12 Steps to Whole Foods

Starting Your Morning Off Right
In 2 Kings 5:13, Naaman’s servants say to him, “If the prophet had bid thee do some great thing, wouldest thou
not have done it? How much rather then, when he sayeth to thee, wash, and be clean?” Naaman follows the
simple advice and is healed.
The simplest answers are sometimes hardest to believe. Sometimes—especially in this day and age where
we’ve come to expect whiz-bang, high-tech miracles—simple answers are the last ones we consider instead of
the first. Doctors don’t often start with the most simple answers, like chronic dehydration. They go right to
pharmaceuticals. So we have to try those simple answers ourselves.
Are you drinking 8-10 glasses daily? How can you find a way to fit this habit into your schedule? For me, a
very important part of achieving that involves drinking about 16 oz. immediately upon waking up. I drink
another 16 oz. after my workout in the morning. The rest I fit into my day, avoiding drinking water right before
or after meals (you should abstain 2 hrs. before/after meals to avoid diluting gastric juices).
When I was a first-time breastfeeding mother, a friend told me, “Never walk past a sink without drinking a
glassful.” This was very helpful advice. I’ve been made fun of for the weird, even obnoxious fact that I bounce
out of bed in the morning like the Energizer Bunny while others need an hour to clear the fog. I wonder if that’s
because I drink lots of water, including a sole salt solution, every morning and, therefore, I'm not low on
hydroelectric energy like Dr. B. speaks of?
Dr. B. and other experts say you should drink half your weight in ounces (that’s 8 glasses of water for a 128 lb.
person). Of course, the most important fact is that most people are chronically dehydrated and need to drink
more. Clear or very light-colored urine shows good hydration—and the darker your urine, the more dehydrated
you are (and first thing in the morning, most of us are dehydrated). Small children, the elderly, and athletes are
at highest risk for dehydration, because we lose 10-15 C of fluids daily through elimination, sweat, and
breathing. The biggest factor increasing that amount is exercise—but altitude and temperature are other
variables to consider.
You can, in fact, drink too much water and achieve water intoxication. This usually happens only to athletes,
since your kidneys can’t process water during exercise, so competitive athletes must balance sodium and water
intake. Thirteen percent of distance runners (whose weight was measured before and after running and whose
water consumption was measured) drank too much water, causing abnormally or dangerously low blood
sodium levels. So athletes may wish to use a small amount of sole in water before and after practice and
competing.
Get in the habit of taking your favorite reusable water bottle with you everywhere you go. Find spaces in your
routine where you learn to always drink a glass or two. For instance, drink your 16 oz. water bottle all the way
home from work in the car, before you prepare dinner.
Why Should I Use Salt, and What Kind?
If I go to a restaurant and eat something with a lot of sodium, I can barely make a fist when I wake up the next
day. My fingers are like pudgy sausages. My body hates salt. Or so I thought!
You probably know that sodium chloride (table salt) consumption is linked to heart disease. Your body can’t
handle more than a minute amount, and when it gets too much, edema results. Swelling of heart tissues is
especially dangerous—and my pudgy fingers are just the first thing I notice if I eat food with refined (table)
salt.
© Copyright Robyn Openshaw 12 Steps to Whole Foods 277