A Secret to Better Blood Glucose Control and Reduced Inflammation

“Dana, I am mad!” my client exclaimed over the phone.

“Oh, why is that?” I asked.

“I have done everything right today and my blood sugar is still over 200.”

I had been working with this gentleman for several months and he was familiar with the Ten Essentials for Health™, so, we began working through them to find the weak link. The answers he gave were impressive; he was really doing a good job! Then I asked, “How much water have you had today?”

There was a moment of silence, and then slowly, “I haven’t drunk much water today.”

BINGO! We found our answer. “Drink two bottles of water and call me back with your blood sugar reading in 20-30 minutes.”

Amazingly, 30 minutes later, blood sugar levels were normal. The poor gentleman was doing almost everything right; he was just really thirsty and didn’t even know it.

Sickness and disease are an effort of nature to free the system from conditions that result from a violation of the Ten Essentials of Health™.

Is Water Really that Powerful? 

One of the largest studies to look at the consequences of dehydration was published in Diabetes Care (a publication of the American Diabetes Association). Scientists tracked more than 3,000 healthy men and women ages 30 to 65 for nearly a decade. All had normal blood sugar levels at the start of the research.

After nine years, about 800 had developed Type 2 Diabetes. But those who consumed the most water, which only averaged 17 to 34 ounces a day, had a risk roughly 30 percent lower than those who drank the least.

In response to the research study, The New York Times published a wellness article with the headline, “Really? The Claim: Drinking Water Can Help Lower the Risk of Diabetes.”

The article states: “THE FACTS: There are many reasons to stay properly hydrated, but only recently have scientists begun to consider diabetes prevention one of them. The amount of water you drink can play a role in how your body regulates blood sugar, researchers have found.

“THE REASON: a hormone called vasopressin helps regulate water retention. When the body is dehydrated, vasopressin levels rise, prompting the kidneys to hold onto water. At the same time, the hormone pushes the liver to produce blood sugar, which over time may strain the ability to produce or respond to insulin.”

Water: An Essential Component of Life. Just How Essential is It?

A Slovakian Proverb wisely states, “Pure water is the world’s first and foremost medicine.” The human body is composed mostly of water, making it’s crucial for various physiological functions, including temperature regulation, nutrient transportation, waste elimination, cognitive processing, proper sleep, formation of energy, and basically every function of the body.

When the body is dehydrated, it initiates a process where the body begins to “rob” from areas that have more water. For example, our skin is the largest organ of the body. It is also the organ which receives nutrients last. Water is a nutrient. When we don’t drink enough water, the skin suffers and borrows water from the liver. This adds an extra load on our detoxification manager and will have a cascading effect on all our other organs and systems and can exhibit symptoms such as higher glucose and blood pressure readings, poor heart health and restless sleep, foggy brain and confusion, weakness and fatigue, painful joints and a host of other challenges.

Water and Temperature: When we are well hydrated, water helps to dissipate excess heat often created by inflammation, through the process of sweating, to cool the body and prevent overheating. (Popkin, D’Anci, and Rosenberg)

Water and the Heart: Proper hydration supports cardiovascular health by ensuring maintenance of adequate blood volume and circulation necessary for delivering oxygen and nutrients to tissues throughout the body.

Water, Digestion and Nutrient Absorption: Water aids in the breakdown of food, allowing essential nutrients to be more easily absorbed by the intestines. If we do not drink enough water, and if we are not eating high water content foods (fruits, vegetables, cooked grains and starches and legumes), then there is not enough water to extract nutrients from the food in the intestinal tract where 90% of our nutrient absorption takes place. And to make matters worse, if we are not eating mostly whole food planted-based the intestinal walls can get gummed up with hardened stools because there isn’t enough water to soften the stool or enough fiber to sweep the intestinal walls. Fiber is found only in plant foods.

If you are eating a high meat diet with only a few fruits or vegetables, you may not only be absorbing all the nutrients available, but you also may start experiencing constipation and toxification symptoms from toxic stool.

Doesn’t sound real pretty, does it?

Stay hydrated for a better digestive experience and nourishment and for soft, regular bowel movements. (Jéquier and Constant)

Is It Best to Drink Water with My Meal to Aid Digestion?

Drinking water or other beverages with meals disrupts digestion, as it dilutes the digestive enzymes in the mouth as well as the digestive juices in the stomach. We recommend drinking water 15-30 minutes before meals and waiting at least one hour after meals to start drinking water again. Eating high water, high fiber content foods (fruits, vegetables, cooked starches and grains, and legumes) aids digestion and helps to hydrate the GI tract. When we eat these food the body will not call for the extra liquids at meals. (Van Walleghen et al.)

Water and the Brain: Cognitive performance and energy levels are influenced by hydration status. Our brains need water to perform thousands of chemical processes. Just being dehydrated by half a liter (16 ounces / 2 cups) has been shown to increase cortisol levels. Cortisol is a stress hormone. When you are dehydrated, your mind and body are ALL STRESSED OUT. So, drink plenty of water to keep stress hormone levels under control. Also, with dehydration the brain experiences impaired concentration and memory, mood disturbances and interrupted sleep.

Water and Sleep: Studies indicate that individuals who do not drink enough water experience reduce quality and quantity of sleep, and increased disturbed sleep, contributing to decreased cognitive performance, increased fatigue, and experience lack of clarity, impatience, and irritability affecting daily productivity and overall well-being. We need water to rest well and to be in our right minds! (Ganio et al.)

What is the Best Way to Stay Hydrated?

While individual needs vary based on factors such as age, health status, activity level, and climate, the general guideline is approximately eight 8-ounce glasses of water per day, commonly known as the "8x8 rule" or at least half your body weight in ounces but may need to be adjusted for individuals living with obesity, or if you are very active. (Mayo Clinic) Here’s a little hydration rhyme: Drink five to stay alive, eight to hydrate, and ten to rejuvenate and feel great!

For maximum hydration benefits drink 2-4 ounces every 15-30 minutes. The body can only absorb 8-12 ounces of water an hour and it is best absorbed in small, frequent doses. Anything beyond the 8-12 ounces of water an hour is a “flush”. It is recommended to have a “flush” every morning upon waking, drinking 16 ounces of water or more. After that, take a several gulps of water throughout each waking hour to ensure you get at least four to eight ounces of water every hour, except during mealtime hours, and a total water intake of 64 ounces or more a day unless on a water restriction.

Are You Thirsty?

In the Bible we find a beautiful invitation: “Ho, every one that thirsts, come to the waters, and he that hath no money; come...without money and without price…Incline your ear, and come unto Me: hear, and your soul shall live.” Isaiah 55:1-3.

Jeremiah identifies this Source of water as “The LORD, the Fountain of Living Water.” Jeremiah 17:13.

When the children of Israel were in the desert, twice God gave them water from a rock (Exodus 17:6; Numbers 20:8-11). In 1 Corinthians 10:4 God says, “[They] did all drink the same spiritual drink: for they drank of that spiritual Rock that followed them; and that Rock was Christ.” Christ is our Living Water. “Ask of Him, and He would have given you Living Water…Whosoever drinks of this water shall thirst again: but whosoever drinks of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life.” John 4:10-14.

Later Christ exclaims, “If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and drink. He that believes on Me, as the Scripture has said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of Living Water.” John 7:37.

Revelation 14:6-7 calls us to “Fear (reverence) God, and give glory to Him; for the hour of His judgment is come: and worship Him that made heaven, and earth, and the sea, and the fountains of water.” We can experience the fulfillment of these promises by cooperating with Christ’s health plan, the Ten Essentials for Health™. But the final fulfillment will be when the last two chapters of the Bible are a reality: “And He said unto me, It is done! I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the end. I will give unto him that thirsts of the Fountain of Water of Life freely. He that overcomes shall inherit all things; and I will be his God, and he shall be My son.” Revelation 21:6-7.

Water may seem bitter to you now; it was for the Israelite too (see Exodus 15:23-27), but God made the bitter waters sweet and included a promise for health and healing, “If you will diligently hearken to the voice of the LORD thy God, and will do that which is right in His sight, and wilt give ear to His commandments, and keep all His statutes, I will put none of these diseases upon you…for I am the LORD that heals you.” He then provides them with an abundance of water (verse 27). 

God has something better for you! Water is the best hydrating liquid available to us. Drink it freely and reap the benefits God has to offer you by cooperating with Him now and for all eternity.

Blue skies,

Dana