Poor diet, stress, environmental toxins, lack of sleep — the modern lifestyle — all put a huge strain on the body. However, there is one factor that outweighs all of them: dehydration. All of the aforementioned evils are exacerbated when a person is dehydrated. Dehydration, when added to other stress factors such as poor diet, leads to nutrient deficiencies far more rapidly than poor diet on its own.

When the body is dehydrated, it lacks water to carry out important tasks such as transport of vital minerals and nutrients to the intercellular network of the body. With few or poor quality nutrients available, the problem intensifies. Water is also responsible for removing waste products from assimilation of food, and any toxins ingested through food or our environment. If water is not there to do the job through dehydration, what happens to the toxins? They stay put. A picture emerges: how dehydrated you are has the largest bearing on your health, not just what you eat, or don’t eat, not just how many car fumes you breathe in. The single best thing you can do for your health right now is to become hydrated. Chronic or long term dehydration has become a part of life, and so has chronic disease.

Is drinking water enough?

Unfortunately, no. It is not how much water you drink, but how much you absorb. Recently we talked with a 29-year-old triathlete who was on a raw food diet and drinking four litres of water per day. Despite this, he was diagnosed by his naturopath as being dehydrated, and also suffering from water retention. How does this happen? From a conventional point of view, he was drinking more than enough water, but was still dehydrated. This is because the water was not being effectively absorbed into the cells of the body. And, the water consumed was causing other issues by lodging elsewhere in the body.

It is not how much you drink. It is how much you absorb.

Jason Slack
Scientific Consultant, Grander Water Technologies Australia

For more information: 07 5568 7522 or visit  www.grander.com.au