The Importance of Water ______________________________

Water: How 8 Glasses A Day Keep Fat Away

Water suppresses the appetite naturally and helps the body metabolize fat.

Studies have shown that a decrease in water intake will cause fat deposits to increase, while an increase in water intake can actually reduce fat deposits.

Here's why: The kidneys can't function properly without enough water. When they don't work to capacity, some of their load is dumped onto the liver.

One of the liver's primary functions is to metabolize stored fat into usable energy for the body. But, if the liver has to do some of the kidney's work, it can't operate at full throttle. As a result, it metabolizes less fat, more fat remains stored in the body and weight loss stops.

Drinking enough water is the best treatment for fluid retention.

When the body gets less water it perceives this as a threat to survival and begins to hold onto every drop. Water is stored in the extra-cellular spaces (outside the cell walls). This shows up as swollen feet, legs and hands.

Diuretics offer a temporary solution at best. They force out stored water along with some essential nutrients. Again, the body perceives a threat and will replace the lost water at the first opportunity. Thus, the condition quickly returns.

The best way to overcome the problem of water retention, is to give your body what it needs--plenty of water. Only then will stored water be released.

The overweight person needs more water than the thin one.

Larger people have larger metabolic loads. Since we know that water is the key to fat metabolism, it follows that the overweight person needs more water.

Water helps maintain proper muscle tone.

It does this by giving muscles their natural ability to contract and by preventing dehydration. It also helps to prevent the sagging skin that usually follows weight loss--shrinking cells are buoyed by water, which plumps the skin and leaves it clear, healthy and resilient.

Water helps rid the body of wastes.

During weight loss, the body has a lot more waste to get rid of--all that metabolized fat must be shed. Again, adequate water helps flush out waste.

Water can help relieve constipation.

When the body gets too little water, it siphons what it needs from internal sources. The colon is one primary source. Result? Constipation. But, when a person drinks enough water, normal bowel function usually returns.

So how much water is enough?

On the average a person should drink eight 8-ounce glasses every day. That's about two quarts. However, the overweight person needs on additional glass for every 25 pounds overweight. The amount you drink should also be increased if you exercise briskly or if the weather is hot and dry.

Water should be preferably cold--it's absorbed into the system more quickly than warm water. And some evidence suggests that drinking cold water can actually help you burn calories.

To utilize water most efficiently during weight loss follow this schedule:

• Morning

1 quart consumed over a 30 minute period.

• Noon

1 quart consumed over a 30 minute period.

• Evening

1 quart consumed between 5 and 6 o'clock.

When the body gets the water it needs to function optimally, its fluids are perfectly balanced. When this happens you have reached the "breakthrough point." What does this mean?

• Endocrine-gland function improves.

• Fluid retention is alleviated as stored water is lost.

• More fat is used as fuel because the liver is free to metabolize stored fat.

• Natural thirst returns.

• There is a loss of hunger almost overnight.

If you stop drinking enough water, your body fluids will be thrown out of balance again, and you may experience unexplained weight gain and loss of thirst. To remedy this situation you'll have to go back and force another breakthrough.

The above article taken from "The Snowbird Diet" by Donald S. Roberston, M.D., M. Sc.