message in a bottle

Most of us are aware of the importance of drinking enough water. Getting our daily requirement of water helps our organs perform their functions, keeps our skin clear and hydrated, and allows physical action in our bodies to flow smoothly. Even with this knowledge, most of us spend our days dehydrated from a lack of water.  Symptoms of not drinking enough water include; poor digestion, sluggish thinking, skin breakouts, headaches, bad breath and general fatigue.   When the first thing that flows through your body each morning is water, it pulls out toxins left over from the previous day and freshens your system for the day ahead. Adding some lemon to your water is even a better way to remove toxins.  Lemon works to chelate  toxins out of your body.  Keep a bottle of water accessible throughout the day, whether you are on the go or at a desk.  Most people only take a drink of water when they are thirsty.  If you wait to drink until you are thirsty, you are probably already starting to get dehydrated.  A good rule to follow is to take your weight and divide it in half.  That number is the amount of ounces of water you should drink each day.  If you weigh 200 lbs, you should be drinking 100 ounces of water per day  

What about quality? Some people like bottled water, while others prefer filtered water. The key is to like the taste of the water you are drinking, and the water should agree with your body. If the taste of plain water is unappealing, experiment to see how you can make it tasty and drinkable. My personal favorite is mineral water, which I drink with meals.  Also, as the information below shows, bottled water has a direct impact on our environment.  Think about how you get the water you drink.  What can you do to create less waste and do more to help the environment?  It’s great to recycle, but it would be even better if we didn’t create as much waste to begin with.   

Always start with yourself and look at the changes you can make at home and in your own life.

Some things to think about: 

24% of the bottled water we buy is tap water repackaged by Coke and Pepsi.

Fiji water produces more than a million bottles a day, while more than half the people in Fiji do not have reliable drinking water.

Half the wholesale cost of Fiji water is transportation.If the water we used at home cost what even cheap bottled water costs, our monthly water bill would run $9,000.00. 

We pitch into landfills 38 billion water bottles a year, in excess of $1 billion worth of plastic.In 1976 the average American drank 1.6 gallons of bottled water.  Last year we drank 28.3 gallons.

PepsiCo Inc. will spell out that its Aquafina bottled water is made with tap water, a concession to the growing environmental and political opposition to the bottled water industry.

According to Corporate Accountability International, a U.S. watchdog group, the world’s No. 2 beverage company will include the words “Public Water Source” on Aquafina labels. 

Source: Fast Company – August 2007