Health Tip - The Benefits of Water

Benefits of Water

Name any body part and you will find water is essential to keep it ticking over. Our bodies need H2O because we are 70% water - so drink up.

Here are ten reasons to drink water:

1. Keeps Headaches at bay:

Three quarters of your brain is water so if you need a top-up, this is one of the first places that will feel it. If your headache is caused by alcohol, then drinking lots of water - particularly before bed - will help get rid of it by flushing out toxins and re-hydrating the brain.

2. Reduces Infections:

The lymphatic system is your waste disposal system, breaking down toxins like caffeine before passing them into the blood stream. Dehydration weakens the flow of lymph in the system and makes the body less resistant to infection.

With Water, lymph flows properly again, fighting infection and lowering feverish temperatures.

3. Gives you better skin:

Skin needs water for elasticity, so too little water leaves it looking dry, looking lined and feeling delicate.

4. Keeps up your concentration:

Your body needs water to help flush out poisons from things like junk food and additives.

If you are dehydrated, toxins hang around in the liver, making you tired and unable to concentrate. Water swills the poisons out and gets the system moving again.

5. Banishes Bags:

Sunken eyes and under eye circles are signs that you need water. Eyes sink because there isn't enough water to keep them suspended in the eye socket. Under-eye circles are due to thin skin being bruised as fluid drains away.

6. Stops Cramps:

Blood transports oxygen to the muscles for activities such as exercise. If there isn't enough oxygen in the blood, the muscles create lactic acid which causes painful cramps. Drinking more water helps to keep blood pumped with oxygen.

7. Reduces Cystitis:

A healthy hydrated body removes waste with light yellow virtually odorless urine. If you are not drinking enough, the darker urine is more highly concentrated and waste products linger in the bladder, leaving you prone to cystitis and kidney infections.

8. Keeps Bowels Healthy:

Without Water the contents of the colon (lower intestine) can dry out and get stuck, eventually causing diverticulitis. Constipation can also be a problem, because water is needed to bulk out feces. Drinking water, along with taking in water from Fruit and Vegetables, helps to rehydrate this waste.

9. Prevents Fluid Retention:

When you are felling puffy as women often do before a period, drinking water isn't your immediate thought. But it's the best treatment for reducing fluid retention.

If your body doesn't get enough water, it senses there is a shortage and begins to retain every drop it needs for vital daily processes.

10. Keeps your breath Sweet:

Bad breath is a classic sign that you need to boost your water intake. Saliva helps cleanse the teeth of bacteria and keeps the tongue hydrated.

Lack of water dries the mouth, leads to furry tongue and prevents bacteria from being washed away, all of which can cause halitosis.

Are You Turning 30 But Feeling 50?

When you awake early in the morning for your shower do you look in the mirror and say to yourself, 'Who is that guy?' Looking back at you is this slumped shouldered, puffy eyed stranger with a chest that has slipped below his waist, and muscles that have turned flabby. Welcome to the real life! When we were younger and still in college we didn't give a lot of thought our health. Why should we, we could party all night and play all day. When we stared our first job we didn't think twice about meeting our buddies for cocktails or hustling hot looking chicks. So what if we didn't get to bed until 3:00 a.m.? we were up at 6:00a.m.and ready to go! With a stop a Burger King for their "Enormous Omelet Sandwich" we were ready to face the world. Food was just fuel, so we filled up on what was available and cheap. On weekends we wanted to relax so rather than jog or play basketball as we use too, we would gather at the couch with our good buddies to watch football or basketball, have a few brews, chips and maybe a pizza. We earned it. Sex was still great, although we did think now and then that maybe Viagra might help us maintain the pace. Sex can be almost like work sometimes. It is not long before things seem to change. As we approach our thirties we notice that some of our friends are getting married, others are changing jobs and moving away, and some have just changed their priorities and don't get together as much.

This might be a good time for a reality check? At sometime in our life we need that, usually the earlier the better. Remember when you or your friends use to say they would never end up like their dad, with a pot belly and high blood pressure? Life has a way of sneaking up on us. Just when you think you have the world by the ass everything turns to crap. A good practice is to ask yourself, "what kind of life do I expect ten years from now" Are you going to burn the candle at both ends and hope for luck or are you going to adjust your lifestyle? Are you going to become that man in the mirror who looks back at you and says, "Help me"? That doesn't mean you can't meet with your friends for a drink or watch basketball on the weekend or even give up fast foods. Surely you won't give up sex, that's healthy. In fact, research suggests that a male who has a climax about two hundred times a year actually increases their life span. (Sorry, it didn't say if that was with a partner or not). What you do with your life or career is up to you but think about what it would be like without your health. Maybe you can make some time for exercise and try to make healthier food choices more often. Health problems like heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes, and obesity don't just happen all of a sudden, they build and progress over many years before they pop onto the seen. By the way, did you know that Viagra and similar drugs for sexual impotency are in many cases a symptom of heart disease?

Try to start thinking more healthy so you can increase the quality of the years you have in front of you. Relax a little more and remember, 'no one ever lay on their death bed and said" Gee, I wish I had spent more time at the office".

Here are some suggestions to get you started.

1. Learn to think like a healthy person thinks.


2. Make gradual changes, turning unhealthy habits into healthy habits.


3. Understand that everything you do is a learned behavior. If you have learned to eat unhealthy, you can learn to eat healthy.


4. Rather than thinking about how long you will live, try to die as young as you can at the oldest age possible.


5. Do something unexpected of a kindly nature, every once in a while, for a complete stranger. For example, when you go through a toll station, pay for the car behind you. Maybe you will both have a slightly happier day.

Expectant Mothers & Nutrition

Any expectant mother will want first and foremost to take care of her health and that of her growing baby. Proper diet is a staple to any successful pregnancy and it is vital that you constantly monitor your health… because your baby's health is directly influence by yours!

The quantity of additional calorie intake that expectant mothers need may be a complete surprise. Only something like 300 extra calories per day is recommended by health professionals. That's right, only about 300 extra calories…not the enormous amount calories that many expectant women take in each day, all in the name of being pregnant. Now 300 calories really doesn't sound like much at all… so now I am sure that you are wondering with only 300 extra calories- where did these 30 pounds come from?

Weight gain is to be expected during a pregnancy but it need not be excessive. For many, the problem is that there is more that just those 300 extra calories that leads to that unhealthy extreme weight gain during a woman's pregnancy. The principal problem is the unmanageable urges to eat something. Don't let yourself to give in to your hunger urges… and don't justify your extreme eating by convincing yourself that just because you're mom to be you need a gob of extra calories.

Some of those calories that you need to consume during your pregnancy to carry on a healthy pregnancy should come from protein, approximately 60 grams total per day or about 10 grams per day more than a woman who is not pregnant. Seafood, chicken and lean meats are all good sources of protein, as are dried beans, nuts and cheese. Remember you only need about 1 1/2 ounces of meat to get 10 grams of protein.

Calcium is another necessary element during the course of a woman's pregnancy. Today's, women who are not even pregnant generally don't get enough of the recommended daily amount of calcium intake… so upping your calcium is generally a good idea to begin with. Dairy products are a primary source of calcium you get in your diet. A good strategy is for you to use non fat sources of calcium in your diet, this will help keep your calorie intake under control as well. For instance green leafy vegetables are a potential source for you to get some added calcium for both you and your unborn child.

Assisting your body to fully take in your iron supplements is vitamin D. This makes vitamin D a a working partner with your efforts to keep your iron level in a healthy range. As the blood volume increases during a pregnancy, the call for iron becomes even more important. In fact, the daily recommended dosage of iron for a woman who is expecting versus one who is not actually expecting doubles from 15mg/day to 30mg/day. Be very certain that you don't miss a day without iron… it is a very important element in your overall health during a pregnancy. As a part of your care during your pregnancy, your doctor will be checking your iron levels via lab work to insure that you are maintaining healthy levels.

A good source of iron is red meat, but forget about fish and poultry as well. On the market today, there are also a variety iron enriched cereals that also help to enhance your iron intake.

Vegetarian diets can supply all the needed nutrients, but finding them in the right form can be a bit tougher to accomplish. Vegetarians will need to more closely keep an eye on nutrient levels, but this is commonly a part of a vegetarian lifestyle already, so just stay the course of your continual game-plan and work closely with your healthcare provider to ensure that you are indeed consuming all the nutrients that you need.

Needless to say, any woman who is pregnant should be in contact with her doctor concerning her dietary requirements. It's important to stick to this because each pregnancy is different, and as such, so too will be the body's dietary needs. Even before the pregnancy it is just as important that the woman consciously work with her diet so she can get her pregnancy off to a good healthy start.

The key is to work as a team with your doctor so you can stay healthy provide the best possible growing environment for your future son or daughter.