Water Can Cure Allergies, Asthma, Colitis, Fatigue, Headaches, Hearburn, Hypertension, and Morning Sickness
In F. Batmanghelidj’s books, Your Body’s Many Cries for Water and ABC of Asthma, Allergies, and Lupus, this medical doctor describes manifold symptoms that may all be attributed to the same cause: water shortage in the body. In both of these books, he argues persuasively how not getting enough water can cause a torrent of seemingly unrelated illnesses – and how simply increasing one’s water intake can prevent, alleviate, and even cure a number of chronic afflictions.
While the simplicity of his theory seems too good to be true, considering that our bodies are eighty percent water and all of our vital functions depend on this liquid, it stands to reason that water plays a major role in overall health – and therefore a lack of it could result in a myriad of health problems. He argues that when a person does not drink an adequate amount of water, their body responds to the shortage by rationing the water available – causing the disturbance of some bodily functions in order to maintain others. An example of this is gastritis, which can be caused when the intestines have too little water to create a protective mucus layer – in such a case, the food continues churning (creating a highly acidic environment in the stomach) until the intestines are sufficiently protected to receive the acidic substance.
When I first purchased the books, I was looking for relief from asthma – my prescription medication wasn’t working to my satisfaction. His books helped me to understand the biological process that gives rise to the shortness of breath associated with asthma – as well as ideas on how to treat it naturally (balanced sodium/potassium intake along with ample water). While my symptoms have not disappeared completely since beginning to drink the recommended amount of water (half one’s body weight in ounces), they have certainly diminished. The increased water intake also had some welcome side effects – greater energy, better digestion, and a reduction of stress headaches (from which I used to suffer almost daily).
Water is something that is overlooked in our culture of soda pop and coffee – but Batmanghelidj shows that it cannot be overemphasized. After all, a human being can survive a month without food, but only a week without water. Which leads to the question: how long has it been since you had a tall glass of pure water (not juice, tea, or soda)? And if you do drink water, are you drinking enough? Caffeine and alcohol are diuretics, which means they draw water from the body. So even if you do drink your eight-ten glasses a day, you will also be losing some of that with every caffeinated or alcoholic beverage, in which case, you will want to increase your water intake accordingly.
With the costs for prescription medication (not to mention health insurance) skyrocketing – as well as the undesirable side effects of sampling and mixing drug cocktails in search of a cure – pure, plain, simple H2O might just be a refreshing change. It can’t hurt, but it can certainly help. I highly recommend that anyone who wishes to improve the quality of their life give these books a look – and that anyone who is searching for that elusive cure to their health troubles give water a try.
