Chronic Dehydration

How much water do you drink each day? How many fresh, raw fruits and vegetables do you consume? These are just a couple questions that can help you evaluate how hydrated or dehydrated you might be. The majority of people today are chronically dehydrated, even if they don’t realize it or even feel thirsty.

One reason for this problem is the dehydrating effect of toxins and poisons, including heavy metals, radiation, viruses, and DDT. Read more about these in Life-Changing Foods. Combine that with the food, drink, and lifestyle choices many people make and you have a recipe for chronic dehydration.

This article will explain why it’s vital to stay hydrated and teach you simple ways to reverse chronic dehydration and its negative effects.

How Thick Is Your Blood?

One of the reasons you want to stay hydrated is that if you reach a certain level of dehydration, your blood can thicken. Once you develop thick blood, it becomes much more challenging for your heart to draw up fresh, clean blood from the liver. The heart may also have greater difficulty providing the brain and other organs with adequate blood and oxygen. Over time, this continuous exertion can prematurely wear out the heart.

In addition, thick blood may set you up for major health issues, including a stroke, transient ischemic attack (TIA), heart attack, liver problems, kidney problems, high blood pressure, or high cholesterol. The risk of cancer is considerably greater for people with thick blood because there’s less oxygen circulating throughout the body, making it harder for the body to detoxify. As someone with thick blood ages, the risk of more health problems increases.

A person with thick blood may not reap the benefits of a detox protocol or exercise routine because thick blood makes it harder for the body to flush out toxins. Even someone who appears to be in amazing shape can still have thick blood and a highly-acidic system. These hidden issues can easily lead to a stroke or heart attack in even the most fit-looking individual. In contrast, someone that doesn’t appear extraordinarily fit, but manages to keep his or her blood thin and body hydrated through a nourishing diet and positive lifestyle choices may not be as likely to suffer from the health issues associated with thick blood.

Some people enter the world with thick blood, while others develop it throughout their lifetime. As a person’s body grows more dehydrated, his or her blood will continue to thicken. Read more about thick blood and what I call “dirty blood syndrome” in Liver Rescue: Answers to Eczema, Psoriasis, Diabetes, Strep, Acne, Gout, Bloating, Gallstones, Adrenal Stress, Fatigue, Fatty Liver, Weight Issues, SIBO & Autoimmune Disease.

High-Fat Diets

Although high-fat diets have become increasingly trendy, they don’t provide your body with the hydration it needs to thrive. If you follow a high-protein diet, you’re likely consuming an abundance of fat in the form of animal products and/or plant fats. By eating this way, you can quickly grow dehydrated and begin to develop thick blood. Any hydration you do receive while following such a diet won’t be able to counteract the effects of a high-fat, high-protein diet. Lower fat and protein consumption from both animal and plant sources to help prevent chronic dehydration. Read Liver Rescue for guidance on how much fat to eat and from which sources. You can also listen to my podcast on the ketogenic diet.

Our Dehydrated Lineage

You may be surprised to learn that we come from a dehydrated lineage. Medical and alternative health communities are not aware of this. Widespread chronic dehydration that affected our forefathers continues to be passed from generation to generation. This information is not passed through our genes, but through our cells, and we acquire this knowledge and state of chronic dehydration along with any inherited DDT, radiation, and mercury from our forefathers.

Dehydration & Bugs

Various bugs, such as Epstein-Barr virus, are better able to thrive and cause trouble in a body suffering from chronic dehydration and thick blood. If you’re battling a condition such as Lyme disease, fibromyalgia, chronic fatigue, or MS, it’s vital to stay as hydrated as possible. Viruses are behind these and many other chronic illnesses, and staying hydrated will help your body fight the bugs. (For more about how pathogens cause illness of all kinds, check out Thyroid Healing, and to learn the truth about Lyme disease, read Medical Medium).

Dehydrating Beverages

Do you have coffee, soda or wine? Some people partake in all of these beverages daily, and it has become normal in many cultures to do so. Unfortunately, over time this pattern can set someone up for severe dehydration and a host of related health problems. Even if you drink some water between your soy latte and nightly espresso, your body is still likely to suffer from dehydration. And even if you drink only one cup of coffee each morning and fill the rest of your day with glasses of water and a hydrating smoothie meal, you’re still likely to be dehydrated, and you may be on the brink of developing thick blood.

If you indulge in occasional dehydrating beverages like coffee, soda, alcoholic drinks, lattes, or iced coffee, be sure to take extra measures to stay hydrated with other food and drink choices.

The Salt Factor

It’s easy to encounter high levels of salt in the foods and meals you consume each day. Unfortunately, the salt that’s liberally sprinkled on restaurant dishes or in packaged foods isn’t the salt your body needs to function. This type of salt may negate efforts to stay hydrated.

Adequate sodium levels in the body are critical, and the sources of this sodium can be found in foods that are rich in mineral salts, such as celery and spinach. Unlike refined salt, these foods provide your body with a health-giving sodium that doesn’t dehydrate your system. While researchers know that there’s salt in celery, they have yet to discover all of the life-giving sodium subgroups found in this incredible food. Read more about the healing benefits of celery in Medical Medium Celery Juice.

Snacking on celery sticks and sodium-rich veggies is a great way to bring essential mineral salts into your diet. You can also whip up a daily bowl of spinach soup for a transformative meal that’s rich in sodium and hydration.

Cooked Food

Eating a diet that’s exclusively cooked can keep people dehydrated. Cooked foods force your body to pull liquid from different organs and cells to help break them down. This doesn’t mean cooked food is bad, but it’s helpful to balance cooked food with raw fruits and veggies. Try to figure out the ratio of raw to cooked foods that feels right for you and your body. If you aren’t up for bringing any raw foods into your diet at this time, at least try to make the healthiest food choices you can and consider bringing lemon water into your daily routine.

For a healing meal that’s around 50% raw and 50% cooked, try:

• A baked potato alongside a hydrating raw salad filled with lettuce, celery, cucumber, tomato, bell pepper, and other chopped veggies.
• Wild rice or quinoa, steamed or sautéed veggies, and a raw guacamole with lemon, cilantro, and chopped red onion served atop plenty of raw leafy greens.
• If you enjoy animal protein, like a piece of wild salmon, eat it with a large fresh salad.

Meals like these help people stay hydrated because the raw portion of the dish helps offset some of the cooked foods that may be slightly dehydrating.

Cooked soups can be healthy and healing in certain ways, but they don’t provide hydration. A powerful soup to incorporate into your diet is the Healing Broth. Although this soup can be incredibly beneficial for the body, it still doesn’t provide the body with hydration on its own. However, the broth, which is loaded with healing mineral salts, can help the body access the right kind of water from other hydrating food sources you consume. On a day where you have the healing broth, incorporate some hydrating foods, such as fresh coconut water, lemon water, cucumber juice, celery juice, a raw salad with cucumber slices, or celery sticks.

Bone Broth

Drinking bone broth is a current health fad, but incorporating this broth into your diet can be extremely dehydrating. If you want to continue to consume this liquid, it’s critical to also consume fresh juices daily. It’s also helpful to add celery juice, cucumber juice, or a green juice once or twice a day. Lemon water and a hydrating morning smoothie is also beneficial.

In addition, remove the vinegar from your bone broth recipe. There is a misconception that vinegar can extract nutrients from the bones better than a high-quality water. In actuality, high-quality water alone (never use tap water) does a better job drawing out nutrients.

Hydration for Detoxification

If you’re properly hydrated, your body can remove toxins and poisons from your liver, kidneys, and other parts of your body. Learn more about detoxification and how to recover your health in Liver Rescue.

The Heavy Metal Detox Smoothie is a great recipe because it contains the five key foods that draw out heavy metals, and it provides the body with the hydration needed to make total elimination of toxins possible. Other supplements or products that are advertised as heavy metal detoxifiers aren’t likely to provide the hydration needed to fully eliminate the heavy metals. They likely won’t be made of the ingredients that successfully remove heavy metals either.

Panic, Anxiety, & Depression

If you suffer with anxiety, panic, or depression, it’s critical that you stay hydrated. If your body is dehydrated and your blood thickens, all three of these issues can worsen. If you suffer from any neurological problem or are under intense stress, hydration is critical and can really help you heal.

Gallstones

If you suffer from chronic dehydration for an extended period of time, gallstones may begin to form in your gallbladder. A high-protein diet and the elimination of fresh fruit can also contribute to the formation of gallstones. Unfortunately, you may not even become aware of gallstone issues until you’re forced to have your gallbladder removed in your mid-fifties.

Prevent this by including an abundance of fruit in your diet. Unlike high-protein diets, which allow gallstones to build up in the gallbladder, diets brimming with fresh fruits, leafy greens and vegetables can help break down and dissolve any gallstones that form.

If you enjoy animal protein but want to avoid gallstones forming, you can simply lower your animal protein while increasing fruits, leafy greens, and vegetables in your diet. If you already have gallstones and they’re causing problems, it’s best to eliminate all animal protein until the problem is addressed. More on gallbladder health and gallstones in Liver Rescue.

Hydrating Yourself

When it comes to hydrating yourself, most people know to reach for water, but make sure it’s high-quality water. If there are traces of chlorine in the water it can be extremely dehydrating. Below are some more excellent ways to hydrate:

• Cucumber juice. Drinking 16 oz every day can do wonders for your hydration. Cucumber juice thins your blood, which supports your heart and the energy it exerts.
• Lemon water. Squeeze lemon into 16oz of high-quality water once, twice, three or four times a day. Add fresh lemon juice to other items, such as raw salads and herbal teas to boost hydration.
• Coconut water, even pasteurized, can hydrate the body.
• Fresh, raw veggies can be highly beneficial. Slice cucumbers onto your salad, snack on celery sticks, or create a raw pasta dish with spiralized cucumbers topped with fresh tomatoes and ripe bell peppers.
• Fresh fruits have countless benefits, including hydration. (If you’re concerned about fruit, check out the “Fruit Fear” chapter in Medical Medium.)

When it comes to staying hydrated, know that you don’t have to drown yourself in water. However, adding some water as well as certain foods in their whole and liquid form can be exceptionally valuable. Check out some of the recipes in Life-Changing Foods for inspiration.

Every day, I try to drink around two liters of water with lemon juice squeezed in. In addition, I’ll bring in celery juice, cucumber juice, and oftentimes 16 to 32 oz of fresh squeezed orange juice. These are just a few of the ways I try to keep myself hydrated. Each person’s needs are different. Play around with all of these suggestions and see which ideas work best for you!

Herbal Tea

Hot herbal tea isn’t hydrating, but it doesn’t dehydrate you like other beverages might, and it has a host of healing benefits. Tea can be hydrating if you make it by putting fresh herb leaves, such as peppermint or lemon balm, in a jar of water and leaving it on the countertop to steep for around 6 hours. After that, you can stick it in the fridge and drink the hydrating beverage whenever you want!

Black tea, green tea, and Earl Grey tea, however, are dehydrating so it’s best to forgo or limit them.

Water Drinking Contests

Warning! Never participate in a water-drinking contest. Typically a contestant will drink him or herself to death literally.

Moving Forward

Even if you entered this world with chronic dehydration, the wonderful truth is you can heal from chronic dehydration by taking small, manageable steps. Something as simple as a glass of lemon water is a great start. It takes time and a commitment to healing practices to make up for years of chronic dehydration, but it’s definitely possible and worth it for your health and vitality.

This item posted: 29-Mar-2017

< Back to Essentials