Another really important, but seemingly easy step to moving your family closer to the wellness spectrum is to change the way your family drinks.  Statistics show that Americans drink an average of 412 soft drinks in a years time….that’s over 39 gallons!!!  If you figure that each one of those cokes has 39 grams of sugar in it (7.5 tsp/12 oz) then that equals 35.3 POUNDS OF SUGAR A YEAR!  And that’s only from what they’re consuming in liquids.  And we wonder why our rates of juvenile type 2 diabetes has skyrocketed.

What about the energy drinks you see all the kids carrying around these days?  Well, each of those drinks is about 16 oz and in one drink alone it contains (aside from the dyes, partially hydrogenated oil, etc) 56 grams of sugar.

Energy Fiend is a really interesting website that shows alot of the contents of different drinks.  The worst one they have on their list interestingly is a drink produced by Pepsi Co. called Tropicana Twister and in a 20 oz bottle it contains over 87 grams of sugar!!

The best thing you can do is to get rid of all the soft drinks and fruit juices in your house and start encouraging your family to drink more blue, clear, WATER.

Most Americans today are majorly dehydrated.  One of the worst things we do is to wait until we are thirsty to get us something to drink.  By that point, your body is screaming at you and its already too late!  Physical symptoms of dehydration include: constipation, stomach pain, muscle and joint pain, headaches, numbness and tingling in arms and legs, light headedness, dizziness, lack of urination, clammy skin, and many others.  A large number of the symptoms we see patients for in the clinic could be totally reversed if they would drink enough water.

How much should I get?: To stay properly hydrated, you want to be trying to get in about half your body weight in ounces of water per day.  So if you weigh 100lbs, then you should focus on drinking 50 oz of water per day.  That’s assuming you don’t do any exercise at all, if you do, that number goes up drastically.  If you’re pregnant or detoxing, that number goes up as well.

Are all Waters created equal?: No.  Not all water is good for you.  Tap water is loaded with chlorine, fluoride, and many other harmful substances.  Other waters, like Aquafina and Dasani, are just city water that is re-bottles and sold to you at a higher cost.  The best waters are (in no real particular order): 1. Mountain Valley Spring Water, 2. Fiji, 3. Smart Water, 4. Reverse Osmosis Water, 5. Alkaline Water, 6. Voss.

Don Colbert, M.D. in his book 7 Pillars of Health
gives a chart of the most alkaline, pure waters on the market.  Worth a read.

So get you a re-fillable bottle so you can see how much you’re drinking and start slowly to add the water in you need a day.  You’ll feel better imediately, I promise!

Dr. JB

Tags: cokes, energy drinks, mountain valley spring water, penta, sugar, water