The Role of Hydration and Salt in Cell Energetics

Most of us are wandering around dehydrated. Our modern environments conspire to drain ever more of our hydration from us, including cell phones and commutes, drying, processed foods, i.e. pizza, sitting behind desks and in chairs, in cubicles or cars. Add prescription medications which require more water to metabolize and we can see why we are all in low grade fatigue and fall into bed at night worried, frazzled and yet unable to slow down and sleep. Did you know sleep requires hydration?

 What can we do? The Hydration Foundation is here to help, we know the modern lifestyle must be addressed as a hydration stealer. In addition, we know that some surprising and necessary facts get lost in hydration advice today. Did you know what you eat can help you hydrate? Most fresh fruits and veggies are over 90% water. Not just watermelon, but cauliflower too. Fresh foods, even salads, bring the kind of water into us that our cells can receive more readily, hydrating us more efficiently. Fresh foods are hydration helpers on two fronts. First, the fiber in those foods help water actually absorb into your system, not just flash flood through. That just makes sense, but secondly, fresh foods carry important minerals that create electrical charge in the water they carry, so water from food has more energizing power. If your family is not big veggie fans, you can simply add an all natural salt to your water to create the energizing effect.

We feature the work of Dr. F. Batmanghelidj, and his book Your Body’s Many Cries for Water, who reported over 20 years ago the mistaken belief that salt was bad for us, bad for our blood pressure. Salt, in fact, real salt, is a necessary ingredient for hydration to move from the outside of our cell membrane to the inside of our cells where water then fuels cell function. He recommends ” 8-10 eight ounce glasses of plain water daily, including WITH meals contrary to popular teaching. In addition, he recommends we also ingest for each 8 -10 glasses of water a little less than one-half teaspoon of good quality mineral-containing sea salt, such as Celtic or Himalayan, available in any health food store. With increased water intake, we will lose salt, an essential nutrient, so we need to make up the difference.”

Dr. Batman, as he is affectionately known, is not the only doctor, or scientist, to recognize that salt is an essential chemical for cellular function. As far back as the Romans, where salt was the coin by which soldiers were paid, salt has been understood as necessary to hydrate. Not too much, but not too little. Dr. Nicholas Gonzales, MD wrote an article for GreenMedInfo which opens entirely new ways of thinking about water, salt and cell energetics, or APT.

Other new findings on hydration relate to the connective tissue found throughout our bodies, known as fascia. Fascia turns out to be far more than spongy material that holds us together and gives us shape and flexibility. It is also a previously unknown hydration irrigation system that carries not only moisture but electrical information throughout our bodies. In order for hydration to reach all our tissues, we must be in motion. To see the fascia system actually delivering water watch this two minute video (link) and be amazed at what’s going on in there! Even little movements count, and twisting and rotating are especially hydrating, squeezing old water out and drawing in fresh hydration.

So water from food, salt and movement….not the usual advising about hydration. Read more in our new book Quench, where we provide a five-day plan to get you to optimal hydration and over 50 hydrating recipes. Follow us at the Hydration Foundation as we provide you with the emerging new science of hydration and seminal thinking about water. Water is our fuel and hydration is our source. And use our Instagram tips, at @hydrationdaily as a hydration reminder in our busy modern, energized live…..happy hydrating. Oh, and PS: carry a little bag of real salt with you for the many cafes and restaurants you will be in!

New study out – Runners should pre-hydrate with salt.