Dr. Shmuel Shields - Guard Your Health Series (Part 2) - Live Well: Tips for More Energy

okay hi everybody we're going to get started my name is dr shmuel shields and this is part two of our guardian health series today we're going to be talking about water and staying hydrated and what should you be drinking okay so the first thing i want to say is there are many torah references to water and torah is often compared to water so one of the very first references we have here is in partial basal where it says they went for a three-day journey a three-day period in the mid bar below matsumayam and they didn't find water so water is often a metaphor for torah and the sages interpret that torah was neglected for the three days in the midbar which caused the spiritual deterioration to a point that it almost led to a rebellion and the vm therefore enacted that reading of the torah should take place three times a week so there shouldn't be more than three days three days shouldn't elapse without without torah in yashaya there's also a passage that says all who thirst go to water all who thirst is is interpreted by matsudas david as those who wish to learn go to water rashi interprets it as to torah so we see some interesting references to water and torah we also know in shia hashirum actually before we do share share we know that the world really cannot exist without water and neither can it can it exist without torah and i think rabbi akiva says it best we know the famous story when he was when the romans said they forbade the study of torah on the pain of death and rebbe akiva continued teaching torah and one of the one of his tell me them somebody came to him and said how could you teach tory you could be put to death so he gave a beautiful muscle of the fish in the water and just to give you the short version of it he basically said just like a fish cannot live without water we cannot live without torah so he's willing to risk giving up his life because either way he knew he couldn't live without torah and if he had to give up his life he would he would be willing to do that because he couldn't survive without torah so we see the importance and the connections between water and torah uh it's interesting ushaya actually in shia hashiram there's in major shrabba they also make a reference to just as water leaves a high place and usually goes to the lowest place it flows down to the lowest place available for it torah also will leave a haughty or an arrogant person and remains with one who was lowly and humble so that's another reference to torah and and water what i want to talk about today is physically our need for water the role it plays in the body and we could also see just in the way that the ribenislam created the world we see something very fascinating we see that if we think about it the most important nutrient that we need to survive to live is really air oxygen and when hashem created the world he obviously knew that this would be the most important ingredient to sustain life and air is found everywhere it's the most abundant ingredient you never have to worry if you go you want to take a hike you go to another state am i going to have enough air do i have to bring air along of course not you want to climb a mountain no problem there's air wherever you go a person can only survive four or five minutes without oxygen so hashem made it readily available so we should never be deprived of it the next most important ingredient is actually water and it's interesting to note that the human body is made up of almost two-thirds water and the surface of the earth also contains is made up of about two-thirds of water also about 70 percent of the earth's surface is two-thirds water so just as water is another essential nutrient a person if he has water and he doesn't have food he could live for maybe 40 days so so water uh is essential for life and it can sustain us for a long amount of time and it's readily available because of its importance there's a lot of water that's available to us and we have to not lose sight that water is also a miracle like the ramban says everything is really a miracle but we tend to get used to it we take it for granted and it just doesn't have that miraculous quality to it but water is also a miracle and the fact that we have it and it's available we should appreciate it and not take it for granted the human body as i said earlier is about two-thirds water which means that our body weight two-thirds of it is water so if you see a man that weighs 180 pounds walking down the street 120 pounds of his body weight is actually water so water is essential for all of the cells in the body all the body cells contain and need water to carry out their vital work every bodily function and biochemical reaction requires water transporting nutrients requires water it assists in digestion absorption circulation excretory functions toxic removal it maintains body temperature water even acts as a natural uh it naturally suppresses the appetite i actually am a nutritionist in private practice in queens and i tell my patients all the time drink water before you meal you know it will suppress the appetite it also prevents fluid retention it helps to metabolize stored fat which is important for weight loss it maintains proper muscle tone relieves constipation lubricates the joints even improves endocrine gland function so we can see water is essential for so many body processes the next question we might want to ask is how much water do we need and how much should we be drinking now there's an old adage out there that we should be drinking eight cups a day which again doesn't really make sense because how could we say eight cups people have different body sizes different different weights people live in different climates people have different levels of activity people have different diets so our water intake is going to have to be somewhat adjustable to uh to the individual needs for water the important thing is we don't want to get dehydrated so there is a formula that could be used again it's approximate but it gives us some guidelines and of course always check with your health care professionals about your water intake because certain people who have either kidney disease or congestive heart failure and possibly other medical conditions may have to curtail their fluid intake but the average healthy person we have a formula of 1 8 ounce cup for approximately every 20 pounds of body weight so for the greater part of the population about six to eight cups is probably going to do the job and then of course we go down or up a little bit depending on body weight we also should keep in mind we do get a lot of water from the foods we eat and we also get water from other beverages as well so when we're drinking tea or coffee or other types of beverages we do get water from those beverages but water for hydration should be the beverage of choice because water cool water will rehydrate body tissue faster than anything else and more efficiently than anything else okay so what i want to do now is i want to give you just some other information on on water and the importance of water and what we can do a little bit maybe to doctor up water a little bit because after all the revenue blessed us with sensory organs and many times think different things appeal to us whether it's taste or smell or certain colors and so on so i it's in my experience in my practice i have seen people tell me i just can't drink plain water they really should but they feel plain water is not going to do it for them i encourage them to drink plain water but in any event there are some some different options uh with water um one of them might be adding just some fresh lemon or lime to the water uh another might be adding a little bit of juice to give it a little color you don't want to really add too much juice because then you're going to be adding a lot of sugar and sugar will slow down any anytime you add another ingredient to the water it slows down its process of rehydrating us it takes a little bit longer other things that could be done um you could take frozen fruit or or vegetables fresh vegetables or even for you know fresh fruits and you could infuse them you could let them sit in a pitcher of water in the refrigerator overnight or something and then you'll get a little more flavor in the water that way i know they do sell a lot of different types of water today types of water that i would avoid would be any water that has added sugar or any kind of added sweeteners even if they're artificial sweeteners i would avoid water that is artificially colored flavored or as any added sweeteners if it's just naturally flavored or they use some sort of fruit or vegetable infusion that would be i think a better alternative okay in addition to that when we drink things like tomato juice or other beverages i mentioned herbal teas even when we drink soup or you drink a glass of milk or whatever it is you do get a lot of water from these kind of things as well so it's important to know that even if you don't get the exact number of cups of water a day based on your body weight if your diet has more fruits and vegetables and things like that and that you will get water from some of these things as well it's important to keep in mind that we do lose about two to three quarts of water a day and how do we lose water we lose it especially in the hotter weather perspiration we lose it through excretion through urination and uh so these are two of the major ways and the third way that we lose water is breathing every time we exhale we see if you exhale in front of a mirror or a piece of glass a pane of glass you will see a vapor that comes out of your mouth so so this is why it's not uncommon for a person to lose uh two to three quarts of of water a day and it has to be uh replenished so i i want to just mention there are certain things you have to be aware of dehydration is one of them because i want to just give you some of the symptoms of dehydration and if you experience any of these symptoms i would certainly call it to the attention of a healthcare professional again aside from replenishing what is lost in order to hydrate the blood and tissues water also has a very important function of lubricating joints it regulates temperature it moistens the lungs to allow for breathing and if you don't have an adequate water intake over time it prevents these processes from occurring and could lead to things like arthritis sore muscles heavy breathing higher body temperature and so on in the body water also acts as a solvent a coolant lubricant and a trans uh transport agent virtually as i said earlier nothing takes place in the body without water playing a critical role it's needed to regulate body temperature carry nutrients remove toxins and waste materials and provide a medium in which all cellular chemical reactions take place so here are the symptoms of dehydration i mean these could be symptoms of other things too but they are also symptoms of dehydration again to find out what might be actually causing a symptom uh don't try to doctor yourself go to a competent health care professional and try to figure out why you might be having these you might be having symptoms symptoms of dehydration can be confusion chronic fatigue drowsiness labored speech dry mouth sunken eyeballs and probably a more obvious um symptom would be not being able to urinate or passing only a small amount of urine which will usually be darker in color sometimes like a dark tannish or brownish or very you know dark richer color urine really should be pale almost no color at all and if you're not really feeling that thirsty and your urine is pale it's probably an indication that you are getting enough of a fluid intake but those are some of the things you want to pay attention to and again even short term water deprivation has been known to cause chronic pain and over time lack of water can cause loss of muscle tone excess weight gain slow metabolism and increased toxic toxicity and even organ failure other negative effects as i mentioned earlier could be arthritis dry skin migraines hypertension digestive complications persistent constipation and even possibly an elevated cholesterol level so in order to maintain health the kidneys must excrete a minimum of 10 ounces of waste per day when water is not available there is nothing present in which to dissolve the body's waste products which are things like uric acid and urea for expulsion as a result these toxic waste products that are not being diluted and excreted by water they build up in the body and they can lead to crystallization and they could lead to kidney stones possibly even gallstones and they will it will also put an additional strain on the kidneys to find adequate liquid with which to expel toxins so again if you can imagine if i had a glass in front of me and i put maybe some sugar or salt in that glass and then i just added a little bit of water that salt of sugar would not dissolve there's not enough fluid to dissolve that buildup uh as i add more water i get a better i i the ingredients there start to dissolve okay and it's the same thing in the body without enough water some of these byproducts and toxic waste will start to turn into us crystals into stones and we know that one of the main ways to reduce the risk of kidney stones is to have a very good fluid intake i just want to mention that there are i just want to give you some foods that really also have a good amount of water uh we also we mentioned fruits and vegetables about 75 percent water and even bread is more than 30 percent water other other specific types of fruits and vegetables that really contain large amounts of water somewhere between 90 and 99 include things like tomatoes cucumbers squash lettuce celery watermelon orange grapefruit and broccoli contain large amounts of water so eating healthy has more benefits than just losing weight it is a way to increase your energy your mood your hydration and overall a way to uh stay healthy and and and stay hydrated that's really what we're talking about especially as we come into the into the summer months very important to have a good fluid intake and once again too much of a good thing may not be a good thing there are some people that could actually drink too much water uh i have too many too many fluids as the rambam says you know too much of even uh a good food is harmful and he even goes as far to say it's better to eat a little bit of a bad food than too much of a good food because of the the health problems that over indulgence can cause and with water if you fluids in general if you over consume way beyond what you really need you could dilute the electrolytes in the body and you can have health consequences from that as well so i think you see everything in the world is really a balance and even your fluid intake has to be properly balanced i just want to conclude by uh letting you know that i am the author of a book called lachaim 18 chapters to live by it's a torah-based book with endorsements from a lot of leading robunum it's devoted to health and how to stay healthy and well if anybody's interested in a copy they can contact me my contact information is on the promotion for these for these health series i'll just give you a phone number if it makes it easier 718-544-4036 i want to thank you for listening and again please keep in mind we will this is a series this was part two we hope to continue next week with part three thank you for joining us