How Does Water Cleanse the Body?

Video Transcript

"Hi, my name is Charlotte Skiles. I'm a nutrition consultant and clinical herbalist with Eat in Peace Wellness Consulting, located in Austin, Texas. And today, I'm going to talk to you about how water cleanses the body, and this is actually a really good question. So our bodies are 75 to 80 percent water -- it's estimated. So it really makes up a significant part of how our body functions. And this relates directly to what is called the five channels of elimination. In other words, how things move and get out of the body. So the first channel of elimination is the breath. We breathe. The second channel of elimination is the urinary tract, so we pee. The third channel of elimination is the digestive tract, so we have bowel movements. That's another way that things make their way out of the body. The fourth is the lymph system, which is part of the vascular system, really. It runs parallel to it, and we've got to move it to let it do its thing, and water's a significant part of that channel of elimination. And the fifth one is sweating. And interestingly enough, each sweat...oh, how do you want to call it...sweat gland is directly related to the urinary tract. They're kind of...they're very similar, so you'll notice that if you sweat a lot, you don't pee a lot, and if you pee a lot, you don't sweat a lot. So there's a balance there. That's why it's a great idea to go do hot steams and saunas in the wintertime because you can sweat there and you give your kidneys a bit of a break. So that is, I mean, to me the reason why water cleanses the body is it keeps things moving. The last thing we want, in terms of health, is for things to get stuck because literally, that is where disease -- dis-ease -- takes its roots is when things get stuck. So drinking half of your body weight in ounces of water per day is a very good guideline. So for example, I weigh 140 pounds, so I would drink 70 ounces of water and herbal teas per day. But you can also just use common sense and drink enough water to where your urine is on the pale side, and just pay attention to your thirst because we all put different demands on our bodies and the main thing is to stay hydrated. And that's what I have to say about how water cleanses the body."