Water!

It’s summertime! Time for sunny beaches, cool running rivers, crashing waves and getting out the garden hose. Summer is the time when we become the most aware of, and celebrate our most precious resource…. WATER!

For years I would remember to water my plants in the heat of summer, but I would neglect to properly water myself! Truthfully, I didn’t even realize that I was doing it.  Does this sound familiar? Proper hydration is something we all take for granted. We assume that when we, or our kids, are thirsty enough, water will follow. Well, it’s not quite that simple.

The sensation of thirst is actually one of the last ways our body signals to us that we are dehydrated. There is a fantastic protocol outlined in Dr Batmanghelidj’s book titled Your Body’s Many Cries for Water. http://www.watercure.com

It describes in detail how insufficient water intake can lead to a host of common diseases and conditions such as asthma, cancer, diabetes, fibromyalgia, obesity and many more. The basic premise is that we all need to take our body weight in lbs and divide that number in half. That is the number of ounces we need each day. For example, a 150 lb adult would need 75 ozs of water each day. But wait! There’s more. If you drink all of that water without enough salt in your body, it will flush right through you and take valuable minerals along with it. For proper hydration it is essential to have the proper balance of sodium and potassium in you body so that the water in each cell is balanced with the water on the outside of each cell. When this occurs, the electrical system in our bodies will work at peak efficiency.

For each quart of water you consume, you need to have ¼ teaspoon of high quality sea salt – chock full of yummy essential nutrients. A diet with fresh fruits and vegetables will contain enough potassium to do the trick. Some potassium powerhouses are: potatoes, lima beans, bananas, pinto beans, figs, cantaloupe, OJ, pears, spinach and even tomato sauce.

Here is peek at how I do it for my family. I determine each person’s water intake needed for the day and pour it into glass ball jars first thing in the morning. It is fine to add lemon, lime, mint or cucumber to your water if you want to jazz it up a bit.

Then I measure out how much sea salt they need for the day and set it in a small dish next to their water. Rather than salting our food when I cook, I let each person dip from their measured amount whenever they eat.

Do yourself and your family an enormous favor and start adopting this water protocol in your house. You will be amazed at how much better you all feel. Just remember that for every drink you consume containing caffeine or alcohol, you need to add that much EXTRA water into your day as they are dehydrating.

Of course everyone wants some other choices for yummy drinks in the summer and here is one of my very favorites sure to please everyone from the toddlers to grandma. This is totally delicious…

Cantaloupe Cooler

I made this one up one day and was just playing around so I did not measure, but this is pretty close. Feel free to adjust to suit your taste.

1/4 of a chilled cantaloupe

1 T lemon juice

1 T agave

6 fresh mint leaves

Mix all together in a blender. Pour into a glass 1/2 way then top with mandarin orange seltzer. Go slow because the seltzer makes some temporary foam. This is incredibly good.

Trying to avoid all of the high sugar drinks of summer can be, well, trying. The best way to satisfy those squeals for sugary drinks is to offer something that is far yummier. Opt instead for blending any of your favorite fruits and then adding sparkling water. They are super easy and lots of fun to make. And an extra nice perk is that you can use that same drink to freeze in popsicle molds and end up with great frozen treats.

Try combos that are sure to delight like banana raspberry, pineapple coconut, strawberry orange – let your imagination run wild. The best part about blending your own fruit is that you will not only save money, but since you are using whole fruit, it will have more fiber and less sugar than traditional juice. These are drinks you can feel great about serving. You might even find the adults want a sip too!

One more important note: try to drink all that luscious water out of glass or stainless steel bottles. If you must use plastic, please be sure that is it BPA free. Ball jars work great. For little ones likely to drop their water, go with Kleen Kanteen – it’s so much fun to decorate and personalize your bottle with stickers too. They even have a new model with a bamboo top – no plastic at all! WOO HOO! That’s what we like to see!

http://www.kleankanteen.com/products/special/reflect.php

Have a FABULOUS month of July and keep those bodies hydrated!

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Maureen Wheeler is a Certified Holistic Health Coach and owns It’s All Connected Natural Health & Living. She received her training at The Institute for Integrative Nutrition in NYC. Maureen coaches individuals and families looking to improve their health and well being through whole food nutrition, cooking classes and natural lifestyles. She lives in Charlotte, Vermont with her chef husband David and their sons, Ian in the 9th grade, Ross in the 7th grade and Finn in the 4th grade at the Lake Champlain Waldorf School.

Connect with Maureen at It’s All Connected or her FaceBook Page.

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