Water...

Like you, I have heard for years of the importance of drinking water. I am a massage therapist and part of our training is the dogma of "drink water."

After fifteen dehydrated years of doing this work and several more post-baby pounds than I'd care to admit, I finally discovered a treatise on water intake that spoke my language...Don Colbert's book "The Seven Pillars of Health."

The gist of course, is that our bodies are made up mostly of water and that this element is profoundly essential to the proper functioning of the human machine.

Remember the concept of "water weight?" Most folks use this as the dismissive adjective referring to the first few pounds lost on any diet; but the truth, according to Colbert, is that water weight describes the camel-like tendency of our bodies to hoard water in our fat cells to ensure our survival in the pseudo-drought of modern life.

We drink coffee, tea, cola, red bull, juice, and a plethora of high-fructose corn syrup infested cocktails, but none of these does our body recognize as water. Our earth suits are convinced we are dying of thirst, so, bless their hearts, they protect us by wrangling whatever liquid they can muster from the stuff we drink and cramming it into our adipose tissue.

This leads to all sorts of nasty inflammation response ickies - not the least of which is feeling bound up and unable to move, inflexible in our skins.

The body will willingly let go of excess pounds when it knows it will be receiving the water it needs.

The secret to long life - the kind you'd actually WANT to live - is giving our bodies what they thirst for...

Imagine an engine given all the gas it wants (food & sugary caffeine laden drinks) but no oil....wears out quick, huh? Same thing with our bodies...

Say your car's engine needs five quarts of oil - everybody understands that. Well, the body has the same type of requirement for water...DAILY. Each of us should drink approximately 1/2 ounce per pound of our body weight...each and every day. This will ensure the parts stay lubricated and the "engine" runs as God designed...