Drinking Water and Fasting for Optimum Health

By Dada Dharmavedananda

I have been teaching yoga for more than 30 years and in recent years I have specialized in using natural treatments to prevent and cure diseases. One of the important factors in maintaining health and in curing illnesses is to learn how to drink water in a therapeutic way. If you would like to find out how use water in a curative way, then read on and you will find the basic methods that could transform your life. If you are curious about fasting, then the article also explains how this simple practice can help you greatly.

1. The Correct Method of Drinking Water

We drink water everyday, but why is it that some people enjoy good health from drinking water whereas others do not? The answer is: there is technique to drinking water!
Most people drink too little water; this is why their health is not good. How much should we drink then? The answer is that most people need to drink at least four litres of water a day. The amount should be increased if you have skin problem.

Apart from being a constituent part of our body cells, water also has multiple roles. For example it maintains an adequate flow around and between cells, and takes part in many chemical functions in the cells. Most importantly, water disperses nutrients and carries wastes out of our body, including toxins.

Hence if you drink very little water, it would not be able to carry out the function of discharging wastes properly. The best time to drink water is immediately after you rise from bed in the morning. At this time, you can drink about two cups of water to awaken the bodys various functions and to clean the bowels. Following that, you can drink half a cup of water every 10 minutes. However, drinking water should be avoided within the period of half an hour before meals and one hour after meals. This is because it would dilute the stomachs acid and affect digestion.

The effect of detoxification is be better if you drink lemon water because the acid in lemon enhances digestion and the vitamin C in lemon aids in clearing the bowels. Making lemon water is very simple, just add the juice of one or half a lemon to one litre of water and add a little salt -- just enough so you can barely taste the salt. A good practice is to get a one litre water bottle and carry it with you so you can drink water at any moment of the day.

2. Fasting

The word fasting sounds terrifying we cannot even survive without eating, how can it be a type of natural therapy? However if fasting is carried out properly, it can really let the body expel its toxins in a short period of time.
The theory of fasting can be explained by looking at our digestive system. Our digestive system has two main functions taking in nutrients and self-healing through detoxification. The reason why our body accumulates waste is because our digestive system cannot effectively handle both functions simultaneously. When we fast, we dont eat, our digestive system does not need to absorb nutrients, thus it is then able to carry out its detoxification function and help us heal ourselves.

There are two main reasons why people are not healthy in this modern day: the first is the accumulation of toxins and the second is stress. Stress can be reduced through activities like yoga and meditation, whereas to clean ourselves, we would need to limit our food intake and detoxify our body.

Toxins do not only come from our polluted environment, they also come from the by-product of our food mainly food that is difficult to digest, such as egg, beans, fish, meat, snacks and fried food. Therefore to prevent toxins from forming in our body, the most basic way is to choose the correct food and make sure we do not eat except when we are really hungry. It is best to eat high-fibre and fresh food and drink more fruit juice, especially the juice of citrus fruits such as lemons and oranges.

As for detoxification, apart from drinking more water it would be good if you can fast one day every week or fast when you catch the flu. It is however important that fasting be done with the guidance of a specialist as incorrect fasting can be harmful.

So, there it is: drink water and make the proper use of fasting to help detoxify your body. Both practices will help you to have the best possible health.