Living Magazine Spring 2019 doTERRA Living Magazine | Page 6
DRINK UP –
USING WATER TO REDUCE YOUR TOXIC LOAD
Our environment is full of unavoidable toxins. In the air you
breathe, the food you eat, and even the products you use to clean
your home, there are substances that can interfere with vital organ
function and have a negative impact on your overall well-being. 1
Risk for various allergies, digestive sensitivities, respiratory-related
illness, and impaired immune system function have all been
associated with excessive exposure to environmental toxins. 2
Although minimizing exposure is the first step, your body has vital
organs and endogenous mechanisms to regulate toxic load.
According to research, maintaining adequate levels of hydration
may be one of the most important factors in supporting the health
of the liver and kidneys—the internal organs that filter blood,
detoxify chemicals, and assist the body in the excretion of waste
and toxins. 3
WHY SO MUCH WATER?
Water supports your cleansing organs in several different
ways: helping flush liver tissues, assisting the kidneys in
filtering and excreting waste, and even in mitigating risk for
disease. In a state of dehydration, acid and waste products
build up, causing the kidneys to become congested with
myoglobin (proteins that carry and store oxygen in muscle
cells). The risk for kidney stone formation and urinary tract
infections greatly increases, making it more difficult to control
toxic load. Fortunately, maintaining adequate hydration is as
simple as following the principles of the dōTERRA® Wellness
Lifestyle Pyramid. Ensuring your water intake is adequate
to support toxic load management is possible
with three fundamental lifestyle behaviors:
1. EAT A WHOLE FOODS DIET.
You receive as much as 30 percent of your daily
water from your diet. 4 Foods with high water
compositions, especially whole fruits and
vegetables, are an important contributor to overall
fluid intake. In their natural form, fruits and
vegetables such as broccoli, watermelon, and
leafy greens have a higher than 90 percent water
content. Processed foods, especially those high in
sugar, can have a hypernatremic effect, actually
drawing water from your body. Additionally,
research has shown that if you are drinking your
calories, you may be tricking your body into a
false sense of adequate hydration. 5
2. DRINK (WATER) AT EVERY MEAL.
To optimize digestion and support the proper
function of the liver and kidneys, you should be
consuming water with every meal. Water
6 / SPRING 2019 LIVING MAGAZINE
homeostasis is highly dependent on regular fluid intake, and
the kidneys work most efficiently to excrete toxins when
there is a fluid excess. 6 Dehydration forces your cells to hold
onto water to make up for insufficient intake. Furthermore,
the ability of your kidneys to eliminate water is limited,
making it important to hydrate throughout the day as
opposed to drinking a large amount of water in one sitting.
3. IMPROVE HYDRATION WITH SLEEP.
In a study published in the journal Sleep, researchers
discovered that those who averaged six hours of sleep or less
showed several indicators of dehydration. 7 The link between
sleep and hydration is a little-known hormone called
vasopressin, whose primary purpose is to communicate with
the kidneys to balance the amount of water in your blood.
Like many of our physiological processes, the secretion of
vasopressin is regulated by our body’s circadian rhythm.
While the hypothalamus secretes a consistent stream of
vasopressin throughout the day, the vasopressin release
peaks in the final stage of your sleep cycle (the rapid eye
movement (REM) stage). If late nights or early mornings are
precluding you from going through all five sleep phases, you
are missing out on peak vasopressin secretion cycles, making
it more difficult to maintain sufficient levels of hydration and
manage your overall toxic load.