When I was a teenager I took Tylenol every single day for two years because of horrible headaches.  I later learned that the cause of my headaches was dehydration and it could have been solved without taxing my liver for two years with medication.  All I needed to do was drink water.  Our bodies are made up of approximately two-thirds water.  Once you get below that amount, dehydration occurs.  Dehydration lowers your blood volume, makes your heart work harder causing fatigue and it can make you very, very sick.

I know this first hand from having to take my daughter Heather into the emergency room three times.  One morning she woke up in excruciating pain with muscle cramps, head pain and body aches.  She fainted so we rushed her to the hospital where the hospital staff performed various tests including blood work; the prognosis was: dehydration.

Unfortunately she didn’t learn the lesson and it happened a second time and a third.  By this time I told her she was paying for the next trip to the emergency room: guess what, Heather now drinks plenty of water.

Remember that if you feel thirsty, it is too late, by the time your body signals you to drink, you have already lost 2% of water.

Key to Success: Drink your magic potion of water throughout the day.
My family doesn’t quite share the same enthusiasm for drinking water that I do, my teenagers and husband would drink juice and soda all the time if allowed.  To get them to stop calling me the Gestapo that kills all their fun, I purchase pure lemonade or cranberry juice, making sure it doesn’t have any added sugar or high fructose corn syrup, and mix it with sparkling water such as Perrier.  I buy Perrier at Costco by the case and keep it handy.  You can also add lime or lemon to Perrier by itself to give it some flavor.

Remember that if you drink your calories, you are adding high amounts of sugar to your body that it not only doesn’t need, it doesn’t know what to do with so it will store it as fat.

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