Drinking more water is my new habit to adopt.  While I used to be a fish swimming in tons of Evian, lately I have been forgetting to drink until my fingers are shrivelled and I am so thirsty that I wake up searching for a sip of hydration.

There are all sorts of conflicting words and studies about the appropriate amount that each of us needs, and there are tons of gimmicky and maybe actually empowered and enhanced waters on the market for the picking.  My little healthy habit of the week is simple to drink water throughout the day.  How much and what kind to drink I leave up to you.

A very large (75% or more) percentage of the average body is water.  water makes all of the chemical reactions in your body flow properly.  Chronic dehydration is a serious problem around the world, some caused by pure physical ignorance and most caused by an actual lack of available drinking water, a chillingly horrible fact.  Some claim that by the time you get thirsty you are already dehydrated. 

My fascination with how much water to drink started early in life after reading in a fashion magazine that two liters of water a day would make you beautiful.  From an early age I felt that water was a key to a supernatural youthfulness which isn’t altogether far off the mark.  A dehydrated body = dehydrated skin = the opposite of beautiful.

About five years ago, I was approached bizarrely by one of the plastic surgeons on Dr. 90210 (remember that show?!) while holding a 1.5 liter plastic bottle (I know, plastic is the enemy.  I have learned my lesson since then!) of water in my hand.  “You know,” he said, in full makeup and scrubs from filming his doctor show, ” you can drink yourself to death.”  OK, that was the strangest pick-up line I had ever heard coupled with the strangest fact.  It is true.  You can drink yourself to death.  It has happened.

That said, chances are, if you are drinking a 1.5 liter bottle of water a day you won’t “drown” yourself.  Listen to your body.  Start the day with a glass of water before hitting the caffeine.  We often crave food when we are actually thirsty, so if you are about to binge on a bunch of cake, have some water first! Sip water throughout the day. 

In feng shui, the element of water is emotional and creative, the start of a new cycle… so refresh yourself!  Drink! And…If you really want to do something great with water…make it available to others!  Donate to The Water Project to bring clean water to Africa right HERE. 

xoxo Dana