I’ve never craved a lot of water. I would much rather drink tea than water. I think I would feel bloated and pukey (is that a word?) if I drank 8+ glasses of water a day.

There are some people who seem to crave water–they always have to have it. This is seen as a bad thing, because it’s a sign of diabetes. And yet, mainstream health articles seem to say “drink more water!”

How much water are you drinking every day? Half of your body weight in ounces? A huge jug? Several glasses full? Have you bought into the idea that you need to drink a lot of water and you feel guilty if you don’t meet your water quota for the day? Are you nagging your kids to drink more water? I hope that after reading this post, you’ll be able to relax about this.

I’m a fan of Dr. Natasha Campbell McBride, the author of Gut and Psychology Syndrome. She says that water is important–and that an average adult should drink–get this–1.5 liters a day. When you think about a 2 liter pop bottle, that seems like a lot, doesn’t it? Drink 3/4 of a 2 liter bottle of pop, full of water (not pop!)–that’s a lot of fluid, right? Wrong. Do you know how many glasses that is, if you’re using a standard sized adult drinking glass?

about 3

Three glasses full of water, not 8. 3, for the whole day. That’s it. If you were to drink 8 glasses of water today, that would be equivalent to almost TWO 2-liter bottles. That’s a lot of water.

Dr. Natasha advises her patients not to drink water with meals. “Drinking a lot of water with meals is not advisable, as it may interfere with digestion. It is better to drink warm homemade meat stock with meals, which stimulates production of digestive juices in the stomach.”

So, instead of drinking straight water, Dr. Natasha says to drink:

• homemade bone broth
• freshly squeezed fruit and vegetable juices
• herbal teas with honey
• warm water with a lemon slice or apple cider vinegar

The water she does recommend drinking is mineral water, which is not plain water at all. It contains salts and sulphur compounds that are not found in your basic tap water, filtered or not.

I recently (finally) purchased Matt Stone’s Platinum Collection, and have been reading Eat for Heat. Why didn’t I buy it before?

• His theories seemed contrary to GAPS and I am a GAPSter.
• Sometimes his humor is crude.

So why did I finally buy it?

• Because I’m curious.
• Because I’m a health-nut and I care about knowing what different theories are out there & what’s working for people.
• Because I think what he says about water is right-on, and I’ve been wondering what else he has to say that might be right, too. 

And even though Matt Stone is not a GAPS believer, I think that he and Dr. Natasha would agree, when it comes to water.

The basic points I’ve taken away from Matt’s book (that I want to share with you right now–there are many more!) are:

• Don’t force yourself to drink water, to meet a quota for the day, when you’re not thirsty.
• We give saline to people when they’re sick, not water, and for good reason.
• Drinking too much water dilutes the fluid in our body (which is not simply H2O).
• You can get sick from drinking too much water (the symptoms are listed in his book), and this is called “water intoxication,” or, “hyponatremia.”
• Your pee should not be clear.

This makes sense to me–it makes sense to how I’ve always felt. I just couldn’t force myself to drink more water (much like I can’t force myself to drink liquid cod liver oil–my gag reflex is quite possibly the strongest muscle in my body!).  It just seems counter-intuitive to make myself drink something that I don’t feel like my body is asking for.

So now I’m curious to read more of what Matt Stone has to say. I’m excited that I got his Platinum Collection, which comes with a bunch of different materials (e-books, video, audio). I’ve got a lot of learning to do! Also, Matt will be speaking at the Healthy Life Summit, which is a free, streaming event that’s going on March 24-30. Join in & listen to him speak & then we can have a discussion about it on Facebook! =)

How much water do you drink every day? What do you think about this theory?

photo credit: Greg Riegler Photography