Sufficient daily water intake is vital for virtually every function within our bodies yet fewer than one in five of us drinks enough. Read on to see the results of this experiment.
Sarah Smith is a 42 year old mother of two young kids in the UK. She, like many others, openly admitted to not drinking the recommended 2 to 3 liters of water daily. She suffered from poor and sluggish indigestion and regular headaches. Following consultations with medical professionals for both issues she decided to take heed of the advice given – in both cases she had been told that she needed to up her intake of water. She decided to document and photograph what happened in a self imposed experiment whereby she would drink 3 liters, just over 5 pints, of water per day, every day for an entire month and see if she could feel any benefits.
At the outset Sarah took a long hard look at her face noting that “I am 42, but have to admit I look more like 52 in this picture, which is shocking. There are dark shadows under and around my eyes, which make me look exhausted, a profusion of wrinkles and strange reddish blotches, and my skin lacks any lustre. It looks dead….even my lips look shrivelled.”She spread the water out during the day aiming to drink a big jug of water in the morning, another in the afternoon with a third in the evening.
At the end of the FIRST WEEK she had already noticed that her bowel function was improved and her urine was virtually clear as the water was flushing out her previously dehydrated poorly functioning kidneys. She noticed sudden skin breakouts, which were a result of the toxins being eliminated from throughout her body. However her headaches were already gone and her previous joint stiffness first thing in the morning was vastly improved. Water is vital for lubricating the joints.
WEEK TWO saw an improvement in her skin tone and general complexion although she noted that her eyes were still wrinkled but said “they look less crepey and shadowy than before”. She also had a visibly flatter stomach and her smart husband paid her the ultimate compliment by noting that her cellulite had vanished! Significantly she had another week headache free.
On to WEEK THREE when Sarah was happy to find that her eye wrinkles and dark circles had all but disappeared and her skin was plumper and healthier looking. She noted that she was actually eating less by this stage as she had fallen into the common trap of reading signals from her stomach as being hunger pangs whereas they were actually thirst pangs. Research has shown that 37 per cent of people actually mistake thirst signals for hunger signals. The plentiful water had now stopped her from continually falling into that unhealthy trap.
So what about the end of WEEK FOUR? Sarah said “I genuinely can’t believe the difference in my face. I look like a different woman. The dark shadows around my eyes have all but disappeared and the blotches have gone. My skin is almost as dewy as it was when I was a child. The transformation is nothing short of remarkable.” She was leaner, fitter and nobody can deny the astonishing change to her appearance. She changed nothing else in her daily routine apart from the water intake. Here are the before and after photographs:
To those of you already converted to drinking enough water these results will merely confirm what you already know, but to anyone who is guilty of not doing so, will this persuade you to try this for yourself ? If you found this article useful, share it with family and friends by clicking on the share buttons.
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Toxic World, Toxic People – The Essential Guide To Health, Happiness, Parenting & Conscious Living, which came out this time last year, to help people improve their lives, their health, and their family relationships.
I’m a big advocate for educating people about the dangers of what toxic chemicals are doing to us and the planet, and most especially what they are doing to our children. I’m also super passionate about how unhappy kids are these days and really want to do something about it. Today, we have become very toxic due to an over exposure to chemicals and also due to the way we have often been parented. I’ve therefore written a lot about attachment parenting and ways of becoming closer to our children so they grow up feeling loved and secure.
Many psychologists agree, depression and anxiety are often rooted to our harmful childhood experiences. If we then grow up feeling very stressed out, don’t feel accepted and then come into contact with bad food and an accumulation of toxic chemicals, full blown depression and anxiety can set in due to these two very debilitating stressors.
Because of my long history with mental health issues, (which I am pleased to say, I am now totally free of!) i’ve written a lot about depression and how dangerous the psychiatric industry can be. You will find helpful information on what you can do to improve your mood without using things that often have dangerous side effects and consequences.
I’ve been overwhelmed to receive some great press over the last year, I even had a full page article written in the UK’s The Sun paper. It is not something they would normally print, so it was really great to see them sharing my message and educating people about the dangers of heavy metals. Three days later, an organisation which is funded by Chemical and Pharmaceutical industries released a statement about my book being full of misinformation. When I saw this come out, I knew I had touched a raw nerve and that my book was a threat to powerful industries. They simply don’t want us all knowing about how dangerous these industries and products have been to our health and planet.
Below are a few endorsements I wanted to share with you:
“Toxic World Toxic People is one of the most important books you can read, especially if you care about the health of your children and grandchildren. Anna has put together a most comprehensive and easy-to-understand guide to help us all navigate safely through the overt and covert pollutants impacting us all!” ~ Robert Scott Bell, D.A. Hom., Host of The Robert Scott Bell Radio Show
“This is a bible for anyone wanting to live a healthy lifestyle, reduce toxic exposure through foods, home, environment, cosmetics, build immunity, and create a loving relationship with your children through attachment parenting. She’s a thought-leader and really walks her talk. Anna I am so proud of this book. Everyone should have a copy.” ~ Lathan Thomas, Mama Glow
“An incisive examination of the many ills which afflict the modern world, full of wise advice, helping to lay down the path to a saner, more harmonious world.” ~ Steve Taylor, best-selling author of The Fall (OBooks 2005), Waking from Sleep and Back to Sanity
“We are in the middle of taking back our food and our health. This movement is unprecedented and historical on many levels. If you know someone that isn’t in the game yet, this is the only book they will need to activate them. Thanks Anna!” ~ Jefferey Jaxen, Investigative Reporter
“Bless the pioneers, ground-breakers and the insurgents wherever we find them. I felt compelled to write a book on everything you need to know that psychologists won’t tell you about parenting and how it determines adulthood. I really wrote it for me, what I would have wanted to read – but couldn’t find, until I wrote it. This book does the same thing. I believe Anna Rodgers has written the book we all need on how to avoid toxicity in the environment, near and far. She is also the only such source I know of, that truly understands that parenting is another critical aspect of toxicity. She gets the big picture and reports on it to those of us who want to know how to be healthier and happier, if only we can trust the source. The best part for me is that I can endorse what Mrs. Rogers says about parenting, something I cannot do for most parenting books. The bonus is that I am learning thanks to Anna.” ~ Dr. Faye, aka Faye Snyder, Psy.D., forensic evaluator, parenting educator, and author of The Manual: The Definitive Book on Parenting and the Causal Theory
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Something that really surprised me when working as a pharmacist was why people would still gain weight even though they were following a strict low fat diet.
After seeing so many people suffering from obesity related diseases like heart disease, diabetes and the side effects of the medication they were taking, I was strongly motivated to research what actually causes people to become obese, it clearly was not just the fat they were eating!
I actually discovered that a trigger factor for many widespread diseases of the west such as obesity, heart disease and diabetes could be closely linked to the consumption of one particular substance found in many processed foods and drinks – fructose in the form of high fructose corn syrup.
Fructose is the form of high fructose corn syrup is found in pretty much all processed foods such as ready meals, fast foods, sweets and fizzy drinks and most people are totally unaware of its danger.
It is also often found in ‘low fat’ supposedly healthy alternatives and even many popular weight loss products because food with the fat taken out simply tastes horrible. High fructose corn syrup in combination with many other additives are usually added to enhance the flavor.
Glucose is the type of sugar our body loves. It gets metabolized by every cell in our body and is very easy to burn with very few toxic by-products. It also tells the brain to stop eating when you are full.
Fructose on the other hand is another type of sugar and is found in sucrose which breaks down to glucose and fructose.
Fructose is actually only metabolized by the liver and it’s very similar to ethanol (the alcohol in drinks). When you consume it, it’s actually like ethanol but without the high. It confuses the liver and ends up making lots of bad fats in the process. It also doesn’t signal your brain that you are full. This is why people can drink massive cups of fizzy drinks which are high in fructose and still eat huge meals containing refined foods that are also full of fructose.
Many fruits also contain fructose, but nature has provided the antidote, as these fruits are also packed with fibre which prevents your body from absorbing too much of it.
When I advised people to reduce their consumption of high fructose corn syrup by eating lower carb/higher protein diets free from processed foods, even if they say they are healthy options, they started to lose weight and feel much better as a result.
In many cases I asked people to just stop their consumption of fizzy drinks like Coca Cola and instead swap it with either plain water, or add some freshly squeezed lemon for flavor.
Green tea is also a great alternative, and it is one of my personal favorites because it contains alpha wave stimulating theanine that also double serves as an antidote to the harmful effects of caffeine.
Those who loved to drink tea and coffee sweetened with lots of sugar, I advised to swap with natural sweeteners like stevia instead. This alone had some remarkable results.
I tried to get this information out to the masses via my health project with ASDA WALMART, but it was prevented when they realized if my information became too popular it could significantly damage their profits.
There are 1.6 billion servings of Coke sold each day worldwide!! A very significant percentage of that is through supermarket chains like WALMART.
So you can imagine how unpopular I became in WALMART’s head office in the UK with my information strongly advising people to stop drinking fizzy drinks like Coke!
I recently came across a great article by Wade Meredith that explains very well what happens when you drink just 1 can of Coca Cola and this applies to pretty much most caffeinated soft drinks, not just Coke!
When somebody drinks a can of Coke or any similar sugary caffeine drink, watch what happens…
Coke is not just high in high fructose corn syrup, but it is also packed with refined salts and caffeine. Regular consumption of these ingredients in the high quantities you find in Coke and other processed foods and drinks, can lead to higher blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes and obesity.
If you care about your heart, health and mind then please remember this article next time you reach for that bottle of Coke!
We should all know by now the health risks associated with soda due to its highly acid forming recipe of sugar, carbonated water and additives like salt and phosphorous.
But a recent Gallup poll reveals that 48 percent of surveyed Americans – nearly half! still drink soda on a daily basis. What’s more, among those who drank soda, the average daily intake was 2.6 glasses per day.
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What has happened to us? Despite the most advanced medical technology in the world, we are sicker than ever by nearly every measure. Two out of every three of us are overweight.
Cases of diabetes are exploding, especially amongst our younger population. About half of us are taking at least one prescription drug. Major medical operations have become routine, helping to drive health care costs to astronomical levels. Heart disease, cancer and stroke are the country's three leading causes of death, even though billions are spent each year to "battle" these very conditions. Millions suffer from a host of other degenerative diseases.
Could it be there's a single solution to all of these problems? A solution so comprehensive but so utterly straightforward, that it's mind-boggling that more of us haven't taken it seriously?
FORKS OVER KNIVES examines the profound claim that most, if not all, of the so-called "diseases of affluence" that afflict us can be controlled, or even reversed, by rejecting our present menu of animal-based and processed foods. The major storyline in the film traces the personal journeys of a pair of pioneering yet under-appreciated researchers, Dr. T. Colin Campbell and Dr. Caldwell Esselstyn.
Dr. Campbell, a nutritional scientist at Cornell University, was concerned in the late 1960's with producing "high quality" animal protein to bring to the poor and malnourished areas of the third world. While in the Philippines, he made a life-changing discovery: the country's wealthier children, who were consuming relatively high amounts of animal-based foods, were much more likely to get liver cancer.
Dr. Esselstyn, a top surgeon and head of the Breast Cancer Task Force at the world-renowned Cleveland Clinic, found that many of the diseases he routinely treated were virtually unknown in parts of the world where animal-based foods were rarely consumed. These discoveries inspired Campbell and Esselstyn, who didn't know each other yet, to conduct several groundbreaking studies. One of them took place in China and is still among the most comprehensive health-related investigations ever undertaken. Their research led them to a startling conclusion: degenerative diseases like heart disease, type 2 diabetes, and even several forms of cancer, could almost always be prevented - and in many cases reversed - by adopting a whole foods, plant-based diet. Despite the profound implications of their findings, their work has remained relatively unknown to the public.
The filmmakers travel with Drs. Campbell and Esselstyn on their separate but similar paths, from their childhood farms where they both produced "nature's perfect food"; to China and Cleveland, where they explored ideas that challenged the established thinking and shook their own core beliefs.
The idea of food as medicine is put to the test. Throughout the film, cameras follow "reality patients" who have chronic conditions from heart disease to diabetes. Doctors teach these patients how to adopt a whole foods plant-based diet as the primary approach to treat their ailments - while the challenges and triumphs of their journeys are revealed.
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