on a
hydration and cleansing program, as well as end any dehydrating influences in
his life.
"Body Drought" - The Strongest Type of Stress
The
human brain, working round the clock, requires more water than any other part of
the body. Typically, the brain contains about 20 percent of all the blood that
circulates through the body. It is estimated that brain cells consist of 85
percent water. Their energy requirements are not only met by metabolizing
glucose (simple sugar), but also by generating "hydroelectric" energy from the
water drive through cell osmosis. The brain depends greatly on this
cell-generated source of energy in order to maintain its hugely complex
processes and efficiency.
Water deficiency in the brain tissue cuts down
the brain's energy supply, and thereby subdues many of its vital functions -- a
situation most people call depression. With a lower than normal level of brain
energy, you are unable to meet your physical, personal and social challenges and
subsequently succumb to fear, anxiety, anger and other emotional tribulations.
You may feel drained, lethargic, stressed and depressed. Chronic fatigue
syndrome (CFS), for example, is mostly a symptom of progressive brain
dehydration that results from the inability to readily remove all metabolic
waste matter and cellular debris from the brain and other vital parts of the
body. What CFS sufferers refer to as "brain fog" is actually an accurate
description of the congestion that occurs in the brain. CFS is not a vicious
disease that somehow gets hold of a person for no apparent reason. It may
disappear quite spontaneously when the afflicted person stops stimulating the
brain with such things as caffeine, tobacco, medication and animal products and
begins a consistent program of cleansing, hydrating, and nourishing the body.
[For more information on Chronic Fatigue Syndrome and Fibromyalgia Syndrome
(FMS), please see the articles page on the author's website, (
www.ener-chi.com)]
The Stress
Response
When dehydrated, the body has to put up the fight of a
lifetime -- similar to the one experienced during a famine or a "fight or
flight" situation. It responds to such a crisis by mobilizing several powerful
hormones, including adrenalin, endorphins, cortisone, prolactin, vasopressin,
and Renin-Angiotensin (RA). Endorphins, for example, help us to withstand pain
and stress and allow the body to continue most of its activities. Cortisone
orders the mobilization of stored energies and essential raw materials to supply
the body with energy and basic nutrients during the crisis. This hormone
actually allows the body to feed off itself, a situation that is warranted
during a famine. Of course, this is also very stressful and potentially
dangerous for the body, as can be seen by such emotional expressions as, "I
cannot cope anymore," or "This is really eating at me."
Many patients
with rheumatoid arthritis, multiple sclerosis (MS) or other degenerative
diseases take cortisone drugs, which often give them a boost of energy and
morale for a relatively short period of time. The "success" of the drug,
however, only lasts for as long as the body can tap into any energy and nutrient
reserves still left. Once the body has used up its emergency provisions, it will
barely function anymore, and the symptoms of disease will worsen
considerably.
Constriction of blood vessels
When the cells
in the body are under-supplied with water, the brain's pituitary gland produces
the neurotransmitter vasopressin, a hormone that has the ability to constrict
blood vessels in areas where there is cellular dehydration. During dehydration,
the quantity of water in the bloodstream is reduced. Vasopressin, as its name
suggests, squeezes the vascular system, i.e., the capillaries and arteries, to
reduce their fluid volume. This maneuver is necessary to continue having enough
pressure in the vascular system to allow for a steady filtration of water into
the cells. This gives vasopressin a hypertensive property. High blood pressure
is a common experience among people who are dehydrated. A similar situation
occurs in the liver's bile ducts, which begin to constrict in response to water
shortage in the body. Gallstone formation is a direct result of
dehydration.
Drinking alcoholic beverages suppresses the secretion of
vasopressin and thereby increases cellular dehydration. If alcohol consumption
is excessive, cellular dehydration may reach dangerously high levels. The
typical "hangover" that occurs after alcohol abuse is nothing but an extreme
state of dehydration of the brain cells. To survive the alcohol-induced
"drought," the body has to secrete more stress hormones, among them the
addictive endorphins. With regular consumption of alcohol, that is, having a
drink every day for several months or years, dehydration increases even further,
and endorphin production becomes an addictive occurrence. This may lead to
alcoholism, a disease that has devastating consequences on a person's personal
and social life.
Water Retention and Kidney Damage
The
Renin-Angiotensin (RA) system becomes activated whenever there is a shortage of
water in the body. This brilliantly designed system is used to direct the body
to hold on to water wherever possible. It instructs the kidneys to inhibit
urination and tightens the capillaries and the vascular system, particularly in
areas that are not as vitally important as the brain and the heart muscles. At
the same time, it stimulates an increase in the absorption of sodium (salt),
which helps the body to retain water. Unless the body returns to its normal
level of hydration, the RA system remains activated. But this also means that
the pressure of the blood against the walls of the blood vessels remains
abnormally high, thereby causing the damage that is known as cardiovascular
disease.
Hypertension and the retention of urine in the kidneys may lead
to kidney damage. Conventional treatments for this condition consist mostly of
diuretic (urine-forming) drugs and restricted salt consumption. Both can have
severe drawbacks. Diuretic drugs, which are used to normalize blood pressure, as
well as reduced salt intake, strongly undermine the body's emergency measures to
save the little water it has left for normal cellular activities. The resulting
stress response causes a further increase in dehydration, and the vicious cycle
is complete. Many of the kidney transplants performed today are a result of
chronic dehydration, which is caused by something as simple as not drinking
enough water, consumption of alcohol, eating foods high in animal protein, or
overstimulation of the nervous system.
The Caffeine and Alcohol
Drama
The caffeine contained in such beverages as tea, coffee, soft
drinks and most power drinks, not only stimulates and stresses both the central
nervous and immune systems, but also acts as a powerful diuretic. For every cup
of coffee or tea you drink, your body has to relinquish up to three cups of
water to remove the toxic caffeine. It cannot afford to give up this water
without suffering some sort of damage. The caffeine-containing soft drink
beverages work in a similar way. Caffeine, being a nerve toxin, stimulates the
adrenal glands to secrete stress hormones and to trigger a strong immune
response that may give you the false impression that this newly found energy and
vitality was somehow provided by the consumed beverage.
The secret behind
these stimulants is that the immune reaction mobilizes enough energy for you to
feel perked up and clear-headed, at least for as long as your body remains
stimulated. To remove the caffeine from the blood, the body is forced to take
water from its cells. This results in cellular dehydration and temporary
thinning of the blood. Because the thinning of the blood makes you feel good,
you won't notice the imminent danger of dehydration. The dehydrating effect of
the caffeine in soft drinks is ample reason to avoid them. Unfortunately,
caffeine is not the only culprit in soft drinks.
Soft Drinks May
Seriously Harm Your Health
New evidence confirms that soft drinks
cause serious cell damage. Research from a British university suggests a common
preservative found in drinks such as Coca-Cola, Fanta and Pepsi Max has the
ability to switch off vital parts of DNA -- a problem more usually associated
with aging and alcohol abuse. This can eventually lead to cirrhosis of the liver
and degenerative diseases such as Parkinson's. The findings reveal serious
consequences for the hundreds of millions of people worldwide who consume
carbonated beverages. They also reopen the debate about food additives, which
have been linked to hyperactivity in children.
The biggest concern
centers on the safety of E211, known as sodium benzoate, a preservative used for
decades by the $150 billion global carbonated drinks industry. Sodium benzoate
derives from benzoic acid. It is used in large quantities to prevent mold from
forming in soft drinks such as Sprite, Oasis and Dr Pepper. This common
preservative is also added to pickles and sauces.
In the past, sodium
benzoate had already been identified as an indirect cause of cancer. When mixed
with the additive vitamin C in soft drinks, it produces benzene, a carcinogenic
substance. Now, Dr. Peter Piper, professor of molecular biology and
biotechnology at Sheffield University, England, has released the results of his
research on the impact of sodium benzoate on living yeast cells in his
laboratory. Professor Piper discovered that benzoate damaged an important area
of DNA in the "power station" of cells known as the mitochondria. He told
The
Independent on Sunday, May 27, 2007: "These chemicals have the ability to
cause severe damage to DNA in the mitochondria to the point that they totally
inactivate it: they knock it out altogether. The mitochondria consumes the
oxygen to give you energy and if you damage it -- as happens in a number of
diseased states -- then the cell starts to malfunction very seriously. And there
is a whole array of diseases that are now being tied to damage to this DNA --
Parkinson's and quite a lot of neuro-degenerative diseases, but above all, the
whole process of aging."
While referring to outdated tests done by the
U.S. Food and Drug Administration and the World Health Organization, Professor
Piper said, "The food industry will say these compounds have been tested and
they are completely safe. By the criteria of modern safety testing, the safety
tests were inadequate. Like all things, safety testing moves forward and you can
conduct a much more rigorous safety test than you could 50 years ago."
It
is obvious that the government is not going to take a stand against the powerful
food and beverage industry. It is up to everyone to protect themselves and their
families against the careless policies and practices of those in charge of
public health. Not allowing your children to drink soft drinks is one of the
most important things you can do for their safety and good health. The same
applies to sport drinks, which according to a report issued by the University of
Californian in Berkeley can raise body weight a stunning 13 pounds each year if
only one 20-ounce bottle is consumed each day.
A new study conducted at
Boston University School of Medicine (released August 2007) shows that drinking
as little as one can of soda -- regular or diet -- per day is associated with a
46 percent increased risk of metabolic syndrome which plays a major role in
heart disease and diabetes. According to the study, other harmful side effects
of soda, both diet and regular, include:
* A 31% greater risk of becoming
obese.
* A 30% higher risk of having a larger waist line.
* A 25%
higher risk of developing high blood triglycerides or high blood sugar.
*
A 32% greater risk of having low levels of good cholesterol.
* A trend
toward an increased risk of high blood pressure.
Over the long term, the
effects of the acidity, sugars, artificial flavors and sweeteners, and such
preservatives as E211 contained in soft drinks can be devastating to the body.
It would take 32 glasses of water at an alkaline pH of 9 to neutralize the acid
from just one 12 oz. cola or other soda. In response to ingesting a cola, apart
from risking dehydration, the body will have to use up reserves of its own
stored alkaline buffers, mainly calcium from the bones, teeth and DNA. This
raises the body's alkalinity levels in order to maintain proper blood alkaline
pH levels. Once these reserves are exhausted, your life is at risk. There are
enough acids in one soda to kill you, if your body didn't possess a mechanism to
neutralize them. How long it takes before your body succumbs to the acid attack
and suffers an acidosis depends upon how soon your mineral buffers are depleted.
Acidic blood levels are a leading cause of death!
Caffeine, which is a
major component in most soft drinks, removes water from the body faster than the
body can absorb it again, thereby generating constant thirst. People who
frequently drink soft drinks are never really able to quench their thirst
because their bodies continually and increasingly run out of cellular water.
Some college students drink as many as 10-14 cans of cola a day. Eventually,
they confuse their bodies' never-ending thirst signal with hunger and begin to
overeat, causing swelling and excessive weight gain. Apart from its diuretic
action and its addictive effects on the brain, regular caffeine intake
overstimulates the heart muscles, causing exhaustion and heart
disease.
Alcohol's diuretic effect on the body is similar to that of
caffeine-containing beverages. For example, drinking one glass of beer results
in the body forfeiting up to three glasses of water. As mentioned before, a
hangover is the result of alcohol abuse, which causes the brain to suffer severe
dehydration. If this occurs repeatedly, a large number of brain cells become
damaged and die. As a result, many important brain functions slow down or become
depressed. Recovery is possible to a certain extent if alcohol consumption is
discontinued. To properly rehydrate the body, please carefully follow the
directions in
Drinking Water — The Greatest Therapy, Chapter 6 (of
Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation).
Check out
Dangers of
Dehydration Part II for information on how to recognize and remove kidney
stones, kidney grease, and kidney congestion naturally, and what this can do to
help heal nearly every ailment. The above article was excerpted from the
author's bestselling book, Timeless Secrets of Health and Rejuvenation (
www.ener-chi.com, www.amazon.com)
.
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