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Prep time: < 5 minutes
Ingredients
1 orange
2 lemons
8 cups pure, filtered water
1/2 teaspoon of sea salt (Celtic or Himalayan)
2-3 tablespoons raw honey
16 drops trace mineral (i.e. Concentrace), optional
Instructions
Blend peeled orange and lemons along with all other ingredients, adding sea salt and/or trace minerals to taste. Keeps in fridge for about a week. Use: sip during workouts or long days in hot weather.
While many sports beverage companies advertise their 80’s-style-neon-colored drinks, plain water is actually often the best “sports drink.” They contain not just electrolytes, but often extra calories, caffeine, and lots of artificial everything- coloring, sweeteners and flavors.
For causal activity, water is the best beverage to hydrate. For weekend-warriors and endurance athletes who exercise for more than an hour, an electrolyte replacement drink (make your own!) may help avoid dehydration and improve performance. Remember to drink water before, during, and after working out – especially in hot weather and climates.
Signs of dehydration include thirst, dry eyes and skin, dark-colored urine, and tiredness; less obvious symptoms include digestive issues such as constipation and heartburn, urinary tract infections, weakened immunity and weight gain.
Most people need to consume between two and four quarts of plain water each day. Pay attention to the color of your urine, which should be light-colored, and the amount (which should roughly equal your intake of water) to achieve proper hydration.
Water. It’s essential for human growth, maintenance, and life. It’s at the very base of Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs along with food, warmth, and rest. Though nature supplies a bounty and most of us would agree that having access to clean water is, or at least should be, a human right…Peter Brabeck, the former CEO of Nestle seems to consider this an extreme idea.
If you haven’t seen the video already, take a look. Around the 1:30 minute timeframe, first he lambasts the idea of organic foods being ‘best’, saying, “after 15 years of eating GM food products in the USA, not one single case of illness from eating them has occurred to date. And in spite of this we’re all so uneasy about it in Europe that something might happen to us.” This is not true as quite a few studies have found GMOs and associated chemicals can cause a myriad of health issues including cancer, digestive problems, and other serious health issues.
Back to the water discussion taking place around the globe. Try 2:30 minutes in and you’ll hear some truly astounding statements straight from the horse’s mouth:
Brabeck admits water “is of course the most important raw material we have today in the world,” then adds, “it’s a question of whether we should privatize the normal water supply for the population. And there are two different opinions on the matter. The one opinion, which I think is extreme, is represented by the NGOs, who bang on about declaring water a public right.”
He elaborates “That means that as a human being you should have a right to water. That’s an extreme solution.” The other “less extreme” view he espouses is that “water is a foodstuff like any other, and like any other foodstuff it should have a market value.”
Of course he’d be in favor of privatization of water. It would make him and his company wealthier and more powerful.
“Personally I believe it’s better to give a foodstuff a value so that we’re all aware that it has its price, and then that one should take specific measures for the part of the population that has no access to this water, and there are many different possibilities there.”
It almost sounds philanthropic…but wait (!!):
In a interview for BigThink in 2010, Brabeck says,“if Nestlé and myself have become very vocal in the area of water, it was not because of any philanthropic idea, it was very simple: by analyzing – what is the single most important factor for the sustainability of Nestlé [emphasis added], water came as [the] number one subject.”
“I think this is part of a company’s responsibility,” – maintaining and ensuring the success of Nestle’s corporation -“now, if I was in a different industry, I would have a different subject, certainly, that I would be focusing on.”
We are not here to tell you what to think, merely to bring awareness to these important issues and the ‘values’ of some of these corporations who stock our groceries full of their products. Let’s be clear: the value is not in offering a safe and necessary product, but about making money.
Should you like to avoid Nestle products, here are a few of their (my gosh, there are so) many, many water brands: Arrowhead, Aqua Spring, Calistoga, Contrex, Deer Park, Deep Spring, Ice Mountain, Glaciar, Klosterquelle, Nestle Wellness, Nestle Pure Life, Ozarka, Poland Spring, Perrier, S. Pellegrino, S. Barnardo, Water Line, and Zephyrhills as a starting point. Remember that Nestle also has a plethora of foodstuffs too.
Choose for yourselves what you will support, but for our households we will not serve water or (GMO) foods from Nestle.
When spring comes around we typically engage in the ritual of the big ‘spring cleaning’ where we open our doors, get the dust out, clean out our closets, have garage sales, and organize our living spaces.However, spring can be a time to clean up our whole life, meaning our diet, mind, and overall health. To detoxify our life, we can focus on de-cluttering our bodies, our environment, and our mind.
To start, lets take a look at our bodies. In order to cleanse them, we need to pay attention to what we are putting in them. Make sure to drink ample amounts of water as it will help flush out toxins. Also certain foods like fruits and vegetables can naturally help detoxify the body. Eat foods like Kale, Asparagus, Grapefruit, and Ginger to aid in cleansing.
In addition to what we put in our bodies, we also need to give them enough time to rest and recover. This is where the importance of sleep comes into play. Try to get at least eight hours of sleep each night and refrain from watching television or using electronics before bed.
Cravings… everyone has them, but you don’t have to indulge in them! Your body naturally craves things that you are lacking nutritionally. For example, if you are craving something salty, you may need more sodium. Since sodium is essential to several pathways in our body, we need this nutrient but too much becomes harmful. You can get this nutrient in healthy ways instead of over indulging in unhealthy sources.
Your body is very efficient and intelligent always trying to maintain balance. When you consume artificial foods, caffeine, alcohol or drugs, your body’s balance is thrown off. For this reason, the body creates cravings to get what it is not getting, These things trick the body often causing more cravings.
So what can you do when you feel an intense craving coming on?
Try drinking a glass of water and then see if you are still craving it. Are you truly craving something or just bored?
Try eating healthier versions of your craving
Craving sweets? Eat fruit or root vegetables
Think about why you are having the craving. Are you bored or yearning for something in your life? Did something happen that affected you emotionally?
If you go through all of these and decide you want to indulge in your craving, truly savor it. Enjoy what you are eating, taste every bite, and be conscious of how it affects your body.
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