An essential nutrient is a nutrient your body cannot produce itself. Sunlight and oxygen are essential nutrients - just as as much as vitamins and minerals are. But unlike any other essential nutrient, water is the most abundant compound in the body - humans are two-thirds water - and most of us do not drink enough of it.

If you have a hard time drinking two to three quarts of water per day, which is the recommended amount, it might help you to think of it as the most essential nutrient.

For example, humans can die of starvation, but will die first from dehydration.

Water is helps the:

• digestion of food
  
• transportation of nutrients to the tissues
  
• elimination of body wastes
  
• circulation of body fluids (like blood and lymph)
  
• lubrication in the joints and internal organs
  
• regulation of body temperature.

Brain tissue consists of 85 percent water and blood is 90 percent water.

Also consider this: when you are well-hydrated, your body works efficiently. Every part of you has what it needs. But when the body is dehydrated, it becomes a great compromiser - it reserves water for certain bodily jobs and because there is not enough water to go around, prevents some work - like the protection of different tissues and organs - from getting done.

While we do get a certain amount of water from our foods, remember, just because something is liquid or juicy, does not mean it will or should replace your water intake. Coffee and soda pop, for example, are diuretics and will actually cause you to lose water.

How much water have you had today?

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Labels: eating healthy, water