by Sal D'Onofrio D.N.

It's a simple way to avoid: excess body fat, poor muscle tone, digestive problems, toxins, joint and muscle soreness and--believe it or not--water retention.
Water is, by far, the most abundant substance on earth and in our bodies. A human embryo is more than 80 percent water, a newborn baby about 74 percent and a normal adult about 60 percent to 70 percent water. Next to air, water is the substance most necessary for our survival. Everything in our bodies occurs in a water medium. We can go without food for two months or more, but without water we can only survive a few days.
Yet most people have no idea how much water they should be drinking. In fact, many Americans live from day to day in a dehydrated state-- that is, they don't drink enough water.

The physiology of water. As the late Dr. Albert Szent-Gyorgyi, the discoverer of Vitamin C, said: "There is no life without water...water is part and parcel of the living machinery." Without water, we'd be poisoned to death by our own waste products and toxins resulting from metabolism.

When the kidneys remove wastes such as uric acid, urea and lactic acid, those wastes must be dissolved in water. So if there isn't enough water, wastes are not removed as effectively, and it may be damaging to the kidneys. Water also is vital to digestion and metabolism, acting as a medium for various enzymatic and chemical reactions in the body. it carries nutrients and oxygen to the cells through the blood. Water helps to regulate our body temperature through perspiration, which dissipates excess heat and cools the body. Water also lubricates our joints. This is particularly important if you're arthritic, have chronic musculoskeletal problems or are athletically active.
We even need water to breathe. Our lungs must be moistened by water to facilitate the intake of oxygen and excretion of carbon dioxide. We lose approximately a pint of liquid each day just exhaling!

So, if you don't drink enough water to be in "fluid balance," as doctors call it, you can impair every aspect of your body's physiological function. And the more you exercise, the more water you need to keep your body in fluid balance. Dr. Howard Flaks is a bariatric physician in Beverly Hills, California (Bariatrics is the branch of medicine dealing with obesity.) He says, "As a result of not drinking enough water, many people encounter such problems as excess body fat, poor muscle tone and size, decreased digestive efficiency and organ function, increased toxicity in the body, joint and muscle soreness (particularly after exercise) and water retention."

Water retention? If you're not drinking enough, your body starts retaining water to compensate for this shortage. So, paradoxical as it may seem, the way to eliminate fluid retention is to drink more water, not less.

"Proper water intake is the key to weight loss," says Dr. Donald Robertson, director of the Southwest Bariatric Nutrition Center in Scottsdale, Arizona. "If people who are trying to lose weight don't drink enough water, the body can't metabolize the fat, they retain fluid, which keeps weight up, and the whole procedure that we're trying to set up falls apart."

How much water should you drink?

Of course, overweight people are not the only ones who need to drink a lot of water. We all do. Count the glasses if you must to ensure that you get the proper amount.
" I'd say the minimum amount a healthy person should drink is 10 eight-ounce glasses a day," says Dr. Flaks. "And you need to drink more if you're overweight, exercise a lot or live in a hot climate. Overweight people should drink an extra glass for every 25 pounds they exceed their ideal weight."

At the International Sports medicine Institute, where we work with Olympic and professional athletes from around the world, we have developed a formula for water intake that accommodates athletes and non athletes alike. We suggest a daily water intake of 1/2 ounce per pound of body weight if you're a non active person (that's 10 eight- ounce glasses a day if your weight is 160 pounds), and 2/3 ounce per pound if you're an active 160 pounds). This ISI formula, inspired by East Germany physicians, has been used with great success for almost two decades.

Your water intake should be spread judiciously throughout the day, including the evening. Dr. Flaks cautions against drinking more than four glasses in any given hour. And you should always check with your physician before embarking on a regimen of increased water intake.

Sal D'Onofrio D.N.
Doctor of Nutripathy. He is the author of Yeast Control in Seven Days and can be reached through www.healthguardians.com