Water is the Sparkling Diamond!

Drinking more water is something everyone knows that they should do, but many do not drink more water. Why? Perhaps if you knew why drinking water was good for you, you would have a strong enough reason to make it happen. Perhaps if you made a daily commitment to yourself to drink a certain amount of water, you would. Health experts from throughout the country predict that at least 75% of Americans are completely dehydrated. Are you?

Every cell and organ in your body requires water to properly function. Water is needed to build healthy new blood and bone cells. Water also helps your lymphatic system process effectively to remove toxins & wastes from your body. By drinking more water, your body will be much less sore and the water will help to lubricate your joints and reduce/prevent joint pain.

While your insides are benefiting from increased water flow, your skin will benefit as well. Drinking more water will not necessarily get rid of all your wrinkles and fine lines, yet more water intake will dramatically increase the health and vitality of your skin, your body's largest organ. Here is how I look at the situation. When you soak a raisin in water, thus hydrating it, it will not look like the original grape did, however it will no longer be a raisin...

Water also helps to regulate your metabolism. If you are experiencing undesired weight gain or you are trying to loose weight, drinking water will greatly help your body to become more balanced to make weight loss possible. Also drinking water instead of a soda will help keep your calorie intake down and your ingestion of refined, processed sugars to a bare minimum.

You may be asking, "So how much water do I drink?" I have found that the following formula works best for me along with a variety of the health world's top professionals.

"Drink half of your body weight in ounces of water."
Body Weight in pounds divided by 2 = Ounces of water to drink daily 

(Example if you weigh 160 pounds, drink 80 ounces of water per day.)

It is IMPORTANT to drink the majority of your water on an empty stomach. If you drink lots of water while ingesting food, you will be watering down the enzymes needed to properly digest your food.

I carry a glass water bottle with me all day. I have found that I do most my drinking of water before lunch and then in the late afternoon before dinner. On the evenings I teach dance classes, I will then be drinking more water throughout the evening. Make sure that you are drinking out of a BPA free water bottle. Be extremely careful what type of plastic water bottles you drink from, and if possible choose a glass bottle. Non "BPA Free" bottles or "one time use" plastic bottles can release chemicals that can really mess with your hormones and present your body with many extra toxins that it does not need!

Make a commitment to yourself to "drink 1/2 your body weight in ounces of water" EVERY DAY!!

Once you make it a daily habit, drinking your water will not feel like a chore, but rather something you will miss if you suddenly do not have access to water.

Make drinking your water an exciting challenge and embrace the array of health benefits that will come along with planet Earth's finest beverage!