Water ~ essential for life

Water is essential to life but there is a lot of misinformation about it. Everything from what is acceptable to add to it, absorption to how much we actually need on a day to day basis seems to have differing information wherever we look.

💦I go by the ratio of 30ml/kg of body weight, more in hot weather or when exercising a lot. You can have too much as well as too little! Too little means our body may not have enough to eliminate wastes or our organs to work effectively. Too much means we may be putting pressure on our kidneys and diluting minerals in our body.

💦The best gauge of adequate hydration is urine colour. It should be pale to clear in colour, if it's darker you need some water.

💦Coffee, tea, alcohol and sugary drinks deplete fluid so you need an extra glass for every cup/glass of these.

💦To rehydrate ~ drink filtered water, herbal tea and bone broth.

💦Sea salt is the best electrolyte and this supports the kidneys and cells to absorb water.

💦Town supply is theoretically the safest water to drink as it has been screened for contaminants. However, with things like alum, chlorine and (worse) fluoride added to many people's filtering for these may be a good plan. Much of Canterbury's groundwater (in bores) is high in nitrates which has been associated with toxicity and health issues. You can get someone like Hills Labs to test your bore water if you have concerns. Councils can provide test results for town supplies when asked.

💦The best filters are often based on carbon. Reverse osmosis takes out everything (including fluoride), including the trace minerals we need as humans. If you choose to use this kind of filter, you need to add minerals back to bring it back to life.

💦Excessive thirst may indicate serious health issues like diabetes. If this is something you are experiencing, you need to see your medical professional to rule this and other medical conditions out.