Water...the other drink

As a culture we don't think much of water. For most of us, clean and safe drinking water comes out of any tap we choose. It's pretty much always available; unlike a good part of the world where the simple act of finding water that will not scour out your intestinal tract is a bit of a challenge. Heck...we have so much potable water we bathe in it and even throw hundreds of precious gallons on our lawns.

As a result, most of us seem to forget how much we actually need this miracle liquid every day. We drink soda pop, coffee, tea, kool-aid, and even beer..but not a simple glass of water, especially with meals. Even when we do drink water, it tends to be in a bottle flavored and sweetened by chemicals with sometimes a bit of carbonation for kick.

Water isn't cool. Water is boring. But water is absolutely critical for your body to function. There are a lot of things that, doing without, will kill you. Air is at the top of the list. After a few minutes your body will start to shut down without oxygen. Food is another, though it will take you several days or weeks before you keel over by not eating. I seem to remember reading somewhere that you can live about a week without water; though the last couple of days will be extremely unpleasant.

We need water. Every cell in our body is made up mostly of water...and we continually lose it just by breathing, not to mention if any of us are engaging in any activity such as exercise or simply walking around. Many of us are chronically dehydrated. Have headaches? Sore muscles? Tired? Depressed? It may be as simple as not having enough water in your body to efficiently carry out all the thousands of processes that go on.

So before I grab that protein shake, before I take that supplement, before I eat that well balanced and proportioned meal....I'm going to drink a nice tall glass of plain old water. At least ten of them every day.

Here's mud in your eye.