The Best Sources of Drinking Water
WATER
The Human Body is About 99% Water When it is Conceived.
The Human Body is About 75% Water When it is a Baby.
The Human Body is About 50% Water When it is Old.
As we age, our bodies dehydrate. / As we dehydrate, our bodies age.
It's like putting grapes in a dehydrator. The more water that you remove from them, the more wrinkled and shriveled up they become as they turn into dry raisins.
To keep our bodies youthful and vibrant, it is essential to keep them properly hydrated.
Out of all of the nutrients that we need in our diet, water is the one that we need the most (as far as sheer volume is concerned) so making an effort to replace other drinks such as coffee, soda, and energy drinks with water is a great first step in improving our diet.
If you feel thirsty, it means that your body wants water. So start making water your beverage of choice and start enjoying the feeling of better hydration.
HOW MUCH WATER SHOULD YOU DRINK IN A DAY?
Water needs can vary quite a bit from person to person. (Diet, activity levels, and even the weather can all have a major impact on our hydration and water requirements.) So there is no universal amount of water that everyone on the planet should be drinking each day.
However, the following lifestyle habits can help ensure that you are getting enough water...
1. Drink a glass of water first thing in the morning before you eat or drink anything else.
2. Eat a diet that includes a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. (They are mostly water.)
3. Bring water with you wherever you go.
4. Never ignore thirst, and ideally drink enough water that you don't experience thirst in the first place.
5. Drink enough water so that your urine is almost as clear as the water you drink.
THE BEST SOURCES OF WATER
1. WATER-RICH FOODS
The best way to add more water to your diet is to simply eat foods that have lots of water in them. (Like fruits and vegetables, which are typically between 80% and 90% water.)
If you put an apple, a pear, or an orange in a juice machine, you will get juice. But if you put a million "Oreo Cookies" in a juice machine, you won't get a single drop!
Water is required to digest the foods that we eat. (Which is why you will feel thirsty right after eating something that is low in water.)
If you eat a dry slice of bread (which kind of looks like a sponge) it will act like a sponge as well by soaking up and absorbing water in your body just so it can be digested. (Resulting in thirst.)
Fruits and vegetables on the other hand, already have the right amount of water in them for us to easily digest them. (You probably won't feel thirsty after eating "watermelon".)
If we are what we eat, and if our bodies are mostly water, then I believe our optimal diet would have to be a diet that is mostly water like us.
So if you want to be well-hydrated, eat well-hydrated fruits and vegetables, and avoid dehydrated foods, because dehydrated foods will dehydrate you.
2. COCONUT WATER
Coconut trees can be found in tropical locations all around the world, and the sweet water in their coconuts is highly nutritious.
When coconuts are young, they have lots of water in them, and their edible "coconut meat" will be soft and easy to eat with a spoon. (You can also blend the "coconut water" and "coconut meat" together to make "coconut milk" as a healthy alternative to dairy.)
But as coconuts get older, they contain less water, and their edible "coconut meat" starts to get thick and hard. So I feel that the best time to drink (or eat) coconuts is when they are young.
Instead of buying bottled coconut water at the store that isn't fresh, that has been sterilized through pasteurization, and that may contain unhealthy additives, the healthiest and least expensive option would be to buy yourself a machete, watch some tutorial videos on YouTube on how to open coconuts, and seek out young unopened coconuts.
3. SPRING WATER
When it rains, some of the rain will end up in creeks, lakes, rivers, ponds, and oceans and become "surface water". And some of the rain will sink down into the ground and become "groundwater".
As "groundwater" travels downward, it gets filtered organically through countless layers of dirt, sand, and rock, until it eventually finds its way into underground aquifers. And as these aquifers fill up with water, the water slowly rises back up to the surface, until it eventually bursts back out of the ground as "spring water".
"Spring water" is typically the cleanest drinking water found in nature, and if you live near an active spring, I would encourage you to gather up some empty glass bottles and start making "spring water" your main source of drinking water.
4. FILTERED WATER
"Tap water" can be a toxic concoction of dozens (or even hundreds) of pollutants that don't belong in the human body. But even if the only water that you have access to right now is "tap water", fear not, because there are ways to filter it.
Just so you know, there is no special filtering that takes place in large, bottled water factories that can't be achieved in the home kitchen.
There are lots of man-made water filters on the market, but the majority of them will not be able to remove the most microscopic (and the most harmful) contaminants that can be found in tap water.
The kind of water filter that I use is a "water distiller", which purifies water similar to how nature does...
- If you spill some water on the sidewalk on a hot and sunny day, the water will evaporate and rise to the sky where it will then cool and eventually fall back down as rain drops. (And any contaminants that were in the water will remain on the sidewalk and will not rise to the clouds and become rain.)
- If you put some water in a distiller, the water will evaporate and rise to a cooling chamber above where it will then cool and slowly drip (or "rain") into a separate container outside of the distiller. (And any contaminants that were in the water will remain in the distiller and will not rise to the cooling chamber and become distilled water.)
Even rainwater isn't as clean as distilled water because there is pollution in the air from automobiles and factories that can get absorbed by rain as it is falling.
Because of how many different kinds of water filters are out there, I'm simply going to recommend that you read reviews and that you buy the best quality water filter that you can afford. (And keep in mind that if you are currently buying bottled water at the store, having a water filter will mean no longer having to do that, so it will end up saving you money in the future.)
Also, please keep your filtered water in glass bottles, because one of the reasons I don't recommend buying water at the store is because it is typically sold in plastic bottles. And if you've ever had the experience of drinking bottled water that tasted like plastic, it's because plastic particles from the bottle leached into the water and you were drinking plastic!
WATER IS OUR TEACHER
Because our bodies are mostly water, I like to think of myself as a "body of water", and when I look at other bodies of water in nature, it becomes clear to me which lifestyle choices I should be making for optimal health...
* Bodies of water that are stagnant and unmoving can attract mosquitoes and lead to the spread of sickness and disease. And if we live sedentary lives and allow ourselves to become "stagnant bodies of water", we too can attract a plague of health problems upon us due to this inactivity. So I choose to "flow" by making exercise and movement a regular part of my life.
* Bodies of water that are exposed to man-made toxins can become harmful to life rather than beneficial. I know full well that pouring "bleach" (or just about anything else from the "cleaning aisle") into a lake would be an act of "pollution", and I also know full well that pouring things like that into my drinking water would result in me having to call the "Poison Hotline" for help. So I choose to keep my personal body of water clean by avoiding man-made toxins and by pouring fresh clean water into it daily.
* Bodies of water that are steady flowing and rhythmic can have a soothing and therapeutic benefit on those who spend time around them, and it has been said that each one of us has enough veins and other "streams" in our body to completely stretch around the Earth at least a few times! And when these vast streams inside of us are unobstructed and able to flow steadily in their natural rhythms, it results in us having far less internal stress, which results in us having a more positive attitude and peaceful energy about us, which results in us having a soothing and therapeutic effect on those who spend time around us :)
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