Alcohol is dehydrating for the following reasons: first, it causes the kidneys to flush out water. Alcohol causes brain cell dehydration, a fact exhibited by hangover symptoms. Alcohol is a depressant to the nervous system. It can cause impotence, immune system dysfunction or liver damage. Alcohol makes free radicals, similar to acidic material, which will damage the body. Melatonin is needed for fighting these free radicals. The result is low melatonin. Dehydration leads to endorphin release, which causes alcohol to have addictive properties.

Replacing alcohol with water will actually help addiction as Dr. Batmanghelidj explains: “Water has a natural satiety impact through the hormones motilin, serotonin, and adrenaline, which culminates in the enhanced action of the body’s endorphins. Alcoholics learn that alcohol, through its stressful dehydrating action on the brain, will also cause the release of endorphins. This is how they become addicted to alcohol.If alcoholics begin to increase their water intake, or reach for a glass of water in place of a beer or a shot of their favorite hard stuff, their cravings for alcohol will tend to decrease.” Water provides the energy and a natural high to get through each day.

Cholesterol is necessary for our body to function in many, many ways. Too much cholesterol can also be a bad thing. When we are dehydrated, the cells in our body plug their lining with cholesterol clay-like deposits to prevent further water loss. This is when cholesterol starts to build up plaque in dangerous places like arteries. When we eat, our blood becomes concentrated with food matter, unless we take adequate water with our meal. Concentrated blood makes the body feel dehydrated, and once again, excess cholesterol ends up in places like the liver and major arteries.

Dr. Batmanghelidj discusses what we can do to help this situation: “To prevent excess cholesterol deposits by the cells lining the arteries and the liver, you need to drink regularly an ample amount of water a half hour before food intake. By this action, the cells of the body will become well hydrated before confronting the concentrated blood after food intake. There will also be enough water for the processes of digestion and respiration, without needing to tap into the water held inside the cells lining the blood vessels.” After some time of keeping the body hydrated, it will lower its need to produce cholesterol and the body’s balance will eventually even out.

Salt is a necessary mineral for all humans. It is particularly beneficial to those with asthma, allergies, and autoimmune disease. Salt is a precious commodity in desert lands and is traded for other goods because

it is so valuable. Salt works with water and potassium to regulate water in the body.

Dr. Batmanghelidj explains the process: “Water regulates the water content of the interior of the cell by working its way into all the cells it reaches. It has to get there to cleanse and extract the toxic waste of cell metabolism. Once water gets into the cells, the potassium content of the cells holds on to it and keeps it there—to the extent that potassium is available inside the cells….Salt forces some water to keep it company outside the cells (osmotic retention of water by salt). It balances the amount of water that is held outside the cells.” There needs to be a balance between the water inside the cells and the water surrounding the outside of the cells. Water, salt and potassium balance the two fluids very well. Dr.Batmanghelidj recommends unrefined sea salt and dried kelp.

While discussing the fascinating world of structured water with Clayton Nolte recently, we got onto the topic of the importance of energy and how this works with the memory of water.

In this conversation Clayton Nolte told me that anger can actually make hydrogen in water dissipate. While I am an avid writer and researcher of water, I am also a student of psychotherapy and this information about emotions and water had me perplexed. After a night of thinking about it this was my response to Clayton:

“So I’ve been thinking about what you said about hydrogen dissipating in the face of anger. My first response to this was ‘Wow, what a judgmental Universe.’ Emotions are part of our daily life and some people just can’t help it that they are angry or have other emotions. Due to the interconnected nature of the Universe, our way of being today is influenced by the way the world has been leading up to this moment.  In contemplative psychotherapy we learn to help people to remove self-aggression by not judging their anger or whatever emotion they have. But it’s true that our hope is to help them unwind their anger or suffering. So I’m thinking now that that agenda is built into the heart-mind just as it is built into the Universe. The Earth was designed by the Universe to give life. This is supported by the exchange of noble gases, precious elements, subtle energies and so on. In an effort to balance out destruction, it makes sense that the Universe would give us an emotion such as anger as a survival mechanism but then see that since that emotion can also become destructive, such as when it turns into hate, that it then creates an environment which won’t sustain it for long periods of time without dire consequences.

In my new field of therapy, we have to be careful with some of the manifesting arts and sciences, such as law of attraction, because some people will ‘stuff’ their emotions.  Instead of acknowledging their emotions and how they play within their relative existence, they will spiritually bypass them and shoot into an absolute frame of mind which doesn’t leave much room for the balance of relative and absolute. This can lead to self aggression and a deprivation of loving-kindness.

So my hesitation to fully receive what you said yesterday about how hydrogen won’t sustain anger had a lot to do with compassion. I’m now in the business of helping people accept themselves as they are and where they are in life at this present moment, so it was hard to hear that the Universe would use judgment. But after thinking about it more, my response is now ‘Wow, what a discernable Universe.’ If hydrogen dissipates in the face of certain emotions then the Universe is actually helping to balance out destructive energies so that life will become more sustainable and possibly have less suffering.”