WATER

The Essential Ingredient

The importance of drinking water has featured a lot in the press in the last few years and we have been encouraged to drink at least 8 glasses of it per day.

You may be amazed at how important it is in keeping our body fit and healthy. In fact, it makes up 70% of our body and a whopping 90% of our blood plasma, thus enabling a continual transit system around our body day in, day out. It even makes up over 30% of our bones.

Water loss from the body occurs in several ways. It is lost normally from the kidneys, lungs, skin and gastrointestinal tract. But if you are ill and your body temperature rises, large amounts are excreted then as well, cooling the body by evaporation from the skin. If you lose as little as 10% of it from your body you may become very ill and if you lose over 18% you could well die!

We get a lot of our water, approximately 40%, from our food, so if our consumption is reduced for any reason our fluids must be replaced.

There are many other uses the body has for it. It allows adequate and effective swallowing, relieves constipation and helps rid the body of waste. It lubricates the body and is the main constituent in joints and also helps to maintain proper muscle tone.

Intestinal absorption would be impossible without it and is the main means of transportation in the body.

So, try and become a "waterholic", although be aware you can have too much of a good thing. 8 glasses is plenty unless you are perspiring more than normal.